Whipping on a post

Flagellation is the act of whipping (Latin flagellum, "whip") the human body. Specialised implements for it include rods, switches and the cat-o-nine-tails. Typically, whipping is performed on unwilling subjects as a punishment; however, flagellation can also be submitted to willingly, or performed on oneself, in religious or sadomasochistic contexts. The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... The Cat O Nine Tails is a type of multi-tailed whip that originated as a tool of corporal punishment from the British navy. ... Flogging demonstration at Folsom Street Fair 2004. ...

Disciplinary use and torture

Flogging is an approximate synonym that was probably derived from flagellum in the British navy, where flogging was a common disciplinary measure that became associated with a seaman's manly disregard for pain. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ...

Flagellation probably originated in the Near East but quickly spread throughout the ancient world. In Sparta, young men were flogged as a test of their masculinity. The Jews limited flagellation to forty strokes, and in practice delivered forty strokes minus one, so as to avoid any possibility of breaking this law due to a miscount. Additionally they would have a doctor monitor the punishment, who would stop it if it became too much for the person to safely bear. Sparta (Doric: Spártā, Attic: Spártē) is a city in southern Greece. ...

In the Roman Empire, flagellation was often used as a prelude to crucifixion, and in this context is sometimes referred to as scourging. Whips with small pieces of metal or bone at the tips were commonly used. Such a device could easily cause disfigurement and serious trauma, such as ripping pieces of flesh from the body or loss of an eye. In addition to causing severe pain, the victim would be made to approach a state of hypovolemic shock due to loss of blood. The Romans reserved this torture for non-citizens, as stated in the lex Porcia and lex Sempronia, dating from 195 and 123 BC. The poet Horace refers to the horribile flagellum (horrible whip) in his Satires, calling for the end of its use. Typically, the one to be punished was stripped naked and bound to a low pillar so that he could bend over it, or chained to an upright pillar as to be stretched out. Two lictors (some reports indicate scourgings with four or six lictors) alternated blows from the bare shoulders down the body to the soles of the feet. There was no limit to the number of blows inflicted— this was left to the lictors to decide, though they were normally not supposed to kill the victim. Nonetheless, Livy, Suetonius and Josephus report cases of flagellation where victims died while still bound to the post. Flagellation was referred to as "half death" by some authors and apparently, many died shortly thereafter. Cicero reports in In Verrem, "pro mortuo sublatus brevi postea mortuus" ("taken away for a dead man, shortly thereafter he was dead"). Often the victim was turned over to allow flagellation on the chest, though this proceeded with more caution, as the possibility of inflicting a fatal blow was much greater. Motto Senatus Populusque Romanus (SPQR) The Roman Empire at its greatest extent, c. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ... In physiology and medicine, hypovolemia is a state of decreased blood volume; more specifically, decrease in volume of blood plasma. ... Horace, as imagined by Anton von Werner Quintus Horatius Flaccus, (December 8, 65 BC - November 27, 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. ... The lictor, derived from the Latin ligare (to bind), was a member of a special class of Roman civil servant, with special tasks of attending magistrates of the Roman Republic and Empire who held imperium. ... A portrait of Titus Livius made long after his death. ... The Twelve Caesars is a set of twelve biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors of the Roman Empire. ... A fanciful representation of Flavius Josephus, in an engraving in William Whistons translation of his works Josephus (37 – sometime after 100 AD/CE)[1], who became known, in his capacity as a Roman citizen, as Flavius Josephus[2], was a 1st-century Jewish historian and apologist of priestly and... Cicero at about age 60, from an ancient marble bust Marcus Tullius Cicero (IPA:Classical Latin pronunciation: , usually pronounced in American English or in UK English; January 3, 106 BC – December 7, 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, political theorist, philosopher, widely considered one of Romes greatest orators...

While flagellation and other forms of corporal punishment are now forbidden in most Western countries, flagellation is still a common form of punishment around the world, particularly in Islamic countries. Medically supervised caning is also still used as a punishment for some categories of crime in Singapore and Malaysia [1]. Islam (Arabic:  ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure. ... Caning in British slang refers to consuming large amounts of intoxicants. ...

Australian penal colonies

While common in the British Army and British Royal Navy as a means of discipline, flagellation also featured prominently in the British penal colonies in early colonial Australia. Given that convicts in Australia were already "imprisoned", punishments for offences committed in the colonies could not usually result in imprisonment and thus usually consisted of corporal punishment such as hard labour or flagellation. Unlike Roman times, British law explicitly forbade the combination of corporal and capital punishment; thus, a convict was either flogged or hanged but never both. The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... A penis colony is a colony used to detain prisoners and generally use them for penal labor in an economically underdeveloped part of the states (usually colonial) territories, and on a far larger scale than a prison farm. ... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ...

