The most famous execution to take place in History resulted in the crucifixion of a man
that became pivotal to a religion.
Throughout the centuries, there have been many execution methods used, but many are
not as brutal as being nailed to a cross and being left to succumb to the elements.
Despite being used by the Romans to execute Jesus, the practice was rumoured to have even
been used during the First World Wa with stories emerging from the trenches of a crucified
Canadian soldier.
It is still used as a rare form of execution in Saudi Arabia and a robber in March 2013
was sentenced to be crucified for three days, but was then shot by a firing squad.
But what is the history behind Crucifixion?
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Crucifixion was used by the Persians, Greeks and many other ancient people.
The Greeks were against the practice but it was said that a Persian General was executed
in the manner by Athenians in 479 BC.
It was said, ‘They nailed him to a plank and hung him up, he suffered death by crucifixion.’
It was also said in another account, ‘They crucified him with the hands and feet stretched
out and nailed to cross pieces, this barbarity unusual on the part of the Greeks may be explained
by the enormity of the outrage by Athenian deference of local feeling.’
The Jewish King Alexander Jannaeus, the King of Judea crucified 800 people during his reign,
and did this in the middle of Jerusalem.
It was said also that Alexander the Great crucified 2000 survivors from his siege of
Tyre, and it was well established as a method of execution in these lands.
It was intended to be a gruesome and horrific scene, and the most painful and humiliating
of deaths that could happen.
A large number of people who committed different crimes were crucified, from pirates and slaves
to those deemed enemies of an emperor or a state.
It was said by roman law that if a slave killed his or her master, then all of the masters
slaves would be crucified as punishment for the death, and both men and women were crucified.
It was carried out by groups of soldiers who’s specific job it was to perform the executions.
The condemned individual would be forced to strip naked and would then be scourged and
whipped.
They were sometimes whipped so badly that the condemned individual would lost lots of
blood and would be suffering from shock as they arrived at their site of execution.
The condemned person was forced to also carry the horizontal beam used in their execution,
but they didn’t usually have too carry the whole cross.
This death march was often done through very crowded streets, with the prisoner suffering
still from the scourging, and they would be shamed in a number of ways.
The public would spit and hurl abuse at them, and they were sometimes forced to wear a sign
outlining their crimes and their name.
When they arrived a the place of execution, the cross was then laid down with the cross
beam secured to the vertical beam.
They would be then nailed to the cross, and if the place of execution was regularly used,
often the vertical beam remained in the ground.
If this was the case their wrists would be nailed to the horizontal beam first before
they were then fastened.
The nails that secured someone to the stake were around 15 cos long, and would cause horrific
pain when they went through the hands and ankles.
There were different positions for different condemned people, as it was said by Seneca
the Younger that, ‘I see crosses there, not just of one kind but made in different
ways, some have their victims with heads down to the ground, some impale their private parts,
others stretch their arms on the gibbet.’
Women in some occasions were even nailed facing their cross.
In Roman crucifixions, it could take a condemned individual a few days to die however sometimes
humans helped to bring death along quicker.
It was said that, ‘The attending Roman guards could leave the site only after the victim
had died, and were known to precipitate death by means of deliberate fracturing of the tibia
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.’
Legs were also broken, and in some cases a person was deliberately left alive for weeks
and as long as possible to make sure their execution had a huge deterrent effect for
the crowds.
But corpses of those who were crucified were mostly left on the crosses and were eaten
by birds and animals.
The length of time with caused death could range from hours to days depending on the
health of the victim, the guards actions and also the environment.
There were many causes of death from crucifixion, from cardiac rupture, and heart failure to
pulmonary embolism, to even shock and infection caused by the wounds.
It was believed that when the whole body’s weight was supported by the arms on the cross,
death could also be caused by aspyhixation.
There was a small window for survival after crucifixion, if someone was helped down from
the cross, but it was very rare especially as the Roman guards would accompany the proceedings
and the executed person.
The point of performing crucifixion was that it was a way to put people off committing
various and serious crimes.
Often victims were left on display after death to serve as a warning, and it was intended
to act as a very slow and painful death for someone.
The point also was to make the condemned feel very vulnerable and exposed by their death,
and often legs were shattered with iron clubs to inflict more pain and bring death quicker.
Obviously the most famous use of crucifixion was upon Jesus of Nazareth, who was charged
with a claim of being the King of the Jews.
But there were many other examples such as of Saint Peter who its alleged was crucified
upside down as he did not feel worthy enough to die in the same manner as Jesus did.
It was introduced in Japan in the 15th century after a long time where no capital punishment
was used.
It was suggested to the Japanese as Christianity spread throughout the region, and the use
of it in Japan was different at times.
One account states, ‘Execution by crucifixion included being paraded around the town on
horseback, then the unfortunate was tied to a cross made from one vertical and two horizontal
poles.
The cross was raised, the convict speared several times from two sides and killed with
a thrust through the throat.
Their corpse was left on the cross for three days.
If one condemned to crucifixion died in prison, his body was pickled and the punishment executed
on the dead body.
It was said that the Japanese even used it as a method of punishing prisoners of war,
and an Australian prisoner of war named Ringer Edwards was crucified for killing cattle and
he survived for 63 hours before being cut down.
As mentioned during World War 1, there was propaganda that emerged with the allies that
a Canadian soldier had been crucified on a barn door with bayonets or knives.
Investigations did look into this story, and at the time found little evidence, but in
2001 an article was published which named the crucified soldier.
There have been remains found of those people crucified throughout history, and the wounds
of those men and women show how brutal the practice was.
Some have been found with nails still embedded in the hands, and also with legs broken to
bring death quicker.
Even in the UK, a body of a crucified individual was found at Fenstanton, and it’s been believed
that this may have been a slave who suffered the fate.
One of the most heinous and brutal execution methods throughout history was crucifixion,
and this would have been true horror for someone to suffer.
It is remembered mostly for the execution of Jesus Christ, but was used a number of
times throughout the centuries by many different nations.
The whole point was to inflict severe humiliation and pain onto someone deemed a serious criminal.
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