(updated with a historical background) Crucifixion (digital clip by filmmakers) (Good Friday)

Historical background of crucifixion as a form of state execution, often summary or without a real trial:     From the New World Encyclopedia at newworldencyclopedia.org: “Crucifixion was an ancient method of execution practiced in the Roman Empire and neighboring Mediterranean cultures, such as the Persian Empire, where a person was nailed to a large wooden cross or stake and left to hang until dead. Contrary to popular belief, those crucified did not die through loss of blood but through asphyxiation as they could no longer hold themselves up to breathe.

        “The purpose of crucifixion was to provide a gruesome public way to execute  dissenters and criminals so that the masses would be dissuaded from breaking the law. In the Roman Empire, crucifixions were usually carried out in public areas, especially near roads such as the Appian Way, where many would walk by to view the frightening power of the state.

        “The most famous crucifixion in history is undoubtedly Jesus of Nazareth who was killed by the Romans for allegedly claiming to be the “King of the Jews,” which ostensibly challenged the Roman Emperor’s power and hegemony. Today, the most distinctive symbol of Roman Catholicism is the crucifix (an image of Christ crucified on a cross), while Protestant Christians usually prefer to use a cross without the figure (the “corpus” – Latin for “body”) of Christ. x x x

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            “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 man 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 were, as indicated not only by the New Testament accounts of the crucifixion of Jesus, but also in a passage of Josephus, where he mentions that, at the Siege of Jerusalem (70 C.E.), “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.”

           “Under ancient Roman penal practice, crucifixion was also a means of exhibiting the criminal’s low social status. It was the most dishonorable 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 honor. 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.

          “Emperor Constantine, the first Emperor thought to receive a Christian baptism, abolished crucifixion in the Roman Empire at the end of his reign. Thus, crucifixion was used by the Romans until about 313 C.E., when Christianity was legalized in the Roman Empire and soon became the official state religion.”

video clips from “Passion of Christ” by Mel Gibson, photo also from the film, all used here non-commercially for educational purposes