Flaying

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Michelangelo's "Last Judgment"  - Saint Bartholomew holding the knife of his martyrdom and his flayed skin
Michelangelo's "Last Judgment" - Saint Bartholomew holding the knife of his martyrdom and his flayed skin

Flaying is the removal of skin from the body. Generally, an attempt is made to maintain the removed portion of skin intact.

Contents

[edit] Scope

An animal may be flayed in preparation for human consumption, or for its hide or fur; this is more commonly called skinning.

Flaying of humans is used as a method of torture or execution, depending on how much of the skin is removed. This article deals with flaying in the sense of torture and execution. This is often referred to as "flaying alive". There are also records of people flayed after death, generally as a means of debasing the corpse of a prominent enemy or criminal, sometimes related to religious beliefs (e.g. to deny an afterlife); sometimes the skin is used, again for deterrence, magical uses etc. (cfr. scalping).

Flaying is distinct from flagellation in that flaying uses a sharp instrument, typically some knife, in an attempt to remove skin (where the pain is incidental to the operation), whereas flagellation is any corporal punishment that uses some type of whip, rod or other sharp implement in order to cause physical pain (where the possible removal of some skin is incidental to the operation). In colloquial usage, the two terms are sometimes confused.

[edit] History

Flaying is apparently a very ancient practice. There are accounts of Assyrians flaying the skin from a captured enemy or rebellious ruler and nailing it to the wall of his city, as warning to all who would defy their power. The Aztecs of Mexico flayed victims of ritual human sacrifice. Also, the Aztec god Xipe Totec is said to have flayed himself to give food to humanity. Searing or cutting the flesh from the body was sometimes used as part of the public execution of traitors in medieval Europe. A similar mode of execution was used as late as the early 1700s in France; one such episode is graphically recounted in the opening chapter of Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish (1979). In China, a variant form of flaying known as death by a thousand cuts was practiced as late as 1905. During the early 20th century and into World War 2, Japanese troops frequently flayed men in Korean and Chinese villages.

[edit] Examples of flayings

Titian's Flaying of Marsyas
Titian's Flaying of Marsyas

[edit] Sources

(incomplete)

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. (various articles)

[edit] External links