It was designed to turn the screams of a dying person into the beautiful music of a bull. In Ancient Rome, the Brazen Bull was the ultimate engineering horror. It was a life-sized statue of a bull, hollow on the inside, made entirely of bronze. The victim would be locked inside, and a fire would be lit underneath until the metal glowed red hot. But the truly chilling part was the throat. The inventor, Perillus, designed a complex system of internal pipes and stops that functioned like a musical instrument. As the victim screamed in agony, the sound was distorted and magnified by the bronze pipes, exiting the bull’s nose as a series of deep, melodic bellows. The Romans would stand around the statue during festivals, listening to the “music” of the bull, knowing that a human being was literally being baked alive inside. When the door was finally opened, the bones were said to “shine like jewels” and were often made into bracelets. It was a masterpiece of beauty and butchery that eventually claimed the life of its own creator.
Interesting Fact The inventor, Perillus, was the bull’s first victim. When he showed his invention to the tyrant Phalaris, the ruler was so disgusted by the cruelty of the “musical” design that he forced Perillus to climb inside to “prove” the sound worked. He then had a fire lit, and after listening to the music, he pulled Perillus out just before he died, only to throw him off a cliff.
