The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Scaphism \Scaph"ism\, n. [Gr. ska`fh a trough.]
   An ancient mode of punishing criminals among the Persians, by
   confining the victim in a trough, with his head and limbs
   smeared with honey or the like, and exposed to the sun and to
   insects until he died.
   [1913 Webster]