Durin the Ottoman period, the Muslim Turks, in order to terrorize the Greeks, impaled and roasted alive Athanasios Diakos. But, they gave him a chance: "Will you become a Turk, Diakos? Will you change your faith? Will you pray in the mosque and abandon the church?" He replied to them: "Go away, you and your faith, may you perish, you heathens! I was born a Greek, and as a Greek I shall die." According to eyewitness accounts of the time, two Turks kindled a fire beside the stable and set an iron grate over it, with a large copper cauldron of oil above the flames. They then lifted Diakos, still bound, and seated him on an old wooden stool. His legs were raised. The Turks began to mock him and put questions to him. At every negative nod they drove nails into his feet. Afterward they took the boiling oil and poured it first over his bare feet. Seeing that he gave no reaction, they tore his clothing and began pouring the oil over his back and chest. He groaned quietly under the pain. The soldiers, ordered not to kill him, used needles to burst the blisters that the boiling oil raised on his skin. This went on for hours, until the following morning. Exhausted, he was dragged through the town to be put to death. The execution was carried out in public view, by leave of Halil Bey, so that the Greeks would be warned of the fate awaiting anyone who dared to rise in revolt. Diakos’s mother was present at his torture. After he had been tied backward onto a saddle with his legs forced apart, the executioner began pressing the sharpened point of a wooden stake into his groin and then drove it slowly deeper, through the length of his body, until it emerged near his right ear. The executioner worked with care, under orders not to kill him quickly; with every thrust of the stake, Diakos’s cries showed that he was still alive. When the executioner had finished, the Turks bound the body tightly to the stake so the skin would not tear, and propped him nearly upright against a tree. As he was dying, he is said to have spoken these sorrowful lines: "Look at the hour Death has chosen to take me, now, when the branches are in blossom and the earth brings forth grass." (Sources: Spyridon Trikoupis "History of the Greek Revolution", Aristotelis Valaoritis "Athanasios Diakos" 1867, Georg Gottfried Gervinus "History of the Revolution and Rebirth of Greece", Songs of the Greek People 1821) Halil Bey ordered a fire to be lit beneath him and the body turned slowly, so that he would be roasted alive like an animal. After many hours of torment, the Greek chieftain died on April 24, 1821. When the Greeks learned of his story and his martyrdom, they were filled with even greater rage and strength to liberate themselves from the barbarous Muslims and Islam. Athanasios Diakos is one of the most important heroes in the Greek history. If you want to support me in the effort I’m making, please consider becoming a subscriber to my X account for only $2. I write about the ancient, medieval, and modern history of Greece and what Christians went through in Asia Minor, Greece, and Cyprus because of Islam. Thank you very much to those of you who support me and read me. - Homer Pavlos

When Muslim Turks invaded Nicosia in 1570, they massacred and enslaved all the Christians. The Muslims seized and destroyed everything in their path, even the churches. They cut off the heads of even old men to test their swords, while they dragged others into captivity, especially those they judged could bring them great profit. In the end, they set up a slave market where they sold the beautiful Greek boys and girls. The Turks themselves boasted that their looting surpassed that of Constantinople (1453). Next year, after the fall of Famagusta (1571), the Turks stripped the Venetian defender of the city, Marcantonio Bragadin. While he was in captivity, a massacre of all the remaining Christians in the city took place. They first cut off both of Bragadin’s ears and his nose. After being left in prison for two weeks with his wounds festering, he was dragged around the city walls carrying sacks of earth and stone on his back. Next, he was tied to a chair and hoisted to the yardarm of the Turkish flagship, where he was exposed to the taunts of the sailors. Finally, he was taken to the main square, tied naked to a column, and flayed alive. They cut his body into pieces and hung them from the ship’s cannons. The galley then sailed along the coasts of Syria, so that the victors could seal their triumph in this way while his skin was stuffed with straw, sewn back together, reinvested with his military insignia, and exhibited riding a cow in a mocking procession through the streets of Famagusta. In 1580, his skin was stolen by Girolamo Polidori and brought back to Venice, where it remains today in the Basilica di San Giovanni e Paolo. The Muslim Turks loved flaying (skinning) alive Christians. During the Ottoman period, they applied it mainly against Greek rebels to deter and discipline others. As usual, the Christian victim was beaten, publicly humiliated, and tied to a special scaffold for immobilization. Then, skilled executioners removed his skin with sharp knives before the crowd. Another well-known case is that of Daskalogiannis. On June 17, 1771, he was led to a central square in Heraklion. A wooden scaffold with a special seat had been erected. Tied tightly to it, he was flayed starting from the head by a monstrous executioner who threw pieces of skin to the crowd, saying: "Take leather for your boots!" A second executioner periodically showed him his flayed face in a mirror, mocking: "Look, captain, how well the red suits you!" Relatives (brother and daughter) were in the crowd. He endured steadfastly and died when the flaying reached his shoulder blades. If you want to support me in the effort I’m making, please consider becoming a subscriber to my X account for only $2. My long historical posts are the result of years of research, and I spend a lot of time writing them. Also, I always provide primary historical sources. If anyone wants to copy/paste my posts please always mention my name as the original author. I write about the ancient, medieval, and modern history of Greece and what Christians went through in Asia Minor, Greece, and Cyprus because of Islam. Thank you very much to those of you who support me and read me. - Homer Pavlos

