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See also: Crucifixion of Jesus.

Crucifixion (from Latin crucifixio, noun of process from perfect passive participle crucifixus, fixed to a cross, from prefix cruci-, cross, + verb ficere, fix or do, variant form of facere, do or make) is an ancient method of execution, whereby the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross (of various shapes) and left to hang until dead.

It was in use particularly among the Persians, Seleucids, Carthaginians, and Romans from about the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD, when in the year 337 Emperor Constantine I abolished it in his empire, out of veneration for Jesus Christ, the most famous victim of crucifixion. It has sometimes been used even in modern times.

A crucifix, (from Latin crucifixus or cruci fixus, past participle passive of crucifigere or cruci figere, "crucify", "fix to a cross"), an image of Christ crucified on a cross, is for Catholic Christians the main symbol of their religion, but most Protestant Christians prefer to use a cross without the figure (the "corpus" - Latin for "body") of Christ.

Details of crucifixion

Crucifixion is from the verb to crucify derived from a Latin word crucificare which corresponds to Greek σταυρόω, meaning 'to put on a stake (σταυρός)' for execution. It is most cruel execution method by hanging a criminal on an upright stake to bring a death that was particularly slow, painful (hence the term excruciating, literally "out of crucifying"), gruesome (hence dissuading against the crimes punishable by it) and public (hence the metaphorical expression "to nail to the cross"). It was almost never performed for ritual or symbolic reasons outside of Christianity. It is not to be confused with impaling on a pole, which is an entirely different way of execution.

In addition to the upright portion (in Latin, stipes) additionally a cross-beam (in Latin, patibulum) may be attached to it to bind the outstretched arms, to form the well-recognized figure of + or T, which a cross usually refers to.

If a crossbeam was used, the condemned man was forced to carry it on his shoulders, which could have been torn open by flagellation, to the place of execution. A whole cross would weigh well over 300 pounds (135 kilograms), but the crossbeam would weigh only 75-125 pounds (35-60 kilograms). The Roman historian Tacitus records that the city of Rome had a specific place for carrying out executions, situated outside the Esquiline Gate, and had a specific area reserved for the execution of slaves by crucifixion. Upright posts would presumably be fixed permanently in that place, and the crossbeam, with the condemned person perhaps already nailed to it, would then be attached to the post.

The person executed may sometimes have been attached to the cross by ropes, but nails are mentioned in a passage by the Judean historian Josephus, where he states that, at the Siege of Jerusalem (70), "the soldiers out of rage and hatred, nailed those they caught, one after one way, and another after another, to the crosses, by way of jest". Objects, such as nails, used in the execution of criminals were sought as amulets.

Frequently, the legs of the person executed were broken or shattered with an iron club, an act called crurifragium which was also frequently applied without crucifixion to slaves. This act hastened the death of the person but was also meant to deter those who observed the crucifixion from committing offenses.

Different Shapes of Cross

See also Cross or stake on which Jesus died

The cross on which execution was carried out comes in several forms. Josephus describes multiple tortures and positions of crucifixion during the Siege of Jerusalem as Titus crucified the rebels; and Seneca the Younger recounts: "I see crosses there, not just of one kind but made in many different ways: some have their victims with head down to the ground; some impale their private parts; others stretch out their arms on the gibbet."

The 'cross' when consists of only one vertical stake is called in Latin crux simplex or palus. This was the simplest available construction for torturing and killing the criminals. Frequently, however, a cross-beam is attached either at the top to give the shape of a T (crux commissa) or just below the top, as in the form most familiar in Christian symbolism (crux immissa). Other forms were in the shape of the letters X and Y.

The earliest writings that speak specifically of the shape of the cross on which Jesus died describe it as shaped like the letter T (the Greek letter tau), or composed of an upright and a transverse beam, together with a small ledge in the upright.

