A large crowd gathered on the banks of the Bosporus to witness the hanging. The scent of freshly cut wood of the hastily built gallows mingled with the aroma from food vendors . Children gathered in groups to whisper among themselves. Adults looked around to see who was attending. As more citizens arrived people jostled for position until they were elbow to elbow and straining to view the scaffolding and gallows above the heads of those taller. The scaffolding was high enough so the executioner would not be impeded by onlookers.

The day was warm for January in Constantinople. It should have been a normal day with everyone going about their normal routines, greeting friends and looking forward to upcoming chariot races. Instead, seven were to be hanged. It was a spectacle even for those used to the brutality of chariot racing. Deaths had occurred during a race in December, 531, when the winner of a race was in dispute. Fights broke out between the Blues and the Greens and the condemned were tried and deemed guilty of the loss of life.  Now they would pay the price.

Marus arrived late and had to push through the crowd to find his friend Peter and his lover Sophia. They had agreed to meet the night before, but had not anticipated such a large turnout.

“Peter! Sophia!” Marus called when he spotted Sophia. They met amid a throng of individuals. Everyone seemed to be talking at once. Marus kissed Sophia on the cheek and greeted Peter with a slap on his back. “It is an ominous day,” he said.

“Indeed, it is. The crowd feels just as angry as the day the fight broke out.” Peter, with his slight build and mild temperament was not a fan of fighting. He preferred artistic solitude creating mosaics.

Sophia stood on tiptoe and attempted to gauge the size of the crowd. “I fear there may be trouble today. Some of the condemned are Blues, some are Greens. It could spark another fight.”

Marus, with his height advantage, also surveyed the area. “I think you might be right. Let us keep to the side, so as not to be involved.” He took Sophia’s hand and made a path through the crowd to stand by an adjoining street. Peter followed in their wake.

At that moment, there was movement. Four Imperial guards, two before, two after, led the seven condemned souls, hands tied behind their backs, to the scaffolding and began to climb. Once atop, they stood lined up facing the crowd. The gallows spanned the scaffolding and had seven nooses dangling from one solid beam across the top. Seven small platforms, one beneath each noose, provided access for each of the condemned.

One of the Imperial guards stepped forward and the crowd turned their attention to him. He pounded the handle of his long spear on the wood beneath his feet. He loudly proclaimed, “The accused have been duly tried for murder and sentenced to hang until dead. May God have mercy on their souls.”

A murmur arose among the assembled. Spectators turned to others and shook their heads. Eyes lowered.

Movement on the steps turned attention to a new figure climbing the scaffold: the executioner. No one knew for sure who he was. He wore a hooded head covering with only two holes for eyes.  Most people suspected his identity, but it was not a certainty.

He nodded to the condemned and whispered so only they could hear, “I take no joy in what I am about to do. May your souls rest with God.”

The faces of the condemned took on a softer look.

He nodded to the crowd, but said nothing. Seemingly at random he took the arm of one of the condemned. Almost gently, he led him up the three steps to the small platform directly under the noose. He chose a second to be first-hanged and led him to the platform under the second noose. From his belt he retrieved two cloth sacks and put one over the head of each man.

He stood on a three step platform between the two. He turned to one man and put the noose over the man’s head and tightened it around his neck.

The man cried out and attempted to move, but the executioner grabbed his arm and held him in place.

He whispered, “It will go easier if you do not move.”

He turned to the second man and secured the noose in place. He could see tears running down the man’s neck and felt his body tremble.

Before the men could think more about what was to come, he quickly stepped off his platform and deftly kicked the other two from under the men. Their bodies fell.

The crowd gasped.

The creak of strained wood preceded the whosh of air that uncontrollably left their bodies. The resulting flesh and bones twitched in a macabre dance. One defecated, sending a stench over the crowd.

The onlookers tried to not see, but could not keep their eyes off the spectacle, glancing upwards to see if the dance was over. It often took a long time to die by hanging. If the condemned did not fall quickly or heavily, the neck would not be broken and death came by slow strangulation. It took only a short time for the first to die, the second lasted twice the time until all breath and movement was gone.

The bodies swayed as the executioner, with the help of a palace guard, took down each body and placed it to the side on the scaffolding. He discretely ran his hand over the face covering and pinched the nose of each corpse lest there still be breath. There was none.

The five remaining condemned openly wept. Some in the crowd cried out for they had known one or the other of the newly dead and felt the finality was unjust. The executioner noticed the crowd and decided to chose three to next meet their fate. The process was repeated. One condemned, taller than the others, had less distance to fall and his feet almost touched the scaffolding when the steps were kicked away. His body twitched uncontrolably for an inordinate amount of time. One emitted gurgling sounds as his airway was slowly closed. His feet kicked the man swinging next to him creating a bizarre caricature of a puppet dancing. 

The final two had had time to more thoroughly consider their fate and now stoically stood, awaiting to be led to the noose. The families of all the condemned stood close to the scaffolding, wailing their grief. They would have the grim task of taking the bodies for burial.

As last to be executed stood on the steps, hoods over their heads, and noose tight around their necks, the scaffolding shuddered. Cracking and popping sounds resounded through the square. The executioner lost his balance and jumped from his stool. The entire structure quivered, and the still-hanging corpses swung in unison. The executioner quickly kicked the steps from under the final two men. A loud cracking sound filled the square. The entire structure fell forward.

A collective gasp rose from the crowd, momentarily stunning everyone as the scaffolding seemed to take on a life of its own and the condemned men fell to the ground, the final two, unhanged. For a split second no one moved. The executioner stood. A quick-thinking individual in the crowd rushed forward and removed the noose from one of the unhanged. Another did the same for the second man. The crowd quickly got the idea and swarmed around the men cutting off access by the Imperial guards, who were dazed from their fall and did not seem to know what to do.

Marus, Sophia and Peter, mouths agape, watched from their vantage point as the unhanged were brought to their feet, and their hoods removed. The crowd surrounded the dazed men in a tight formation. The Imperial guards cried out for reinforcements, but the crowd kept them from leaving. The families of the already hanged surrounded the corpses to prevent any further damage. The executioner slowly walked away from the scene. No one bothered him.

The unhanged were spirited away down a side street, leaving the majority looking to each other for explanation of what just happened. Confusion reigned until someone shouted, “It is God’s will! These two are pardoned by God!”

Others in the crowd took up the cry. “Yes, yes. It is God’s will!”

“Yes. They have received redemption from God.”

“Hallelujah! God has spoken. They shall live.”

Marus looked at Peter and Sophia. “God’s will?”

Sophia said, “I do not know.”

“Or inept carpenters. I do not know either.” Peter’s keen eye surveyed what was left of the scaffolding.

“I hope they are safe.” Sophia scanned the now-diminishing crowd.

Marus sighed. “I hope someone provides safe harbor. I wonder where they went. This will anger the Emperor. He will want answers.”

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