Tablillas
Encyclopedia
The medieval Spanish tablillas, referenced in the article "Tormento" in Larousse Enciclopedia Gran Universal Ilustrada, was an instrument of torture
used to crush toes. The prisoner was bound face-upward to the rack and stretched until the tension in his bare feet held his toes tense and stiffly pointed. The tablillas were a pair of pillories for the feet, two small wooden tablets featuring five narrow holes through which the toes were forced and immobilized. Before putting each question, the torturer positioned a sharp wedge of hard wood over the tip of one of the prisoner's toes. If he found the answer unsatisfactory, the torturer struck the wedge with a heavy mallet, driving the wedge head-on into the toe with sufficient force to utterly smash the tiny bones. The toes were destroyed one by one, starting with the pinky toes, until the prisoner complied.
A particularly cruel variant of this torture made use of long, thin wedges of soft wood that were introduced into each hole alongside the entrapped toe. Driving the wedge into the hole by means of the mallet blow not only fractured the toe bones but also completely lacerated the flesh of the toe.
While the tablillas could theoretically be applied to the fingers as well, the results were inferior: long, thin fingers were more likely merely to snap under the wedge while short, stubby toes were more readily pulverized. Consequently, the pudgier the prisoner's toes, the stronger his candidacy for productive torture under the tablillas.
The Larousse article also cites a putative ancient Spartan torture device, the daktylethra (Gk., thimble), featuring finely threaded iron jaws between which toes were slowly crushed. However, one questions the historical accuracy of the claim that such an instrument could be engineered in ancient times.
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
used to crush toes. The prisoner was bound face-upward to the rack and stretched until the tension in his bare feet held his toes tense and stiffly pointed. The tablillas were a pair of pillories for the feet, two small wooden tablets featuring five narrow holes through which the toes were forced and immobilized. Before putting each question, the torturer positioned a sharp wedge of hard wood over the tip of one of the prisoner's toes. If he found the answer unsatisfactory, the torturer struck the wedge with a heavy mallet, driving the wedge head-on into the toe with sufficient force to utterly smash the tiny bones. The toes were destroyed one by one, starting with the pinky toes, until the prisoner complied.
A particularly cruel variant of this torture made use of long, thin wedges of soft wood that were introduced into each hole alongside the entrapped toe. Driving the wedge into the hole by means of the mallet blow not only fractured the toe bones but also completely lacerated the flesh of the toe.
While the tablillas could theoretically be applied to the fingers as well, the results were inferior: long, thin fingers were more likely merely to snap under the wedge while short, stubby toes were more readily pulverized. Consequently, the pudgier the prisoner's toes, the stronger his candidacy for productive torture under the tablillas.
The Larousse article also cites a putative ancient Spartan torture device, the daktylethra (Gk., thimble), featuring finely threaded iron jaws between which toes were slowly crushed. However, one questions the historical accuracy of the claim that such an instrument could be engineered in ancient times.