Nail placement in crucifixion

In popular depictions of crucifixion (possibly derived from a literal reading of the translated description in the Gospel of John, of Jesus' wounds being 'in the hands'), the condemned is shown with nails in their hands. Although historical documents refer to the nails (or rather, 'spikes' as in a phrase 'nailing a spike') being in the "hands", the word usually translated as "hand", "χείρ" in Greek, referred to arm and hand together, so that, words are added to denote the hand as distinct from the arm, as "ἄκρην οὔτασε χεῖρα" (he wounded the end of the χείρ, i.e. he wounded her hand).

A possibility that does not require tying is that the nails were inserted just above the wrist, between the two bones of the forearm (the radius and the ulna).

An experiment that was the subject of a documentary on the National Geographic Channel's Quest For Truth: The Crucifixion, showed that a person can be suspended by the palm of their hand. Nailing the feet to the side of the cross relieves strain on the wrists by placing most of the weight on the lower body.

Another possibility, suggested by Frederick Zugibe, is that the nails may have been driven in at an angle, entering in the palm in the crease that delineates the bulky region at the base of the thumb, and exiting in the wrist, passing through the carpal tunnel.

A foot-rest attached to the cross, perhaps for the purpose of taking the man's weight off the wrists, is sometimes included in representations of the crucifixion of Jesus, but is not mentioned in ancient sources. These, however, do mention the sedile, a small seat attached to the front of the cross, about halfway down, which could have served that purpose.

The remains of one Jehohanan, possibly indicate that each heel was nailed separately to the side of the stake. Jehohonan, as he was called, had died around AD 7, and so was a close contemporary of Jesus, and his crucifixion was likely to have been carried out in a similar way. Jehohanan's remains were discovered in 1968 by a team of archaeologists led by Vassilios Tzaferis. The remains were that of a crucified man in cave-tombs at Giv'at ha-Mivtar, north of Jerusalem.

The key bit of evidence was a heel bone with a curved nail stuck through it. The nail was driven through the heel bones from the side, indicating to some that Jehohanan had been crucified in 'a sort of sidesaddle position'. Other experts, however, suggest that the length of the nail is too short for this and establishes that each heel must have been nailed separately to the sides of the cross.

Cause of death

The length of time required to reach death could range from a matter of hours to a number of days, depending on exact methods, the health of the crucified person and environmental circumstances. Death could result from any combination of causes, including blood loss, hypovolemic shock, or sepsis following infection, caused by the scourging that preceded the crucifixion, or by the process of being nailed itself, or eventual dehydration.

A theory attributed to Pierre Barbet holds that, when the whole body weight was supported by the stretched arms, the typical cause of death was asphyxiation. He conjectured that the condemned would have severe difficulty inhaling, due to hyper-expansion of the chest muscles and lungs. The condemned would therefore have to draw himself up by his arms, leading to exhaustion, or have his feet supported by tying or by a wood block. Indeed, Roman executioners could be asked to break the condemned's legs, after he had hung for some time, in order to hasten his death. Once deprived of support and unable to lift himself, the condemned would die within a few minutes. Experiments by Frederick Zugibe have, however, revealed that, when suspended with arms at 60° to 70° from the vertical, test subjects had no difficulty breathing, only rapidly-increasing discomfort and pain. This would correspond to the Roman use of crucifixion as a prolonged, agonizing, humiliating death. Legs were often broken to hasten death through severe traumatic shock and fat embolism. Crucifixion on a single pole with no transom, with hands affixed over one's head, would precipitate rapid asphyxiation if no block was provided to stand on, or once the legs were broken.

Surviving crucifixion

There is a record of one person who survived being crucified. Josephus recounts: "I saw many captives crucified, and remembered three of them as my former acquaintance. I was very sorry at this in my mind, and went with tears in my eyes to Titus, and told him of them; so he immediately commanded them to be taken down, and to have the greatest care taken of them, in order to their recovery; yet two of them died under the physician's hands, while the third recovered." Josephus gives no details of the method or duration of the crucifixion of his three friends before their reprieve.

