Of course, it’s a horrifying way to die, and it sends a powerful message. Aside from the obvious humiliation that it is intended to inflict, does the fact that the victim is beheaded rather than merely shot (for example) have any religious or cultural significance at all? Or is it simply a matter of contempt for the victim? I suspect it is much more of the latter, but am curious about the former.
I ask because it appears that in at least one case, according to this article, the victim had been shot to death first and then decapitated.
I realize that this subject is an emotional topic at the moment, and I would like to request that any responses this question may get remain appropriate for this forum, and that Pit-worthy or GD-worthy replies be reserved for those forums.
It’s interesting that you ask, because I was just thinking the same thing. In my opinion it’s definitely a symbolic thing, not just a means of murdering someone. Think of the headhunters, koro, etc. Beheading is the method of the moment for inflicting fear. In a different part of the world it might be chopping off the penis.
p.s. – Also, whenever bodies get dragged through the street, people get extra pissed off, as though the muder in itself is not the main insult. I think that’s very strange. I think it has to do with taboos regarding death, the soul, etc.
Islamic fighters have actually had a long history of beheading. In recent memory we can all recall Nick Berg, the American Jewish contractor decapitated on video, and before him, reporter Daniel Pearl, another American Jew, similarly executed.
But it goes back before then also; there have been reports of English hostages decapitated in the Sudan, and all the way back to ancient times, when hundreds of Jews and Christians of the Arabian peninsula were beheaded during the Muslim conquests.
Many Muslims have denounced these beheadings as “un-Islamic,” and while their intentions are certainly in the right place, there actually IS a verse in the Koran addressing the issue:
When you meet the unbelievers in jihad [holy war], chop off their heads. And when you have brought them low, bind your prisoners rigorously. Then set them free or take ransom from them until the war is ended." (Koran, 47:4)
Does this mean that all Muslims are head-whacking, scimitar-wielding barbarians? No, but apparently there is some religious context for the beheadings.
In England during the Tudors, beheading was the execution method reserved for top nobility. Lesser executions involved hanging, bed, burning at the stake, etc. During the French Revolution, of course, beheading by guillotine was not only common, but provided entertainment for the masses.
OTOH, the “I CLAUDIUS” TV show has a royal character screeching not to be beheaded. I’m not sure whether that was the attitude in ancient Rome or not.
I assume it varies by culture (and over time), but clearly beheading involves a notion of desecrating the body (by separating the parts.) Wild-arse speculation: For societies with a belief in a physical afterlife, like ancient Rome or fundamentalist Moslems, mutilating the body presumably has an impact in “heaven” (or wherever.) And, of course, since the head is viewed as the place in the body where the person “resides”, there is a strong dramatic/symbolic significance in being able to hold the head aloft, etc.
Our society seems to view beheading as more barbaric, somehow, than if the victims had been strangled, hanged, shot, drowned, or whatever. I wonder when one of those terrorist groups will decide to try stoning.
Same in France. Being beheaded instead of hanged was a “priviledge” of the nobility. So, it apparently wasn’t thought as particularily humiliating (or perhaps it was because beheading was a relatively quick and painless way to die?).
Beheading was definitely considered a quicker and more painless form of execution. Out of the other forms of execution, it certainly was preferred. Unfortunately, there were executions such as Mary, Queen of Scot’s that took several blows before the head was severed.
Hanging meant a possible slow death by strangulation if the rope wasn’t long enough; burning at the stake was a torturous death meant for blasphemers and traitors–the bottom of the barrel, one would say.
For religious reasons, even an modern, urban Saudi is very familiar with beheading. You have to slit the throat of a couple of sheep when your wife has a baby, it is part of the Hajj ritual.
Slitting the throat is a way to show your victim is jest an animal. It is also the way of killing most familiar to these folks.