Sawing in the half was an incredibly cruel execution method.

Sawing in the half was an incredibly cruel execution method, used mostly in the Medieval Europe.

During the process, the criminal would be hung upside-down from a tree or gallows, and a large saw would be then used to slice his or her body in half, starting with the crotch, all the way to the chest and head. 

While some victims were cut completely in half, most of them were only sliced up to their abdomen, prolonging their agony.

Because the victims were hung upside-down, the brain was receiving sufficient bloodflow to keep them alive and concious until the saw finally reached the main arteries in the abdomen. 

In extreme cases, the execution could last several hours.

The term "death by sawing" indicates the act of sawing a living person in half, either sagitally (usually midsagitally), or transversely. 

Thus, decapitation by sawing or dismemberment by sawing are tangential sub-themes, though some ambiguous cases might be included. 

Death by sawing was a method of execution reportedly used in different parts of the world.

 Some of the reviewed examples are legendary. At least one source states that the method was probably never used.

In the Chinese version of this execution method, the sawing would begin at the top of the head, with the victim standing upward, causing immediate death after few seconds. 

Different methods of death by sawing have been recorded. In cases related to the Roman Emperor Caligula, the sawing is said to be through the middle. 

In the cases of Morocco, it is stated that the sawing was lengthwise, both from the groin and upwards, and from the skull and downwards. 

In only one case, in the story about Simon the Zealot, the person is explicitly described as being hung upside-down and sawn apart vertically through the middle, starting at the groin, with no mention of fastening or support boards around the person, in the manner depicted in illustrations.

[5] In other cases where details about the method, beyond the mere sawing act, are explicitly supplied, the condemned person was apparently fastened to either one or two boards prior to sawing.

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