Archaeological evidence for ancient crucifixion

Despite the fact that the ancient Jewish historian Josephus, as well as other sources, refer to the crucifixion of thousands of people by the Romans, there is only a single archaeological discovery of a crucified body dating back to the Roman Empire around the time of Jesus which was discovered in Jerusalem in 1968. It is not necessarily surprising that there is only one such discovery, because a crucified body was usually left to decay on the cross and therefore would not be preserved. The only reason these archaeological remains were preserved was because family members gave this particular individual a customary burial.

The remains were found accidentally in an ossuary with the crucified man’s name on it, 'Yehohanan, the son of Hagakol'. Prof. Nicu Haas, an anthropologist at the Hebrew University Medical School in Jerusalem, examined the ossuary and discovered that it contained a heel bone with a nail driven through its side, indicating that the man had been crucified. The position of the nail relative to the bone indicates that the feet have been nailed to the cross from their side, not from their front; various opinions have been proposed as to whether they were both nailed together to the front of the cross or one on the left side, one on the right side. The point of the nail had olive wood fragments on it indicating that he was crucified on a cross made of olive wood or on an olive tree. Since olive trees are not very tall, this would suggest that the condemned was crucified at eye level. Additionally, a piece of acacia wood was located between the bones and the head of the nail, presumably to keep the condemned from freeing his foot by sliding it over the nail. His legs were found broken, perhaps as a means of hastening his death as described in John 19:31-35. It is thought that, since in Roman times iron was expensive, the nails were removed from the dead body to cut the costs, which would help to explain why only one has been found, as the tip of the nail in question was bent in such a way that it couldn't be removed.

Prof. Haas had also identified a scratch on the inner surface of the right radius bone of the forearm, close to the wrist. He deduced from the form of the scratch, as well as from the intact wrist bones, that a nail had been driven into the forearm at that position.

History of crucifixion

Pre-Roman States

Crucifixion (or impalement), in one form or another, was used by Persians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Macedonians and Romans. Death was often hastened. "The attending Roman guards could only leave the site after the victim had died, and were known to precipitate death by means of deliberate fracturing of the tibia and/or fibula, spear stab wounds into the heart, sharp blows to the front of the chest, or a smoking fire built at the foot of the cross to asphyxiate the victim."

Some Christian theologians, beginning with Paul of Tarsus writing in Galatians 3:13, have interpreted an allusion to crucifixion in Deuteronomy 21:22–23. This reference is to being hanged from a tree, and may be associated with lynching or traditional hanging. However, ancient Jewish law allowed only 4 methods of execution: stoning, burning, strangulation, and decapitation. Crucifixion was thus forbidden by ancient Jewish law. The Aramaic Testament of Levi (DSS 4Q541) interprets in column 6: "God right errors. revealed sins. Investigate and seek and know how Jonah wept. Thus, you shall not destroy the weak by wasting away or by ixion. Let not the nail touch him."

Alexander the Great is reputed to have executed 2000 survivors from his siege of the Phoenician city of Tyre, as well as the doctor who unsuccessfully treated Alexander's friend Hephaestion. Some historians have also conjectured that Alexander crucified Callisthenes, his official historian and biographer, for objecting to Alexander's adoption of the Persian ceremony of royal adoration.

In Carthage, crucifixion was an established mode of execution, which could even be imposed on a general for suffering a major defeat.

Roman Empire

The hypothesis that the Ancient Roman custom of crucifixion may have developed out of a primitive custom of arbori suspendere, hanging on an arbor infelix (unfortunate tree) dedicated to the gods of the nether world is rejected by William A. Oldfather, who shows that this form of execution (the supplicium more maiorum, punishment in accordance with the custom of our ancestors) consisted of suspending someone from a tree, not dedicated to any particular gods, and flogging him to death. Tertullian mentions a first-century A.D. case in which trees were used for crucifixion, but Seneca the Younger earlier used the phrase infelix lignum (unfortunate wood) for the transom ("patibulum") or the whole cross. According to others, the Romans appear to have learned of crucifixion from the Carthaginians.

Crucifixion was used for slaves, rebels, pirates and especially-despised enemies and criminals. Therefore crucifixion was considered a most shameful and disgraceful way to die. Condemned Roman citizens were usually exempt from crucifixion (like feudal nobles from hanging, dying more honorably by decapitation) except for major crimes against the state, such as high treason.

