While I can’t support it with evidence, I always thought that torture to extract information was a relatively new phenomenon (information is much more valuable now than it was). Torture before the 20th century seems like just human cruelty.
I mean, people used to think it was a good idea to torture animals to death as a family activity. Not even that long ago, and it still exists.
Crucifixion wasn’t always to the death. It was used as torture as well.
The first sentence of the Wikipedia article disagrees with you.
While I can’t support it with evidence, I always thought that torture to extract information was a relatively new phenomenon (information is much more valuable now than it was). Torture before the 20th century seems like just human cruelty.
I mean, people used to think it was a good idea to torture animals to death as a family activity. Not even that long ago, and it still exists.