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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.
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— a barbarian virtue that was picked up in English schoolboy slang by the end of the 17th century.
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 manliness. 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 to much for the person to safely bear.
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. 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 to 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 bound to a low pillar so that he could bend over it. Two lictors (some reports indicate scourgings with four or six lictors) alternated blows. 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 victims who 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 caution, as the possibility of inflicting a fatal blow was much greater.
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. [1] (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/03/05/1046826437209.html?oneclick=true)
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.
Flagellation took place either with a single whip or more notoriously with the cat o' nine tails. Typically the offender was suspended by the hands beneath a tripod of wooden beams, 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 fitness 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 then 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.
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 attempting to rebuild some semblance of a normal life in polite society. Children in the Australian colonies were often observed playing at "flogging games" where a doll or another child would pretend to be "strung from the triangles" and whipped.
See also: History of Australia
 Treatment of slaves - scars from flagellation
Slavery Flagellation also featured prominently in the slave trade, particularly slaves from Africa in the Americas. Flagellation was the customary method (among other methods of torture) to ensure discipline and obedience of slaves. This features in a number of popular culture films about slavery such as Sankofa and the TV miniseries Roots.
See also: Unfree labour
Association with religion The Flagellation refers in a Christian context to the Flagellation of Christ, an episode in Jesus' physical degradation leading to the Crucifixion. (See Passion).
The fanatic practice of mortification of the flesh for religious purposes includes the Christian Flagellant movements of the 13th century, the present-day members of Opus Dei, and many Shias during the festival of Ashura.
Erotic use In the sexual sub-culture of BDSM, "flagellation" involves beating the submissive partner. 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, so that the softest impact can eventually feel very intense. Flogging for erotic thrill, typically with implements such as whips, paddles, or canes, has been called the "English vice." It is discussed with other displaced eroticism at the entry for paraphilia.
References and further reading
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