Notorious mass crucifixions followed the Third Servile War in 73-71 BC (the slave rebellion under Spartacus), other Roman civil wars in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, and the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Josephus tells a story of the Romans crucifying people along the walls of Jerusalem. He also says that the Roman soldiers would amuse themselves by crucifying criminals in different positions. In Roman-style crucifixion, the condemned took days to die slowly from suffocation — caused by the condemned's blood-supply slowly draining away to a quantity insufficient to supply the required oxygen to vital organs. The dead body was left up for vultures and other birds to consume.

The goal of Roman crucifixion was not just to kill the criminal, but also to mutilate and dishonour the body of the condemned. In ancient tradition, an honourable death required burial; leaving a body on the cross, so as to mutilate it and prevent its burial, was a grave dishonour.

Under ancient Roman penal practice, crucifixion was also a means of exhibiting the criminal’s low social status. It was the most dishonourable death imaginable, originally reserved for slaves, hence still called "supplicium servile" by Seneca, later extended to provincial freedmen of obscure station ('humiles'). The citizen class of Roman society were almost never subject to capital punishments; instead, they were fined or exiled. Josephus mentions Jews of high rank who were crucified, but this was to point out that their status had been taken away from them. Control of one’s own body was vital in the ancient world. Capital punishment took away control over one’s own body, thereby implying a loss of status and honour. The Romans often broke the prisoner's legs to hasten death and usually forbade burial.

A cruel prelude was scourging, which would cause the condemned to lose a large amount of blood, and approach a state of shock. The convict then usually had to carry the horizontal beam (patibulum in Latin) to the place of execution, but not necessarily the whole cross. Crucifixion was typically carried out by specialized teams, consisting of a commanding centurion and four soldiers. When it was done in an established place of execution, the vertical beam (stipes) could even be permanently embedded in the ground. The condemned was usually stripped naked - all the New Testament gospels, dated to around the same time as Josephus, describe soldiers gambling for the robes of Jesus. (Matthew 27:35, Mark 15:24, Luke 23:34, John 19:23–25)

The 'nails' were tapered iron spikes approximately 5 to 7 inch (13 to 18 cm) long, with a square shaft 3/8 inch (1 cm) across. In some cases, the nails were gathered afterwards and used as healing amulets.

Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, abolished it in the Roman Empire in 337, out of veneration for Jesus Christ, the most famous victim of crucifixion.

Crucifixion in the Qur'an

The Qur'an mentions crucifixion several times. In Surah 7:124, Firaun (Arabic for Pharaoh) says that he will crucify his chief wizards. Also, Surah 12:41 mentions Prophet Yusuf (Joseph) saying that the king (the current ruler of the land he was stranded in) would crucify one of his prisoners.

'And the wizards fell down prostrate, crying: "We believe in the Lord of the Worlds, The Lord of Musa and Harun". Firaun said: "Ye believe in Him before I give you leave! Lo! this is the plot that ye have plotted in the city that ye may drive its people hence. But ye shall come to know! Surely I shall have your hands and feet cut off upon alternate sides. Then I shall crucify you every one."' Surah 7:120-124

'O my two fellow-prisoners! As for one of you, he will pour out wine for his lord to drink; and as for the other, he will be crucified so that the birds will eat from his head. Thus is the case judged concerning which ye did inquire.' Surah 12:41

In Surah 5:33, The Qur'an mentions crucifixion as a form of punishment for those who fight Allah and his messenger.

'The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter.' Surah 5:33

Because of this verse in the Qur'an crucifixion is still one of the Hadd punishments in the Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran's Islamic Criminal Law, Article 195).

Japan

Crucifixion, known in Japanese as haritsuke (磔), was used in Japan before and during the Tokugawa Shogunate. The condemned, usually a sentenced criminal, was hoisted upon a T-shaped cross. The executioner finished him off with spear thrusts, then the body was left to hang for a time before burial.

