Thanks to Lucian, the 2nd century AD satirist, we know quite a bit about the torture machine known as “the brass bull of Perilaus” or “the bull of Phalaris.”
The sculptor Perilaos, between 570-560 BC, created a brass bull that could fit an entire man inside, commissioned by the tyrant Phalaris. When a fire was lit under the bull, the person inside was roasted alive, and their screams were heard through a special mechanism that made them sound like the bellowing of a bull.
When Perilaos first presented his invention to the tyrant of Acragas in Sicily, Phalaris ordered Perilaos to be put inside the bull, making him its first victim. It was a fitting end for the inventor of such a diabolical machine. This event is illustrated and depicted in drawings at the Museum of Torture in Bruges, Belgium.
