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Cornu Using

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glumova said:
Did anybody use a cornu? What was a shape and lenght of this cornu? Did you place it between legs or insert into body in some way?
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Hi, Glumova. There were all types of cornus used in Roman times. Some were a simple spike nailed between the legs, on which the victim could rest (albeit uncomfortably--try sitting on an inch-thick spike sometime!), and some were more technologically devious than that, utilizing various means of increasing the agony as well as insuring the victim remained alive longer...such as, for instance, using notches along the top of the cornu. Ouch!

There is mention of cornus with a "horn," or a projecting piece that was inserted into the anus, but I think this might have been lethal fairly soon. I would think that a victim would rip his bowels sitting on such a thing.

The entire goal of a cornu was to make the victim last as long as possible--until exposure, starvation, blood poisoning, or wild animals brought about death.
 
The only description I've ever seen of a cornu was that it was like a rhinocerous horn. My own interpretation of what the writer meant by that is that it pointed upward, although you could also wonder if it referred to its size, or maybe that there was a double horn, one shorter than the other. In that case, a male victim, at least, seeking relief by allowing the longer horn to slip into his rectum would find himself resting on the point of the shorter one. Most likely the same thing would happen with a female, but the spacing between the two horns would be a factor. It's all a matter of interpretation.

As far as materials, it's all a guess.

Jedakk
 
jedakk said:
The only description I've ever seen of a cornu was that it was like a rhinocerous horn. My own interpretation of what the writer meant by that is that it pointed upward, although you could also wonder if it referred to its size, or maybe that there was a double horn, one shorter than the other. In that case, a male victim, at least, seeking relief by allowing the longer horn to slip into his rectum would find himself resting on the point of the shorter one. Most likely the same thing would happen with a female, but the spacing between the two horns would be a factor. It's all a matter of interpretation.

As far as materials, it's all a guess.

Jedakk
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Almost exactly! Or exactly, sometimes! :)

From the ancient writings I have read, only a single rhinoceros horn or unicorn horn was mentioned: which boils it down to rhinoceros unicornis, the Indian Rhinoceros.

But that didn't prevent the Romans from using or fabricating two-horned cornus of the type you described. Maybe there's a graffito somewhere showing exactly that yet to be discovered, or a writing somewhere I haven't come across yet.

But the graffito from Puteoli shows "Alcimilla" riding a vertical horn and when she or he hanged all the way down, her /his perineum rested on a horizontal horn that looked like an uncircumcized penis. And there was a brace under the horizontal horn shaped to look like a retracted scrotal sac.
 
I keep hoping that they'll uncover a crucifixion victim, still on the cross, in the ashes around Pompeii someday. Then maybe we would have some questions answered definitively.

Jedakk
 
jedakk said:
I keep hoping that they'll uncover a crucifixion victim, still on the cross, in the ashes around Pompeii someday. Then maybe we would have some questions answered definitively.

Jedakk
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grin only grin;):p
 
Sadly i can't see that happening as the Volcanic ashes would've destroyed anything imflammable....:(
Knowing our rotten luck it'd be a Male with a stonkin' great hard-on stiffy !!:p:D
Cheers B.
 
Well, actually the volcanic ashes didn't destroy everything flammable. The unique thing about Pompeii is that it was covered pretty deeply in ash, which was not hot at all when it fell. People and animals smothered in it and some were killed by the pyroclastic flow of superheated gas and ash that came rushing down the mountain afterward, but the thing is that they left behind voids in the compacted ash, kind of like fossils. Someone way back figured out that you could fill those voids with plaster and then uncover them to show a cast of the person or whatever else had been there.​

A lot of this has been done over the years within the city, and I've seen some of it that was on exhibit - literally piles of bodies in some cases. But I don't know that anyone has ever done any exploration of the ash outside of the city, where any crucifixions might have taken place. That's why I mentioned that, because it might actually be a possibility.​

Jedakk​
 
Baracus said:
Sadly i can't see that happening as the Volcanic ashes would've destroyed anything imflammable....:(
Knowing our rotten luck it'd be a Male with a stonkin' great hard-on stiffy !!:p:D
Cheers B.
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That would be MY best of luck cause the crucified bastard would have been impaled on a big stinkin' rhinoceros horn and resting on its bulb, stimulating his prostate! :p;)

What's more likely with our rotten luck is that they'll find an empty stipes or a whole bunch of 'em... meaning no-one was crucified for weeks!!!
 
Good comments.
I agree with Jeddak's hope: That during one digging exploration, the archeologists will choose the downwind gate from the city and find the crucifixing grounds (a short walk outside). They may have guessed where already, if the gates have been found. The ash may be very deep though. The old 'ground level' may be very far down from current ground level.
 
megan smith said:
If a cornu is used on me, how is the size determined that it would not damage me permanently?
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Sweetie when you are going to suffer death by crucifixon I don't think size matters or weather or not it does damage!
 
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