In 1597, twenty-six Christians were nailed to crosses at Nagasaki, Japan. Among those executed were Paul Miki and Pedro Bautista, a Spanish Franciscan who had worked about ten years in the Philippines. The executions marked the beginning of a long history of persecution of Christianity in Japan, which continued until the United States of America and other Allies defeated Japan at war in 1945, ending World War II.

The historical novel "Silence" by Shusaku Endo gives an account of the 17th century Christian persecutions based upon the oral histories of contemporary Kakure Kirishitan communities.

In the early Meiji period (circa 1865-8), the 25 year-old servant Sokichi was executed by crucifixion for the murder of his employer, a store-owner, during the course of a robbery. He was affixed to a stake with two cross-pieces by tying, rather than nailing (photograph).

Crucifixion as punishment in modern times

Iran

According to current Criminal Law crucifixion is used as a punishment for moharebeh, a major crime committed against Islam and the state in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Sudan

In the Fiftieth Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights (1994), local bishops reported several cases of crucifixion of Christian priests. Sudan's Penal Code, based upon the government's interpretation of Shari'a, provides for execution by crucifixion. The sentence has been passed as recently as 2002, when 88 people were condemned.

Yemen

As of 2000, Yemen provides for non-lethal crucifixion of criminals, though this punishment is apparently reserved for those also condemned to death.

Japan

In Japan, crucifixion was used as a punishment for prisoners of war during World War II. Ringer Edwards, an Australian prisoner of war was crucified for killing cattle, along with two others. He survived 63 hours before being let down.

Germany

During World War I, there were persistent rumors that German soldiers had crucified a Canadian soldier on a tree or barn door with bayonets or combat knives. The event was initially reported in 1915 by Private George Barrie of the 1st Canadian Division. It is generally believed to be an Allied propaganda invention; however, a 2002 programme for Channel 4's Secret History identified the soldier as a Harry Band, which has given arguable credibility to the story.

Other

In 2002, a 23 year old man was found crucified to a fence in Northern Ireland. Despite the severity of his wounds he survived the attack.

Crucifixion as a devotional practice

Since at least the mid-1800s, a group of Catholic flagellants in New Mexico called Hermanos de Luz ('Brothers of Light') have annually conducted reenactments of Jesus Christ's crucifixion during Holy Week, in which a penitent is tied—but not nailed—to a cross.

Some very devout Catholics are voluntarily, non-lethally crucified for a limited time on Good Friday, to imitate the suffering of Jesus Christ. A notable example is the ceremonial re-enactment that has been performed yearly in the town of Iztapalapa, on the outskirts of Mexico City, since 1833.

Devotional crucifixions are also common in the Philippines, even driving nails through the hands. One man named Rolando del Campo vowed to be crucified every Good Friday for 15 years if God would carry his wife through a difficult childbirth. (There is a video of the crucifixion here.) In San Pedro Cutud, devotee Ruben Enaje has been crucified 21 times, as of 2007, during Passion Week celebrations.

In many cases the person portraying Jesus is first subjected to flagellation and wears a crown of thorns. Sometimes there is a whole passion play, sometimes only the mortification of the flesh.

The Crucifixion of Christ is one of the most important parts of any Passion Play, or Mystery Play, production. The story critically leads the audience through death to resurrection, the dividing of the resurrected into 'sheep' (the good, destined for heaven) and 'goats' (sinners, destined for hell), and to God and Christ in Glory. A typical account is in the York Waggon Plays performed by the Guilds of York, currently every four years. (next production summer 2010). This mediaeval set of plays includes two that depict Christ's Death (1) The Crucifixion (Christ is put on the cross) and (2) the Death of Christ. The second of these was traditionally played by the Butchers' Gild as the butchers took on a supplementary role in civic life as the city's executioners.

