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Impalement, flaying, and amputations were the trademark of the Assyrians

Assyrians created an enormous empire. They mastered the art of war. Unfortunately for their enemies, the Assyrians mastered also torture techniques. And they bragged about it!

The Assyrians depicted the torture in great detail on the walls of the imperial palaces. They created tablets containing every single punishment the Assyrian army carried out. They cut off the limbs, gouged out the eyes, and then left those poor victims to roam around. Those poor people serve as a living reminder of the Assyrians’ cruelty.

The Assyrians intentionally advertised their brutality as part of the psychological warfare.

The cruelty didn’t hurt only the enemies, the Assyrian soldiers suffered too. The soldiers were seeing and hearing the ghosts of the killed enemies. These were the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Impalement — slow and extremely painful death

The Assyrians were proud of the mass executions. They loved to impale their victims on large stakes. Such sights instilled terror and fear into the rest of the population. For the Assyrian kings, it was a showcase of their power.

The stake was driven into the body under the ribs and not through the anus as it was customary in the Medieval ages. The victim’s weight caused the spikes to protrude deeper and deeper into the body. The slow death was terrifying!

2,000 years later Vlad Tepes a.k.a Count Dracula would learn from the Assyrians and impale thousands of the Ottomans.

Although the impalement was the Assyrian preference, they also invented crucifixion. Just to increase their cruelty a bit more!

Flaying — the victim’s skin was hung on the city wall

The Assyrian kings were fond of flaying the rebel leaders. The flaying process would start at the buttocks, thighs, or lower legs. They would cut the skin in strips and pulled it off the living victim. The victim’s skin was hung in a visible place as a reminder for the rest of the citizens.

I let the leaders of the conquered cities be flayed, and clad the city walls with their skins.

— Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC)

Grinding of bones to erase the memory of ancestors

The Assyrians forced the captured nobles to grind the bones of their ancestors. By doing so, they erased the evidence of their legitimacy to rule. This was part of psychological torture. It showed the absolute power the Assyrian kings had over the subjugated nations.

Beheading

Soldiers decapitated the defeated enemies and built pyramids out of their heads. The Assyrians also decorated trees with the heads of their enemies.

One of the Assyrian accounts even boasts of the necklace made of severed heads.

Amputations of limbs, blinding, castrating, and burning people alive

The Assyrians were very creative about the brutality. They would cut off legs, arms, noses, tongues, ears, and testicles. They would gouge out the eyes of their prisoners. They would burn small children alive.

The Assyrian army was a professional army and it was well organized. So, their cruelty and brutality were systematic.

The Assyrian kings used brutality as a weapon. The psychological warfare worked. The news of extreme terror spread fast. The entire cities surrendered at the mere sight of the approaching Assyrian army.

The Assyrian kings bragged about their cruelty. They regarded it as their divine right.

I entered that city; its inhabitants I slaughtered like lambs

— Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (668–631 BC)

Eventually, the extreme cruelty backfired. The Assyrian empire, weakened by the constant war, was attacked by many enemies. The Assyrians vanquished and nobody missed them.

Conclusion

The brutality of the Assyrians was extreme, even for the ancient standards of cruelty. The Assyrians knew the brutality was a very effective tool of psychological warfare. Their opponents thought twice before they started a war with them.