Martyrdom of Persian Christians by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo 1479 - 82. The scene shows Christians from Persia (Iran) who were executed in Rome in the 3rd century. This cast shows a martyr being lowered head first into a vessel or cauldron containing a liquid, probably boiling oil or water. Sometimes the victim would be placed in the cauldron before it was boiled so as to be cooked slowly. Or they would be placed, usually head first, into the already boiling liquid; this was more frequently a way to execute a prisoner rather than to extract a confession. The original marble sculptures of these gruesome scenes once adorned a shrine in a church in Cremona, which contained relics of the martyrs. Today they are in the city's cathedral. V&A.