Crucifixion in popular culture

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Crucifixion has appeared as a theme in modern art. The painting Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus) by Salvador Dalí is considered an important work of the surrealist movement. The 1989 composition Piss Christ by the contemporary American photographer Andres Serrano is both celebrated and controversial. Robert Cenedella painted a crucified Santa Claus as a protest against Christmas commercialization, displayed in the window of New York's Art Students League in December 1997. (According to urban legends, a Japanese department store confused Western imagery and displayed a crucified Santa Claus as part of its Christmas decorations.) In 2000, British artist Sebastian Horsley had himself nailed to a cross in the Philippines in order to gain inspiration for an art project.

In movies and television

Numerous movies have been produced which depict the crucifixion of Jesus. Some of these movies depict the crucifixion in its traditional sectarian form, while others intend to show a more historically accurate account. For example, Ben-Hur (1959), was probably the first movie to depict the nails being driven through Jesus' wrists, rather than his palms. Mel Gibson's controversial The Passion of the Christ (2004) depicted an extreme level of violence, but showed the nails being driven into Jesus' palms, as is traditional, with ropes supporting the wrists.

Film, television, and popular entertainment also contain numerous depictions of crucifixion, some reverent and others intentionally comical or provocative. The movie Spartacus depicts mass crucifixions along the Appian Way. The television show Rome regularly mentioned crucifixion as a form of punishment for various crimes. Actual crucifixion was depicted in one episode as a way to torture prisoners of war. Crucifixion was irreverently featured in the comedy film Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979). In one of the more memorable scenes at the end of the film, the viewer is reminded to "always look on the bright side of life" by singers hanging from crosses.

Superman is often associated with Christ-like imagery, including scenes resembling crucifixion. This includes scenes in the film Superman Returns, and the first episode of the television series Smallville, as well as in comic books.

In popular music

Crucifixion imagery figures in popular music, where it is often intended to create controversy or depict the artist as a victim. In 2006, singer Madonna caused controversy by opening a concert held near Vatican City with a mock crucifixion, complete with a Crown of Thorns. The cover art of Tupac Shakur's album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory features an image of Tupac being crucified on a cross. He stated that the image was not a mockery of Christ; rather, it showed how he was being "crucified" by the media. Multiple Marilyn Manson videos such as "I Don't Like The Drugs But The Drugs Like Me" and "Coma White" feature crucifixion imagery, often oddly staged in surreal modern or near modern day settings, and often questioning the truthfulness of the story of Jesus' crucifixion. The Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth had several people on stage affixed to crosses to give the appearance of crucifixion at a now infamous concert in Krakow, and repeated this act in the music video for "Carving a Giant".

In anime

Crucifixion has been a recurrent and prominent theme in anime, where it often serves to emphasize the suffering of sympathetic characters, depicting the torture of a character who does not deserve punishment. It also appears in a historical context, as crucifixion was used as a form of execution in Japan.

In episode 74 of the Sailor Moon R series, some of the characters are crucified on rock crystal crosses. The scene was cut from editions prepared for Western audiences. In Naruto, Kakashi is depicted on a capital T cross and is stabbed with a sword, instead of a spear as in the Biblical account. Also in Naruto, a young boy's father is murdered on a wooden cross. In one episode of Samurai Champloo, two of the main characters narrowly escape crucifixion for unknowingly using fake passports at a checkpoint. Crucifixion-type imagery is employed in some video games, including the 7th, 8th, and 10th installments of the Final Fantasy series.

Famous crucifixions

• In the best-known case, the Crucifixion of Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth was condemned to crucifixion (most likely in AD 30 or 33) by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Iudaea province (see Responsibility for the death of Jesus for details). The civil charge was a claim to be King of the Jews.
• The rebel slaves of the Third Servile War: Between 73 BC and 71 BC a band of slaves, eventually numbering about 120,000, under the (at least partial) leadership of Spartacus were in open revolt against the Roman republic. The rebellion was eventually crushed, and while Spartacus himself most likely died in the final battle of the revolt, approximately 6,000 of his followers were crucified along the 200 km road between Capua and Rome, as a warning to any other would-be rebels.
• Saint Peter, Christian apostle: according to tradition, Peter was crucified upside down at his own request (hence the Cross of St. Peter), as he did not feel worthy to die the same way as Jesus. Note that upside-down crucifixion would not result in death from asphyxiation.
• Saint Andrew, Christian apostle: according to tradition, crucified on an X-shaped cross, hence the name St. Andrew's Cross
• Simeon of Jerusalem, 2nd Bishop of Jerusalem, crucified either 106 or 107
• Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln was an English boy whose disappearance in 1255 prompted a blood libel against the local Jews. A Jewish man was tortured until he confessed to killing the child. The story of Little Saint Hugh became well known through medieval ballad poetry.
• Archbishop Joachim of Nizhny Novgorod: reportedly crucified upside down, on the Royal Doors of the Cathedral in Sevastopol, Russia in 1920
• Wilgefortis was venerated as a saint and represented as a crucified woman, however her legend comes from a misinterpretation of the full-clothed crucifix of Lucca.

