CRUCIFIXION, a method of execution which arose in the E, a fixing to a cross as a means of torture, practiced by the Medes and Persians, and passed to the W among the Greeks and the Romans, in the 1st cent. esp. related to the latter.

1. A means of torture. The cross consisted of a perpendicular stake with a crossbeam either at the top of the stake or shortly below the top. The height of the stake was usually little more than the height of a man. A block or a pin was sometimes driven into the stake to serve as a seat for the condemned person, giving partial support to his body. Sometimes also a step for the feet was fixed to the stake. Victims of crucifixion did not usually die for two or three days, but this was determined by the presence or absence of the seat (sedile or cornu) and the foot rest, for a person suspended by his hands lost blood pressure quickly, and the pulse rate was increased. Usually the victim had been severely scourged before crucifixion took place. Orthostatic collapse through insufficient blood circulating to the brain and the heart would follow shortly. If the victim could ease his body by supporting himself with the seat and footrest, the blood could be returned to some degree of circulation in the upper part of his body. To fix the hands to the crossbeam (patibulum), either cords or nails and cords were used; sometimes the feet were nailed also. When it was desired to bring the torture to an end, the victim’s legs were broken below the knees with a club. It was then no longer possible for him to ease his weight, and the loss of blood circulation was accentuated. Coronary insufficiency followed shortly. The victim’s offense was usually published by a crier who preceded him to the place of execution. Sometimes it was written on a tablet (called titulus) which was carried by the condemned man himself. Or if he carried the crossbeam as was sometimes done, another bore the tablet with its charge before him. Later the charge or titulus was fixed to the cross at the time of execution.

2. Among the Romans. The Romans were the chief practitioners of this form of execution. There was no uniform method of fastening the victim to the cross, which was due to the fact that Rom. law authorized crucifixion only for slaves and degraded persons. Augustus Caesar boasted that he had captured 30,000 fugitive slaves and had crucified all of them who had not been claimed. Large numbers of people were crucified in mass executions. Over 6,000 of the rebellious slaves who had followed Spartacus were caught by Crassus and crucified beside the Appian Way from Rome to Capua; and, as was customary, their bodies were left to rot as a warning against such insurrection. Julius Caesar caught the pirates who had formerly held him captive for ransom and crucified them all, having cut their throats first as an act of kindness. In Pal. the Romans crucified two thousand followers of the rebel Judas who had captured the city of Sepphoris and operated from it throughout Galilee until his forces were killed or captured by Varus and his Syrian legions. Martial described the spectacle of a robber’s being crucified in the arena for the amusement of the citizens of Rome. Nero crucified many Christians, blaming them for the burning of the imperial city. Origen reported that Peter was crucified head down. Emperor after emperor persecuted the Christians, crucifixion being the means of death for many of them. Finally under Constantine, because of his vision and the celestial sign of the cross, crucifixion was abolished throughout the empire as a means of punishment.

3. Of Christ. The ministry of Jesus ended in crucifixion. The duration of His ministry has been supposed by some to have lasted three years (because of the Passovers mentioned in John 2:13; 5:1; 6:4; 13:1) The feast of the Jews in John 5:1 was prob. not, however, a Passover. The synoptic gospels mentioned only one Passover which would give a ministry of less than two years. The two Passover theory would add a year to the public ministry; and according to the Julian calendar, it placed the date of the crucifixion as April 7, a.d. 30.

The cross which Jesus bore (John 19:17), and which was subsequently carried for him by Simon of Cyrene (Matt 27:32), was prob. in actuality only the crossbeam (patibulum), which was customarily borne by the condemned man to the place of execution where the stake upon which it was to be fixed had already been set in the ground. Because the charge (titulus) was ordered to be placed over the cross, it has been deduced that the crossbeam did not rest on the top of the stake but intersected it a short distance below the top. The height of Jesus’ cross has been estimated from the length of the reed (hyssop, John 19:29). The reed was prob. about three ft. in length, and thus the height of the cross was probably seven to nine ft.

Jesus was offered a drink, a wine mixed with myrrh, which was intended as an anesthetic, but this He refused (Mark 15:23). He was crucified at the third hour (15:25) which was prob. about 9:00 a.m., and He died at the ninth hour (15:34, 37) which was prob. about 3:00 p.m. His legs were not broken as was customary, because He was found already to have died (John 19:32, 33). The Jews had requested the hastening of His death because it appeared He would linger until the next day which was a sabbath and also the preparation for the Passover (Luke 23:54). John recorded the spear thrust into His side to guarantee death. Crucifixion was never practiced by the Jews; but because of their law (Deut 21:23), the bodies of those crucified were not allowed to remain on the cross over night. The charge (titulus) specified Jesus’ crime, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John 19:19).

Death on a cross was judged by the Jews as a curse (Deut 21:23). It became to the Jews a most serious obstacle to the acknowledgment of Jesus as the Messiah. The cross, however, became the universally recognized symbol of Christianity, being acknowledged from the beginning of Christianity as the heart of the Gospel (Gal 6:14).

Bibliography W. Durant, Caesar and Christ (1944), 138, 168, 281, 397, 543, 572f; J. Finegan, Light From the Ancient Past (1946), 252, 292, 431; W. Keller, The Bible as History (1956), 375-377; M. Gough, The Early Christians (1961), 83, 97, 180-182.