Breaking Wheel

The breaking wheel is a torture and execution device upon which condemned men are bound and their bones broken. The condemned may be left to die with infinite slowness in excruciating pain or, more mercifully, bludgeoned to death straight away.

The device is a large spoked wheel. It is to the spokes that the condemned man is lashed and it is against the spokes that his bones are shattered with the use of a cudgel or hammer. The wheel may be mounted so as to turn readily and afford a better spectacle to an audience. The limbs, once their bones are sufficiently pulverised, may be woven between the spokes to form a macabre tapestry. A victim, whether dead or alive, may be left on the wheel for the crows, with the wheel either remaining in place or being raised up to better afford a warning to all.