References

1. AllWords.com
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3. Crucifixion
4. Online Etymology Dictionary
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6. Annales 2:32.2
7. Annales 15:60.1
8. Jewish War V.II
9. Mishna, Shabbath 6.10, quoted in Crucifixion in Antiquity
10. ^ Koskenniemi, Erkki (2005). "Wine Mixed with Myrrh (Mark 15.23) and Crurifragium (John 19.31-32): Two Details of the Passion Narratives". Journal for the Study of the New Testament. 27 (4). SAGE Publications: 379–391. doi:10.1177/0142064X05055745. Retrieved 2008-06-13. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
11. Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 5.11.1
12. Seneca, Dialogue "To Marcia on Consolation", in Moral Essays, 6.20.3, trans. John W. Basore, The Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1946) 2:69
13. "The ... oldest depiction of a crucifixion ... was uncovered by archaeologists more than a century ago on the Palatine Hill in Rome. It is a second-century graffiti scratched into a wall that was part of the imperial palace complex. It includes a caption - not by a Christian, but by someone taunting and deriding Christians and the crucifixions they underwent. It shows crude stick-figures of a boy reverencing his "God," who has the head of a jackass and is upon a cross with arms spread wide and with hands nailed to the crossbeam. Here we have a Roman sketch of a Roman crucifixion, and it is in the traditional cross shape" (Clayton F. Bower, Jr: Cross or Torture Stake?). Some second-century writers took it for granted that a crucified person would have his or her arms stretched out, not connected to a single stake: Lucian speaks of Prometheus as crucified "above the ravine with his hands outstretched" and explains that the letter T (the Greek letter tau) was looked upon as an unlucky letter or sign (similar to the way the number thirteen is looked upon today as an unlucky number), saying that the letter got its "evil significance" because of the "evil instrument" which had that shape, an instrument which tyrants hung men on (ibidem).
14. Epistle of Barnabas, Chapter 9. The document no doubt belongs to the end of the first or beginning of the second century.
15. "The very form of the cross, too, has five extremities, two in length, two in breadth, and one in the middle, on which the person rests who is fixed by the nails" (Irenaeus (c. 130–202), Adversus Haereses II, xxiv, 4).
16. Liddell and Scott on χείρ. Cf. The Science of the Crucifixion.
17. Wynne-Jones, Jonathan (16 March, 2008). "Why the BBC thinks Christ did not die this way". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-03-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
18. a brief news article
19. Jewish Encyclopedia: Crucifixion
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21. The Cross
22. [http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/255/11/1455 Edwards et al., On the physical death of Jesus Christ in The Journal of the American Medical Association, March 21 1986
23. ^ The history and pathology of crucifixion Cite error: The named reference "patho" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
24. John 19:31–32
25. ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2019:31-19:35;&version=31; John 19:31-19:35, NIV
26. The Life Of Flavius Josephus, 75
27. Haas, Nicu. “Anthropological observations on the skeletal remains from Giv’at ha-Mivtar”, Israel Exploration Journal 20 (1-2), 1970: 38-59; Tzaferis, Vassilios. "Crucifixion -- The Archaeological Evidence", Biblical Archaeology Review 11, February, 1985: 44–53; Zias, Joseph. "The Crucified Man from Giv’at Ha-Mivtar: A Reappraisal", Israel Exploration Journal 35 (1), 1985: 22–27; Hengel, Martin. Crucifixion (Augsburg Fortress, 1977). ISBN 0-8006-1268-X. See also Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome, by Donald G. Kyle p. 181, note 93