When the Turks found the Greek bishop Dionysios the Philosopher in 1611, they flayed him alive, stuffed his skin with straw, and paraded it from city to city. Eventually, this "attraction" reached Constantinople, where it was received with enthusiasm by the muslims. When it passed below the sultan's seraglio, the sultan, hearing the commotion, rose from his throne and stepped out onto the balcony to see what was happening. Three days later, the muslim Turks also discovered Deli Giorgos and Lambros. They burned Lambros alive, while they crucified Giorgos and, instead of a crown of thorns on his head, they drilled holes into which they placed feathers. Dionysios’s skin, together with the heads of 85 Greek Christian rebels, was sent to Constantinople, where it was thrown into the Sultan’s stables. Afterwards, Osman Pasha carried out reprisals against the population of Thesprotia, while a climate of terror spread to Ioannina and throughout Epirus. Many churches and monasteries were destroyed, such as that of Saint Demetrios at Dichouni, and their properties were confiscated. Many inhabitants of these areas were killed, enslaved, or forced to convert to Islam, while most of the survivors scattered into the mountains. From the fall of Constantinople in 1453 until 1822, the Greeks suffered systematically unimaginable tortures and slaughters for their faith. It was barbarism that the human mind cannot imagine or comprehend. These are dark pages of history that the world does not know. But you have learn and search about what the barbarians did in the name of their god. - Homer Pavlos

The most common torture inflicted by the Muslims during the Ottoman period was whipping. The usual victims were the Christians. It was the introductory torment in every other torture, so common in the persecutions of Christians that the phrase became proverbial: "I will whip you until you change your faith." The victim was tied with exposed back, their clothes torn, and the whipping began. The executioners were usually Turkish soldiers with robust physiques, so that the blows were both critical and powerful. The number of blows was either predetermined by the court or (most of the time) left to the discretion of the executioners. Muslim judges (qadis) observed the torture. If the victim showed that they could not endure the completion of the number of blows and their life was in immediate danger, then the judge placed the Quran under the executioner's armpit. Unable to raise his arm high (since the holy text must not fall to the ground), he delivered the remaining blows with less intensity. After the whipping, the victim was often left helpless without care, or thrown into prison. In most cases, permanent disabilities remained on the body. Also, one of the harshest tortures of the Ottoman Muslims was impalement. Crowds surrounded the victim and mocked them, suggesting they convert to Islam and insulting their faith, family, and nationality. The stakes were set up in a specific area, usually in the village or town square. The victim was dragged there in public humiliation, as usual. After being severely whipped, their clothes were torn, their hands were tied tightly behind their back, and they were "seated" on the stake. Then weights were hung on their legs so that they would slide down and be skewered on the stake. In many cases, the sadism did not end with skewering the victim. The spit (with the victim on it) was placed horizontally over a fire or burning coals, and the victim was roasted alive like a lamb. The fearsome and terrible Ali Pasha of Ioannina was famous for slowly roasting his victims, thinning the coals under them to prolong the agony and the entertainment of himself and his entourage. In many cases, he forced relatives to torture and kill their own kin to avoid impalement and roasting themselves. I have an interesting story to tell you on my next post. Stay tuned. I know what you are thinking. The religion of peace. - Homer Pavlos