Roman cross, crucifixion as the preferred method of execution

History first crucifixion - the origin of Roman crucifixion

Before looking into the confirmations of Jesus’ death in the Scriptures, it is important to know what ancient Roman crucifixion entailed. Death by crucifixion was the method of execution preferred during the Roman Empire, and there are extensive historical records about the procedure.[12]

The practice originated with the Persians near 400 BC, and later passed to the Carthaginians and the Phoenicians. The Romans perfected it as a method of capital punishment, which caused maximum pain and suffering over a significant period of time. In fact, the word excruciate (meaning, “to cause great agony, torment”) comes from the Latin for “from, or out of, the cross.” Romans preferred crucifixion over other executions because of its fear effect. The choice of a highly visible site such as near a major city gate (like Calvary), would ensure that the prolonged painful suffering of victims would be seen over and again by large numbers of people. This maximum exposure would cause oppressed people to refuse to risk the same torturous death. The practice was abandoned by Constantine around 400 AD. Historians estimate 10,000 to 100,000 people (likely much closer to the higher number) were crucified by the Romans.

Ancient Roman crucifixion typically started by scourging or flogging the victim’s back. This is explicitly detailed in the gospels, such as Mark 15:15 (emphasis added): “Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.” The Romans used a whip called a flagrum, with small pieces of bone and metal attached to several leather strands. The number of blows given to Jesus is not recorded; however, the number in Jewish law was thirty nine (one less than the forty prescribed by the Torah to prevent that a counting error would lead to too many blows). The scourging ripped skin from the back, creating a bloody mass of tissue and bone. Extreme blood loss occurred, often causing death, or, at the very least, unconsciousness.

The about seven-foot vertical post, called the stipes was usually already in place at the crucifixion site. Often this was a tree, hence the frequent reference to crucifixion as “hanging on a tree.” The crossbar or patibulum, was often carried to the crucifixion site by the victim. The patibulum could easily weigh 100 pounds. After the flogging, Jesus was in a weakened state, it’s no wonder that He needed assistance. Mark 15:21: “A certain man from Cyrene , Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross.” Once the victim arrived at the crucifixion site, the patibulum was placed on the ground, and the victim was forced to lie down upon it. Spikes about seven inches long and about 3/8 of an inch in diameter were driven through the wrists. The patibulum was lifted to the stipes, and the body turned so the feet could be nailed to the stipes. [13]

Beyond the excruciating pain, Roman crucifixion made respiration, particularly exhalation difficult and extremely painful. Adequate exhalation required lifting the body by pushing up on the feet, and by flexing the elbows and adducting the shoulders. However, this maneuver would place the entire weight of the body on the tarsals and produce searing pain. Furthermore, flexion of the elbows would cause rotation of the wrists around the iron nails and cause fiery pain along the damaged nerves. Raising the body would also painfully scrape the scourged back against the rough wooden stipes. As a result, each respiratory effort would become agonizing and tiring and lead eventually to asphyxia (suffocation).[14]    

Several factors contributed to the actual cause of death by crucifixion and varied a bit with each case, but the two most prominent were hypovolemic shock (shock cause by reduced blood volumes) and exhaustion asphyxia. Other likely factors included dehydration, stress-induced arrhythmias and congestive heart failure.

Read on about : (4) Exhibit #6: Jesus died on the cross

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