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About Crucifixion
"Crucifixion: important method of capital punishment,
particularly among the Persians, Seleucids, Jews,
Carthaginians, and Romans from about the 6th century BC to
the 4th century AD. Constantine the Great, the first
Christian emperor, abolished it in the Roman Empire in AD
337, out of veneration for Jesus Christ, the most famous
victim of crucifixion. Punishment: There were various
methods of performing the execution. Usually, the condemned
man, after being whipped, or "scourged," dragged the
crossbeam of his cross to the place of punishment, where the
upright shaft was already fixed in the ground. Stripped of
his clothing either then or earlier at his scourging, he was
bound fast with outstretched arms to the crossbeam or nailed
firmly to it through the wrists. The crossbeam was then
raised high against the upright shaft and made fast to it
about 9 to 12 feet (approximately 3 metres) from the ground.
Next, the feet were tightly bound or nailed to the upright
shaft. A ledge inserted about halfway up the upright shaft
gave some support to the body; evidence for a similar ledge
for the feet is rare and late. Over the criminal's head was
placed a notice stating his name and his crime. Death,
apparently caused by exhaustion or by heart failure, could
be hastened by shattering the legs (crurifragium) with an
iron club, so that shock and asphyxiation soon ended his
life. Crucifixion was most frequently used to punish
political or religious agitators, pirates, slaves, or those
who had no civil rights. In 519 BC Darius I, king of Persia,
crucified 3,000 political opponents in Babylon; in 88 BC
Alexander Jannaeus, the Judaean king and high priest,
crucified 800 Pharisaic opponents; and in about AD 32
Pontius Pilate had Jesus of Nazareth put to death by
crucifixion. Philip W.
Goetz, "Crucifixion" (Encyclopaedia Britannica: Chicago,
1988 ed.) Vol. 3, p. 762
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