Ascourge is awhip or lash, especially a multi-thong type, used to inflict severecorporal punishment orself-mortification. It is usually made of leather.
The word is most commonly considered to be derived from Old Frenchescorgier - "to whip", going further back to the Vulgar Latinexcorrigiare: the Latinprefixex- "out, off" with its additional English meaning of "thoroughly", pluscorrigia - "thong", or in this case "whip". Some connect it toLatin:excoriare, "toflay", built of two Latin parts,ex- ("off") andcorium, "skin".
A scourge (Latin:flagrum; diminutive:flagellum) consists of a rope with metal balls, bones, and metal spikes.
The scourge, orflail, and thecrook are the two symbols of power and domination depicted in the hands ofOsiris in Egyptian monuments.[1] The shape of the flail or scourge is unchanged throughout history.[2] However, when a scourge is described as a 'flail' as depicted in Egyptian mythology, it may be referring to use as an agricultural instrument. A flail's intended use was tothreshwheat, not to implement corporal punishment.[3] However, it is now speculated to have been neither a whip nor a flail, but instead to be a symbolic representation of adevice for collectinglabdanum.
The priests ofCybele scourged themselves and others. Such stripes were considered sacred.[4]
Hard material can be affixed to multiple thongs to give a flesh-tearing "bite". A scourge with these additions is called a scorpion.Scorpio is Latin for a Romanflagrum and is referred to in the Bible:1 Kings 12:11: "...My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions" said Rehoboam, referring to increased conscription and taxation beyond Solomon's. The name testifies to the pain caused by thearachnid. Testifying to its frequent Roman application is the existence of the Latin wordsFlagrifer 'carrying a whip' andFlagritriba 'often-lashed slave'.[4]
According to theGospel of John,Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor ofJudaea, orderedJesus to be scourged before hiscrucifixion.[5] Josephus records the scourging ofJesus ben Ananias, a Jew who repeatedly prophesizedJerusalem's impending destruction; after each lash, he declared "Woe to the Jerusalemites" and was ultimately released by procuratorAlbinus (r. 62–64 AD), who considered him a madman.[6] In 66 AD, during the events leading up to theFirst Jewish–Roman War, Roman authorities under procuratorFlorus scourged and crucified many inhabitants of Jerusalem, including women and children.[6] Later, in 71 AD,Simon bar Giora, a leader of the revolt, was scourged shortly before his execution on theCapitoline Hill, following his appearance in theRoman triumph celebrating theconquest of Jerusalem.[6]
Scourging was adopted as a sanction in the monastic discipline of the fifth and following centuries. Early in the fifth century it is mentioned byPalladius of Galatia in theHistoria Lausiaca,[7] andSocrates Scholasticus[8] tells us that, instead of being excommunicated, offending young monks were scourged. (See the sixth-century rules ofSt. Cæsarius of Arles for nuns,[9] and ofSt. Aurelian of Arles.[10]) Thenceforth scourging is frequently mentioned in monastic rules and councils as an enforcer of discipline.[11]
Its use as a punishment was general in the seventh century in all monasteries of the severeColumban rule.[12]
Canon law (Decree of Gratian,Decretals of Gregory IX) recognized it as a punishment for ecclesiastics; even as late as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it appears in ecclesiastical legislation as a punishment forblasphemy,concubinage andsimony. Scourging as a means ofpenance andmortification is publicly exemplified in the tenth and eleventh centuries by the lives ofSt. Dominic Loricatus[13] andSt. Peter Damian (died 1072). The latter wrote a special treatise in praise of self-flagellation; though blamed by some contemporaries for excess of zeal, his example and the high esteem in which he was held did much to popularize the voluntary use of a small scourge known as adiscipline, as a means of mortification and penance.[4]
From then on the practice appeared in most medieval religious orders and associations.[4] The fourteenth-centuryFlagellants were named for their self-flagellation; KingLouis IX of France andElisabeth of Hungary also made private use of the "discipline".[4]
Semi-literal uses such as "the scourge of God" forAttila theHun (i.e. "God's whip with which to punish the nations") led tometaphoric uses to mean a severe affliction, e.g. "the scourge of drug abuse".
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "scourge".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Tierney, John j. (1909). "Flagellation". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company.