ATDDTA (8) Towers of Silence (209:26)

[David Morris]

The purpose of elevation in each case is very different.  A
Crucifixion is a form of punishment, simultaneous torture, execution
and humiliation.  The tower of silence is a form of ritual
purification and burial without any associated guilt or shame.

The elevated dead at Jeshimon seem more of the Christian kind:
torture, execution and humiliation.

David Morris

On 5/2/07, bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> The corpse on an upright piece of wood is a theme of Christianity.
>
> Bekah
>
> At 6:51 AM -0700 5/2/07, Keith wrote:
> >While I can find no references to hanging corpses on telegraph poles or placing them atop adobe brick towers (perhaps an allusion to the towered Mormon temples http://tinyurl.com/2ture6 ) in turn-of-the-century Utah, the Persian "Towers of Silence" serve the stated purpose:
> >
> >"Zoroastrians consider a dead body - in addition to cut hair and nail-parings - to be nasu, unclean. According to tradition, the purpose of exposure is to preclude the pollution of earth or fire (see Zam and Atar respectively). Corpses are therefore placed atop a tower and so exposed to the sun and to birds of prey. Bodies are arranged in three rings: men around the outside, women in the second circle, and children in the innermost ring. The ritual precinct may only be entered by a special class of pallbearers. Once the bones have been bleached by the sun and wind, which can take as long as a year, they are collected in an ossuary pit at the center of the tower and/or are eventually washed out to sea."
> >
> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towers_of_Silence
>
>