Crucifixion

=== Nail placement ===
In popular depictions of the crucifixion of Jesus (possibly because in translations of {{bibleverse||John|20:25}} the wounds are described as being "in his hands"), Jesus is shown with nails in his hands. But in Greek the word "χείρ", usually translated as "hand", could refer to the entire portion of the arm below the elbow,<ref>In the [[Homeric Greek]] of the [[Iliad]] XX, 478–480, a spear-point is said to have pierced the χεῖρ "where the sinews of the elbow join" (ἵνα τε ξενέχουσι τένοντες / ἀγκῶνος, τῇ τόν γε φίλης διὰ χειρὸς ἔπειρεν / αἰχμῇ χακλκείῃ).</ref> and to denote the ''hand'' as distinct from the ''arm'' some other word could be added, as "ἄκρην οὔτασε χεῖρα" (he wounded the end of the χείρ, i.e., "he wounded him in the hand".<ref>{{LSJ|xe/ir|χείρ|ref}}</ref>

A possibility that does not require tying is that the nails were inserted just above the wrist, through the [[soft tissue]], between the two bones of the forearm (the [[radius (bone)|radius]] and the [[ulna]]).<ref>{{cite news|first=Jonathan |last=Wynne-Jones |title=Why the BBC thinks Christ did not die this way |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/16/nrowan216.xml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319214803/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/16/nrowan216.xml |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 March 2008 |newspaper=Daily Telegraph |date=16 March 2008 |access-date=2008-03-16 | location=London}}</ref>

A foot-rest (''suppedaneum'') attached to the cross, perhaps for the purpose of taking the person's weight off the wrists, is sometimes included in representations of the crucifixion of Jesus but is not discussed in ancient sources. Some scholars interpret the [[Alexamenos graffito]] (c.&nbsp;200), the earliest surviving depiction of the crucifixion, as including such a foot-rest.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The beauty of the cross: the passion of Christ in theology and the arts, from the catacombs to the eve of the Renaissance |last=Viladesau |first=Richard|year=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-518811-0|oclc=58791208|page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cTFh4tm9cMwC}}</ref> Ancient sources also mention the ''sedile'', a small seat attached to the front of the cross, about halfway down,<ref name=":0">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=905&letter=C|title=Crucifixion|encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia|access-date=2018-03-06|first1=Kaufmann|last1=Kohler|first2=Emil G.|last2=Hirsch}}</ref> which could have served a similar purpose.

[[File:Hombre de Giv'at ha-Mivtar..jpg|thumb|1st century calcareous heel bone with a nail]]
In 1968, archaeologists discovered at [[Giv'at ha-Mivtar]] in northeast [[Jerusalem]] the remains of one [[Jehohanan]], who was crucified in the 1st century CE. The remains included a heel bone with a nail driven through it from the side. The tip of the nail was bent, perhaps because of striking a knot in the upright beam, which prevented it being extracted from the foot. A first inaccurate account of the length of the nail led some to believe that it had been driven through both heels, suggesting that the man had been placed in a sort of sidesaddle position, but the true length of the nail, {{Convert|11.5|cm|abbr=off|frac=4}}, suggests instead that in this case of crucifixion the heels were nailed to opposite sides of the upright.<ref name=":5">{{cite web|url=http://chesterrep.openrepository.com/cdr/bitstream/10034/40813/1/Some%20Notes%20on%20Crucifixion.pdf|title=Some Notes on Crucifixion|access-date=2009-12-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718171841/http://chesterrep.openrepository.com/cdr/bitstream/10034/40813/1/Some%20Notes%20on%20Crucifixion.pdf|archive-date=2011-07-18|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=EdbdQ-5fMr0C David W. Chapman, Ancient Jewish and Christian perceptions of crucifixion] (Mohr Siebeck, 2008), pp.&nbsp;86–89</ref><ref name=":3">{{cite web|url=http://www.joezias.com/CrucifixionAntiquity.html|title=Joe Zias, Crucifixion in Antiquity&nbsp;— The Anthropological Evidence|publisher=Joezias.com|access-date=2009-12-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040311065035/http://www.joezias.com/CrucifixionAntiquity.html|archive-date=2004-03-11|url-status=dead}}</ref> As of 2011, the skeleton from [[Giv'at ha-Mivtar]] was the only confirmed example of ancient crucifixion in the archaeological record.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poweredbyosteons.org/2011/11/line-on-left-one-cross-each.html |title=The Bioarchaeology of Crucifixion |publisher=PoweredbyOsteons.org |access-date=2011-11-04}}</ref> A second set of skeletal remains with holes transverse through the [[calcaneum]] heel bones, found in 2007, could be a second archaeological record of crucifixion.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324496883|title=A multidisciplinary study of calcaneal trauma in Roman Italy:a possible case of crucifixion?|access-date=2021-06-01}}</ref> The find in [[Cambridgeshire]] ([[United Kingdom]]) in November 2017 of the remains of the heel bone of a (probably enslaved) man with an iron nail through it, is believed by the archeologists to confirm the use of this method in ancient Rome.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archaeologyuk.org/static/1693fb3b-1b3a-4d2d-b28b53059f7f3822/Crucifixion-in-the-Fens-Life-and-Death-in-Roman-Fenstanton.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.archaeologyuk.org/static/1693fb3b-1b3a-4d2d-b28b53059f7f3822/Crucifixion-in-the-Fens-Life-and-Death-in-Roman-Fenstanton.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Crucifixion in the Fens: life & death in Roman Fenstanton|access-date=2021-12-10}}</ref>