Cinematic re-enactment of the crucifixion of Jesus. (Via churchofjesuschrist.org.)
Crucifixion (fl. -519 to +341) is being put to death by being nailed to a cross. Jesus Christ is the most famous example, but he was merely one of tens of thousands crucified in ancient times. Invented by the Persians, spread by Alexander the Great, and perfected by Rome, it was a common way to deal with slaves, pirates, rebels, traitors, foreigners, Christians, political enemies – anyone uncowed by those in power.
Like lynching, it was an instrument of terror, meant to be painful, protracted and public, to keep slaves and foreigners in line. But to many Roman citizens, who were rarely crucified, it was a form of entertainment, something you might watch after the gladitorial games.
Some notable crucifixions, listed by year:
- -519: Darius I of Persia crucifies 3,000 political enemies in Babylon.
- -88: Alexander Jannaeus, Jewish king, high priest and Saducee, crucifies 800 Pharisees – as the the throats of their wives and children were cut in front of them.
- -71: 6,000 slaves along the Appian Way from Rome to Capua (190 km) in the wake of the slave uprising of Spartacus (he died in battle).
- c. 30: Pontius Pilate crucifies Jesus on Good Friday at Golgotha (aka Calvary) just outside of walls of Jerusalem. Known as the Crucifixion among Christians and Westerners.
- c. 67: St Peter on Vatican Hill in Rome, crucified upside down.
- 303: St Eulalia of Barcelona, 13-year-old girl and Christian martyr.
- 1597: 26 Christians crucified in Japan.
In 341 the practice was outlawed in the Roman Empire by Constantine I, the first Christian emperor.
In the 500s it became a common subject in Christian art to fight against the heresy that Jesus was not fully human, that he did not suffer and die on the cross.
The gospels get the Roman crucifixion more or less right:
- scourged – whipped on the back (sometimes down to the bone);
- made to carry the cross (generally just the cross-beam that went on a post or tree at the crucifixion site outside town – it weighed about 100 pounds or 45 kg);
- a Roman centurion and his soldiers take your clothes, nail you to the cross and then guard it;
- a sign stated your crime;
- death comes in a matter of hours or days (up to nine days!);
- soldiers might speed things along by breaking your legs or driving a spear through your chest.
What is unusual is that Jesus was taken down and buried. In most cases you were left to rot, to be picked apart by dogs and birds.
What Western art gets wrong: Crosses were not all that tall, only about 3 metres (10 feet). You were naked – it was meant to be humiliating. The nails went through your wrists and ankles, not hands and feet. Sometimes soldiers put you in strange poses – for their own amusement and to increase the horror of onlookers (the target audience).
Forms of the cross: some were like the Christian cross, some like a capital letter T, and some a mere post without any cross-beam. Some had a seat or foot rest.
Jews considered those crucified by Rome to be “accursed of God” (Deuteronomy 21:23), which is why St Paul says, “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock” (1 Corinthians 1:23).
– Abagond, 2022.
See also:
521
Abagond 
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