Crucifixion

Jesus being crucified

Crucifixion is a way to execute (kill) someone, usually because they have committed a crime. It was used as a capital punishment by the government of Rome. A prisoner was beaten with whips, and made to carry their own cross. They were either tied or nailed to the cross. The Romans used different types of crosses: T-shaped, X-shaped, and sometimes just trees. It killed people by making them bleed, go into shock, and making it hard for them to breathe, eventually dying of suffocation. Some of the people would live for several days before dying. The Roman soldiers (which were like the police of that time) would often break the legs of the criminal to speed it up.

Jesus Christ

Main page: Crucifixion of Jesus

The most famous person to have been crucified was Jesus Christ, the Son of God according to the Christian religion. He was crucified along with two thieves. The cross later became a symbol of Christianity. Six of the twelve apostles of Jesus were also crucified later on, but most of them asked to be crucified in a different way from Jesus. For example, Andrew (who later became the patron saint of Scotland) was crucified on an X-shaped cross. In the year 337 AD, Emperor Constantine I abolished crucifixion in the Roman Empire.

Crucifixion Media

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  A 15th century depiction of Jesus crucified between the two thieves

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  Gabriel von Max's 1866 painting Martyress depicts a crucified young woman and a young man laying flowers at her feet

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  1st century calcareous heel bone with a nail

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  Early Meiji period crucifixion (c. 1865–1868), Yokohama, Japan. A 25-year-old servant, Sokichi, was executed by crucifixion for murdering his employer's son during the course of a robbery. He was affixed by tying to a stake with two cross-pieces.

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  The Twenty Six Martyrs of Japan

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  Prisoner kneeling on chains, thumbs supporting arms, photographic print on stereo card, Mukden, China (c. 1906)

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  Devotional crucifixion in San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines, Easter 2006

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  Sculpture construction: Crucifixion, homage to Mondrian, by Barbara Hepworth, United Kingdom (2007)