Crucifixion

==== Process ====
Crucifixion was typically carried out by specialized teams, consisting of a commanding [[centurion]] and his soldiers.<ref name=":1" /> First, the condemned would be stripped naked<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=A Doctor at Calvary: The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ as Described by a Surgeon|last=Barbet|first=P|publisher=Doubleday Image Books|year=1953|location=New York|pages=46–51}}</ref> and scourged.<ref name=":0" />{{Failed verification |date=November 2022 |reason=nothing in cited source about scourging, as a general practice or otherwise, associated with crucifixion}} This would cause the person to lose a large amount of blood, and approach a state of [[shock (circulatory)|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.<ref name=":0" />

During the death march, the prisoner, probably<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Cross and Crucifixion|volume=7|page=506|first=Thomas Macall|last=Fallow|author-link=Thomas Macall Fallow}} Macall believes that the person would be given back his or her clothing following the scourging.</ref> still [[nude]] after the scourging,<ref name=":1" /> would be led through the most crowded streets<ref name=":8">{{Cite web|url=http://cojs.org/joe-zias-crucifixion-in-antiquity-the-anthropological-evidence/|title=Crucifixion in Antiquity: The Anthropological Evidence|last=Zias|first=Joseph|date=2016-01-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310074322/http://cojs.org/joe-zias-crucifixion-in-antiquity-the-anthropological-evidence/|archive-date=2018-03-10|url-status=dead|access-date=March 9, 2018}}</ref> bearing a ''titulus'' – a sign board proclaiming the prisoner's name and crime.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" /> Upon arrival at the place of execution, selected to be especially public,<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":8" /><ref name=":10">{{Cite web|url=http://www.joezias.com:80/MelGibsonControversy.htm|title=Postscript – The Mel Gibson Controversy|last=Zias|first=Joseph|website=JoeZias.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040306140009/http://www.joezias.com/MelGibsonControversy.htm|archive-date=March 6, 2004|url-status=dead|access-date=March 10, 2018}}</ref> the convict would be stripped of any remaining clothing, then nailed to the cross naked.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":10" /> If the crucifixion took place in an established place of execution, the vertical beam (''stipes'') might be permanently embedded in the ground.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> In this case, the condemned person's wrists would first be nailed to the ''patibulum'', and then he or she would be hoisted off the ground with ropes to hang from the elevated ''patibulum'' while it was fastened to the ''stipes''.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Next the feet or ankles would be nailed to the upright stake.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> The 'nails' were tapered iron spikes approximately {{convert|5 to 7|in|cm|abbr=on|order=flip}} long, with a square shaft {{convert|3/8|in|mm|0|order=flip}} across.<ref name=":5" /> The ''titulus'' would also be fastened to the cross to notify onlookers of the person's name and crime as they hung on the cross, further maximizing the public impact.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" />

There may have been considerable variation in the position in which prisoners were nailed to their crosses and how their bodies were supported while they died.<ref name=":9" /> Seneca the Younger recounts: "I see crosses there, not just of one kind but made in many different ways: some have their victims with head down to the ground; some impale their private parts; others stretch out their arms on the gibbet."<ref name="Seneca 1946" /> One source claims that for Jews (apparently not for others), a man would be crucified with his back to the cross as is traditionally depicted, while a woman would be nailed facing her cross, probably with her back to onlookers, or at least with the ''stipes'' providing some semblance of [[modesty]] if viewed from the front.<ref name=":3" /> Such concessions were "unique" and not made outside a Jewish context.<ref name=":3" /> Several sources mention some sort of seat fastened to the ''stipes'' to help support the person's body,<ref name=":6">Justin Martyr ''Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew'' 91</ref><ref>Irenaeus ''Against Heresies'' II.24</ref><ref>Tertullian ''To the Nations'' I.12</ref> thereby prolonging the person's suffering<ref name=":8" /> and humiliation<ref name=":9" /> by preventing the [[asphyxia]]tion caused by hanging without support. Justin Martyr calls the seat a ''cornu'', or "horn,"<ref name=":6" /> leading some scholars to believe it may have had a pointed shape designed to torment the crucified person.<ref>Barbet, 45; Zugibe, 57; [[Vassilios Tzaferis]], "Crucifixion{{snd}}The Archaeological Evidence," ''Biblical Archaeology Review'' 11.1 (Jan./Feb. 1985), 44–53 (p. 49)</ref> This would be consistent with Seneca's observation of victims with their private parts impaled.

In Roman-style crucifixion, the condemned could take up to a few days to die, but death was sometimes hastened by human action. "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 and/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."<ref name="patho" /> The Romans sometimes broke the prisoner's legs to hasten death and usually forbade burial.<ref name=":4" /> On the other hand, the person was often deliberately kept alive as long as possible to prolong their suffering and humiliation, so as to provide the maximum deterrent effect.<ref name=":9" /> Corpses of the crucified were typically left on the crosses to decompose and be eaten by animals.<ref name=":9" /><ref>{{cite book|title=How Jesus became God: The exaltation of a Jewish preacher from Galilee|last1=Ehrman|first1=Bart D.|date=2014|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-177818-6|edition=First|location=New York|pages=133–165}}</ref>