Flagellation took place either with a single whip or more notoriously, with the cat o' nine tails. Typically, the offender's upper half was bared and he was suspended by the hands beneath a tripod of wooden beams (known as 'the triangle'), while either one or two floggers administered the prescribed number of strokes. During the flogging, a doctor or other medical worker was consulted at regular intervals as to the condition of the prisoner - if the offender had fainted from blood loss or suffered extreme skin and flesh loss from the back, the punishment was usually suspended until such time that the offender had sufficiently healed. Once healed, the remainder of the required strokes were administered. Punishment was usually limited to 20, 50 or 100 strokes at one flogging, though records exist of prisoners in Australian penal colonies such as Norfolk Island or Port Arthur receiving more than 3,000 strokes over a number of months or years. A leather cat o nine used for BDSM play This article discusses an implement of punishment. ... Inside the separate prison, Port Arthur, Tasmania Port Arthur is a town and former convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula, in Tasmania, Australia. ...

Due to its prevalence, flagellation featured prominently in the culture of early colonial Australia. It was often a mark of pride for a flogged former convict to "show his stripes" (expose his flagellation scars) as an "iron man", or to hide them at all costs if an emancipated convict was attempting to rebuild some semblance of a normal life in society. Children in the Australian colonies were often observed playing "flogging games" where a doll or another child would pretend to be "strung from the triangles" and whipped.

(See also: History of Australia). The history of Australia began when people first migrated to the Australian continent from the north, at least 40,000-45,000 years ago. ...

Slavery

Treatment of slaves - scars from flagellation

Until the post-Enlightenment period, many societies had a class of slaves, that is, people who were considered chattels rather than autonomous citizens. There were sometimes multiple classes of these, for example slaves versus serfs, but often people in one or some of these classes were legally the property of their owners and could be punished at will. Throughout history, whipping endured as the most common form of punishment. Image File history File links Slavetreatment. ... Image File history File links Slavetreatment. ... Slave redirects here. ... Personal property is a type of property. ...

Although almost limitless physical cruelty to slaves was generally allowed in the Roman tradition, some domestic slaves were treated 'paternally', either as individuals or because it was a matter of good sense to not unnecessarily damage a productive slave. Slaves were often a valuable investment before the advent of motorized machines and were sometimes materially better off than the free poor who had nobody responsible for their care. By contrast, periods in which prices of slaves were low, for example during the expansion of the Roman Empire, were also periods in which slaves were probably treated more cruelly.

Although the Reformation and Enlightenment would in time render slavery unacceptable in Europe, the American slave trade remained, and flagellation featured prominently. Particularly amongst black slaves from Africa in the Americas, flagellation was the customary method (among other methods of torture) to enforce discipline and obedience. This features in a number of popular culture films about slavery such as Sankofa and the TV miniseries Roots. The Protestant Reformation was a movement which began in the 16th century as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church, but ended in division and the establishment of new institutions, most importantly Lutheranism, Reformed churches, and Anabaptists. ... // The Age of Enlightenment (French: ; German: ; Polish: ) was an eighteenth-century movement in European and American philosophy, or the longer period including the Age of Reason. ... Black cat, thought by some to cause bad luck Black is the shade of objects that do not reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... World map showing the Americas CIA political map of the Americas The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World consisting of the continents of North America[1] and South America with their associated islands and regions. ... Torture is defined by the United Nations Convention Against Torture as any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he... Adinkra symbol meaning Sankofa The concept of Sankofa is derived from Adinkra of the Akan people of West Afrika. ... Roots is a 1977 American television miniseries based on Alex Haleys work Roots: The Saga of an American Family, his critically acclaimed genealogical novel. ...

(See also: Unfree labour). Unfree labour is a generic or collective term for those work relations, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will by the threat of destitution, detention, violence (including death), or other extreme hardship to themselves, or to members of their families. ...

Association with religion

Flagellants. From a fifteenth century woodcut.

Flagellants. ... Flagellants. ...

Christianity

The Flagellation refers in a Christian context to the Flagellation of Christ, an episode in Jesus' physical degradation by leading to the Crucifixion. (See also: The Passion, Jesus and the Money Changers). The practice of mortification of the flesh for religious purposes was utilized in the Christian Flagellant movements of the 13th century, and is still very common, to this day, in the Philippines and Latin America. Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Christ is the English of the Greek word (Christós), which literally means The Anointed One. ... This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ... The Passion is the theological term used for the suffering, both physical and mental, of Jesus in the hours prior to and including his trial and execution by crucifixion. ... The narrative of Jesus and the Money Changers occurs in both the Synoptic Gospels and in the Gospel of John, although it occurs close to the end of the Synoptic Gospels (at Mark 11:15-19, 11:27-33, Matthew 21:12-17, 21:23-27 and Luke 19:45... Flagellants mortifying the flesh, at the time of the Black Death Mortification of the flesh literally means putting the flesh to death. The term is primarily used in religious and spiritual contexts. ... Flagellants, from a fifteenth century woodcut Flagellants are practitioners of an extreme form of mortification of their own flesh by whipping it with various instruments. ... Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ...

