Name: 30 Most BRUTAL Deaths in History | WatchMojo TIMELINES
Uploaded: 2026-03-18T16:56:35.000Z
Duration: 27 min 12 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Admit the murder, or you will see what our authority looks like.

today we're looking at a chronology of some of the most disturbing deaths to ever occur from the 6th century BCE to the 21st century.

For this list, we'll be taking a look at brutal executions, shocking political assassinations, and

tragic accidents, showcasing a timeline of how death has manifested throughout history.

Modern historians aren't sure if the Brazen Bull really existed, but

it is extensively referenced by an ancient Greek historian named Diodorus Siculus.

Siculus wrote about the Brazen Bull in his famous work, Bibliotheca Historica.

Back in the 500s B.C. the City of Akragis, Sicily, was ruled by the tyrant Phalaris.

As the story goes, a man named Perilous made the Brazen Bull for Phalaris as a new method of execution.

A condemned criminal would climb inside the hollow bronze bull and a fire would be lit directly underneath it.

The interior of the bull would then gradually increase in temperature, and

the criminal inside was slowly roasted to death.

Their screams would then be heard as bull sounds from the outside.

A prominent opponent of Julius Caesar, Cato the Younger was a powerful Roman senator.

His policies indirectly led to Caesar's civil war, which lasted from 49 to 45 BCE Caesar emerged victorious, and

rather than beg for forgiveness or pardon, Cato decided to end his own life.

Cato grabbed a sword while having dinner and drove it into his stomach.

According to the Greek historian Plutarch, Cato was quickly seen to by a physician.

When Cato regained consciousness and realized that his attempt had failed, he tore open the stitches and finished the job.

As gross as this is, there's a chance that Plutarch greatly exaggerated the story.

44 BC Julius Caesar serving as the dictator of Rome between 49 and 44 BC, Julius Caesar went out in dramatic fashion.

Caesar's senators feared that he was growing too tyrannical and was no longer fit to lead the Roman Republic.

You were going to consider revoking my brother's exile?

As a result, they committed what they saw as tyrannicide and killed Caesar in the curia of Pompey on March 15, 44 BC, Caesar was stabbed a total of 23 times, and

the resulting autopsy theorized that he had died from severe blood loss.

Despite the numerous stabbings, it's believed that only one of the wounds proved fatal.

Caesar's wildly dramatic death was turned into the subject of theater and immortalized in Shakespeare's famous play.

St. Bartholomew was one of Jesus Christ's 12 apostles.

He's remembered as a devoted preacher carrying Christianity to distant lands and said to have traveled across the known world from India in the east to Armenia and Azerbaijan in the west.

He spread the gospel despite relentless opposition, eventually leading to his martyrdom.

Tradition holds that Bartholomew was captured in Armenia by those outraged at his conversions.

Refusing to renounce his faith, he was subjected to savage torture.

He was reportedly flayed alive and then beheaded.

Bartholomew is venerated as a patron saint of tanners and leather workers, a nod to the method of his execution.

258 A.D. st. Lawrence a Christian martyr.

St. Lawrence was a Roman deacon under Pope Sixtus II, who served for just one year.

Between 257 and 258 A.D. the Roman emperor Valerian persecuted Christians and ordered the execution of its leaders.

As a result, many prominent Christians were killed in August of 258, including Pope Sixtus II and St.

Legend has it that Lawrence was placed on a gridiron over some coals and essentially cooked to death.

As a result, he's now the patron saint of chefs.

This account was recorded by a poet named Prudentius and St. Ambrose of Milan.

However, some modern historians contest this story, arguing instead that Lawrence was decapitated like Pope Sixtus II.

363 AD Saint Cassian Saint Cassian of Imola represents every teacher's worst nightmare in 4th century Italy.

Cassian was a man dedicated to shaping young minds.

He taught reading and writing wielding a stylus instead of a sword.

When he refused to engage in an activity which went against his Christian faith, the Roman authorities condemned him to an unthinkable fate.

Resenting his past punishments and bent on revenge, they tied him to a stake.

Armed with their pointed styluses, the tools of their lessons, they stabbed him.

The countless shallow wounds prolonged his agony in what became one of history's most excruciating martyrdoms.

Brunhilde, part of the inspiration for Wagner's Valkyrie, Brunhilde was far more than opera's braided heroine.

In reality, Queen Brunhilde ruled one of Europe's largest kingdoms over 1400 years ago.

She was a Visigoth who married into Frankish rule of Austrasia and Burgundy.

Brunhilde ruled for decades in three separate regencies, through sheer force of will and combat.

At age 70, serving as regent for her grandson, she was betrayed, deposed and captured.

The histories differ on the manner of her execution.

Some say she was dragged to death by a wild horse.

Others say that she was drawn and quartered.

Today, her mythic legacy survives in costumes and opera halls.

12:19 Inalk Chuk Governor of Otrar Inal Shuk, the ruthless governor of Otrar, made one of the most insanely stupid mistakes in human history.

Haughty and arrogant, he scoffed at a trade caravan sent by Genghis Khan in 1218.

He murdered the messengers and dismissed the potential threat.

He would ultimately be rewarded with brutal execution as his nation burned around him.

The Mongols under Genghis Khan soon besieged the city of Otrar, a siege that lasted five long months.

Suffice it to say that Khan was less than pleased with Inal Shuk's disrespect and cruelty.

He laid a long and bloody siege to Otrar, after which Inal Shuk was captured.

While the exact method of his execution is uncertain, it's widely believed that he was killed by having molten silver poured into his eyes and ears.

Story about him executing in Alchuq by pouring molten silver in his mouth, eyes and ears could well be true.

Some historians doubt it, but that's what was written.

And let's face it, an Alchuq was never going to get anything but a grisly death.

1289 Ugolino Della Garadesca Ugolino Della Garradesca was a 13th century Italian nobleman caught between two warring families and the powers they controlled.

He navigated the politics as well as he could, rising to great prominence in Pisa.

Food riots in 1288 led to a fatal mistake.

During the chaos, Ugolino killed the nephew of the archbishop.

The archbishop and Ugolino's enemies seized the opportunity to cast him down.

He was ultimately detained in a tower with his two sons and two grandsons.

After a few months, the archbishop ordered that the keys to their prison be thrown into the Arno River.

Ugolino and his family were left to slowly starve to death.

Dante Alighieri immortalized Ugolino's suffering in his inferno, ensuring this tragic story would echo through the ages.

1302 Simon Annabarte of Audemarois Simon Annabart of Audemarois, a Flemish nobleman, became a tragic figure in the annals of medieval history.