28. In the Fullness of Time, by Paul L. Maier
29. See Mishnah, Sanhedrin 7:1, translated in Jacob Neusner, The Mishnah: A New Translation 591 (1988), supra note 8, at 595-96 (indicating that court ordered execution by stoning, burning, decapitation, or strangulation only)
30. Livy I.26 and the Supplicium de More Maiorum
31. Apologia, IX, 1
32. After quoting a poem by Maecenas that speaks of preferring life to death even when life is burdened with all the disadvantages of old age or even with acute torture ("vel acuta si sedeam cruce"), Seneca disagrees with the sentiment, saying death would be better for a crucified person hanging from the patibulum: "I should deem him most despicable had he wished to live to the point of crucifixion ... Is it worth so much to weigh down upon one's own wound, and hang stretched out from a patibulum? ... Is anyone found who, after being fastened to that accursed wood, already weakened, already deformed, swelling with ugly weals on shoulders and chest, with many reasons for dying even before getting to the cross, would wish to prolong a life-breath that is about to experience so many torments?" ("Contemptissimum putarem, si vivere vellet usque ad crucem ... Est tanti vulnus suum premere et patibulo pendere districtum ... Invenitur, qui velit adactus ad illud infelix lignum, iam debilis, iam pravus et in foedum scapularum ac pectoris tuber elisus, cui multae moriendi causae etiam citra crucem fuerant, trahere animam tot tormenta tracturam?" - [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/sen/seneca.ep17-18.shtml Letter 101, 12-14)
33. The Physical Death Of Jesus Christ, Study by The Mayo Clinic
34. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online: crucifixion
35. Dictionary of Images and Symbols in Counselling By William Stewart 1998 ISBN 1853023515, p. 120
36. Archaeology of the Bible
37. Crucifixion in the Islamic Republic of Iran
38. Gallery archive of photograph.
39. Crucifixion in the Islamic Republic of Iran
40. Sudan: Imminent Execution/Torture/Unfair trial | Amnesty International
41. Yemen: Fear of execution | Amnesty International
42. "The Crucified Soldier". Secret History. Season 9. Episode 5. 2002-07-04. Channel 4. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
43. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,,825136,00.html the Guardian
44. RELIGION-MEXICO: The Passion According to Iztapalapa
45. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-philippines-crucifixions.html
46. Home | Propeller
47. Legend: A Japanese department store once created a Christmas display featuring a smiling Santa Claus nailed to a cross, Snopes.
48. Daily Mail
49. ^ Drazen, Patrick (2003). Anime Explosion. Stone Bridge Press, LLC. pp. 142–43. ISBN 978-1880656723. OCLC 50898281.
50. That this was the manner of his death is not only recounted in the four first-century canonical Gospels, but it is referred to repeatedly, as something well known, in the earlier letters of Saint Paul, for instance five times in his First Letter to the Corinthians, written in AD 57 (1:13, 1:18, 1:23, 2:2, 2:8). Pilate was the Roman governor at the time, and he is explicitly linked with the condemnation of Jesus not only by the Gospels but also by Tacitus, Annals', 15.44.

See also

External links

• New Scientist article on cause of death in crucifixion.
• "Forensic and Clinical Knowledge of the Practice of Crucifixion" by Dr. Frederick Zugibe
• Jesus's death on the cross, from a medical perspective
• "Crucifixion in antiquity - The Anthropological evidence" By Joe Zias
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Crucifixion
• Crucifixion in Ancient Egypt at Islamic-Awareness.org
• Crucifixion of Joachim of Nizhny-Novgorod

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

• Ancient Rome
• Jesus
• Corporal punishments
• Execution methods
• Torture
• Human body positions
• Cross symbols
• Christian hagiography
• Jesus and history