Islam

While Self Harm is forbidden in Islam a few Shi'a Muslims perform self-flagellation to mourn the death of Hussain during Muharram. Self-flagellation is forbidden by most Shi'a marjas. Most usually beat their chests with their hands. The practice is common across Shiites in the Middle East and Asia. Islam (Arabic:  ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure. ... Shia Islam or Shi`ism (from the Arabic word شيعة, short for the historic phrase shi`at `Ali شيعة علي, meaning the followers of Ali) is the second-largest denomination of the religion of Islam. ... Imaginary portrait of Husayn ibn Ali, by contemporary Iranian artist. ... The Remembrance of Muharram (Arabic: احتفال محرم or مناسبة محرم) is an important period of mourning in the Shiite branch of Islam. ... Shia Islam ( Arabic شيعى follower; English has traditionally used Shiite or Shiite) is the second largest Islamic denomination; some 20-25% of all Muslims are said to follow a Shia tradition. ... In Akhbari Shia Islam Marja is used in context with getting in contact (rujoo) with an Aalim for a hadeeth in context with their problem. ...

Flagellation (or flogging) is also used as a form of punishment in some fundamentalist Sunni Muslim countries. The most well-known of these countries is Saudi Arabia. In this modern Islamic state, flogging is used to punish the crimes of: fornication (sex outside of marriage), drinking alcohol, taking drugs and defamation of Islam. Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ... Fornication is a term which refers to sexual intercourse between consenting unmarried partners. ...

Ecstatics and Mystics

Because practices such as starvation, sleep denial and flagellation are known to induce altered states, flagellation may be used by religious ecstatics and mystics as part of ritualistic practices or ceremonies to achieve unusual states of mind. Religious ecstasy is a trance-like state characterized by expanded mental and spiritual awareness and is frequently accompanied by visions, hallucinations, and physical euphoria. ... Mysticism from the Greek μυστικός (mustikos) an initiate (of the Eleusinian Mysteries, μυστήρια (musteria) meaning initiation[1]) is the pursuit of achieving communion or identity with, or conscious awareness of, ultimate reality, the divine, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, or insight; and the belief that such experience is one...

Erotic use

Three floggers used for BDSM play

Male slave forced to kiss his Mistress's whip before she flogs him with it

In the sexual sub-culture of BDSM, "flagellation" involves beating the submissive partner and is a form of impact play. Such a flogging is not always delivered with forceful blows; sometimes it is done with very soft blows, repeated a great many times so as to make the skin sensitive. Thus, the softest impact will eventually feel very intense. Flogging for erotic thrill, typically with implements such as floggers, whips, paddles, or canes, has been called the "English vice". See also paraphilia. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 611 KB) Summary Three leather floggers used for BDSM play. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 611 KB) Summary Three leather floggers used for BDSM play. ... Play is the term given to taking part in a BDSM scene. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A collar is a common symbol in BDSM. Female bottom in bondage with leather monoglove BDSM is any of a number of related patterns of human sexual behavior. ... In this flogging demonstration at Folsom Street Fair 2004 the top is using an advanced double flogger technique. ... A whip is a cord or strap, usually with a stiff handle, used for delivering blows to human beings or animals as a means of control or punishment or torture. ... A paddle is a tool, originally a propulsion implement for mixing or pushing against liquids, typically in order to propel a boat. ... Look up cane in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The flogger used in this context has a large number of soft broad thongs made of suede, leather, or comprable materials. Its impact is felt as an impact ("thud") leaving a stinging sensation. Used with light or medium intensity, it can almost act as a form of massage. Used intensely or for longer periods, it becomes painful. Flogging with this implement, usually on the shoulder blades, behind, or other fatty areas of the body, can leave bruising but does not cut or permanently mark the skin. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Modern leather-working tools Leather is a material created through the tanning of hides and skins of animals, primarily cattlehide. ... Massage is the practice of applying structured or unstructured pressure, tension, motion, or vibration — manually or with mechanical aids — to the soft tissues of the body, including muscles, connective tissue, tendons, ligaments, joints, lymphatic vessels, organs of the gastrointestinal system and reproductive system to achieve a beneficial response. ... A bruise or contusion or ecchymosis is a kind of injury, usually caused by blunt impact, in which the capillaries are damaged, allowing blood to seep into the surrounding tissue. ...

References and further reading

• Andrew Conway, The Bullwhip Book, Greenery Press, 2000. ISBN 1-890159-18-2.
• Joseph W. Bean, Flogging, Greenery Press, 2000. ISBN 1-890159-27-1.

Categories: BDSM | Book publishers | Stub ... Categories: BDSM | Book publishers | Stub ...

See also

• Corporal punishment
• Whip
• Algolagnia
• Spanking
• BDSM

Corporal punishment pain intended to change a persons behaviour or to punish them. ... A whip is a cord or strap, usually with a stiff handle, used for delivering blows to human beings or animals as a means of control or punishment or torture. ... Look up algolagnia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Political cartoon from 1860 depicting Stephen A. Douglas receiving a traditional “over-the-knee” spanking from Columbia as Uncle Sam looks on approvingly. ... A collar is a common symbol in BDSM. Female bottom in bondage with leather monoglove BDSM is any of a number of related patterns of human sexual behavior. ...

External links

• "Forensic and Clinical Knowledge of the Practice of Crucifixion" by Dr. Frederick Zugibe
• Pilot Guides - Flogging in penal Australia (including animation)
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Flagellation