The breaking wheel, also known as the Catherine wheel or simply the wheel, was a torture device used for capital punishment from antiquity into early modern times for public execution by breaking the criminal's bones/bludgeoning him to death. As a form of execution, it was used from classical times into the 18th century; as a form of post mortem punishment of the criminal, the wheel was still in use in 19th century Germany.

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The Breaking Wheel, 1548

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Photo credit: © Science History Images / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: 1540s, 1548, 16th, antiquity, antoine, breaking, bw, capital, catherine, century, criminals, cruelty, desrues, device, execution, françois, history, infamous, instrument, interrogate, man, method, persecution, prisoner, public, punishment, suffering, torture, victim, wheel, woodcut