What is the history of crucifixion?

Answer

Crucifixion was developed and utilized by various groups, but it was “perfected” by the Romans as the ultimate form of execution through torture. The earliest historical account of crucifixion dates back to around 519 BC, when King Darius I of Persia crucified 3,000 of his political adversaries in Babylon. Prior to the Persians, the Assyrians were recognized for impaling individuals. Subsequently, the Greeks and Carthaginians also employed crucifixion. Following the dissolution of Alexander the Great’s empire, Seleucid Antiochus IV Epiphanes crucified Jews who resisted Hellenization.

The purpose of crucifixion was to impose the highest degree of shame and suffering on the victim. Roman crucifixions were conducted in public to serve as a deterrent for anyone considering defying the Roman authority. Crucifixion was so brutal that it was reserved for the most severe offenders.

The individual subjected to crucifixion would first endure severe scourging or beatings, a torment that could be fatal on its own. Subsequently, they were compelled to carry the heavy wooden crossbeam to the location of the crucifixion. This task was not only excruciating following the beatings, but it also added a layer of disgrace as the victim bore the very instrument of their own torment and demise. It was akin to digging one’s own grave.

Upon reaching the crucifixion site, the victim would be stripped naked to intensify their humiliation. They would then be made to extend their arms on the crossbeam, where the nails were driven through their wrists, not their palms, to prevent the nails from tearing through the hand. (During ancient times, the wrist was considered part of the hand.) The positioning of the nails in the wrists also induced intense pain as the nails compressed the major nerves leading to the hands. The crossbeam would then be raised and affixed to an upright post that typically remained in place between crucifixions.

After securing the crossbeam, the executioners would nail the victim’s feet to the cross as well—normally, one foot on top of the other, nailed through the middle and arch of each foot, with the knees slightly bent. The primary purpose of the nails was to inflict pain.

Once the victim was fastened to the cross, all his weight was supported by three nails, which would cause pain to shoot throughout the body. The victim’s arms were stretched out in such a way as to cause cramping and paralysis in the chest muscles, making it impossible to breathe unless some of the weight was borne by the feet. To take a breath, the victim had to push up with his feet. Besides enduring excruciating pain caused by the nail in his feet, the victim’s raw back would rub against the rough upright beam of the cross.

After taking a breath and to relieve some of the pain in his feet, the victim would begin to slump down again. This action put more weight on his wrists and again rubbed his raw back against the cross. However, the victim could not breathe in this lowered position, so before long the torturous process would begin again. To breathe and relieve some of the pain caused by the wrist nails, the victim had to put more weight on the nail in his feet and push up. Then, to relieve some of the pain caused by the foot nail, he had to put more weight on the nails in his wrists and slump down. In either position, the torture was intense.

Crucifixion usually led to a slow, tortuous death. Some victims lasted as long as four days on a cross. Death was ultimately by asphyxiation as the victim lost the strength to continue pushing up on his feet to take a breath. To hasten death, the victim’s legs might be broken, preventing him from pushing up to breathe; thus, asphyxiation would follow shortly after, see John 19:32.

Crucifixion was finally outlawed by the Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth century.