What is Flaying?
'''Flaying''' is a form of [[torture]], mutilation, and [[execution]]. It is the act of stripping the [[skin]] and flesh from the [[bone]]s. Flaying an enemy while alive is an ancient practice. Accounts attribute the practice to the ancient [[Assyrian]]s, who were said to flay the skin from a captured enemy or rebellious ruler and nail it to the wall of his city, as warning to all who would defy their power. 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 [[18th century]] in [[France]]; one such episode is graphically recounted in the opening chapter of [[Michel Foucault]]'s ''Discipline and Punish'' ([[1979]]). {{stub}} [[Category:Torture]] [[Category:Punishments]]