Crucifixion

=== Pre-Roman states ===
Crucifixion (or impalement), in one form or another, was used by [[Achaemenid Persia|Persians]], [[Carthaginians]], and among the Greeks, the [[Ancient Macedonians|Macedonians]].

The Greeks were generally opposed to performing crucifixions.<ref>[http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/LX/Stavros.html Stavros, Scolops (σταῦρός, σκόλοψ). The cross]; {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628183300/http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/LX/Stavros.html |date=2011-06-28 }} encyclopedia Hellinica</ref> However, in his ''Histories'', ix.120–122, Greek writer [[Herodotus]] describes the execution of a Persian general at the hands of Athenians in about 479 BC: "They nailed him to a plank and hung him up&nbsp;... this [[Artayctes]] who suffered death by crucifixion."<ref>Translation by Aubrey de Selincourt. The original, "σανίδα προσπασσαλεύσαντες, ἀνεκρέμασαν&nbsp;... Τούτου δὲ τοῦ Ἀρταύκτεω τοῦ ἀνακρεμασθέντος&nbsp;...", is translated by Henry Cary (Bohn's Classical Library: ''Herodotus Literally Translated''. London, G. Bell and Sons 1917, pp.&nbsp;591–592) as: "They nailed him to a plank and hoisted him aloft&nbsp;... this Artayctes who was hoisted aloft".</ref> The ''Commentary on Herodotus'' by How and Wells remarks: "They crucified him with hands and feet stretched out and nailed to cross-pieces; cf. vii.33. This barbarity, unusual on the part of Greeks, may be explained by the enormity of the outrage or by Athenian deference to local feeling."<ref>W.W. How and J. Wells, ''A Commentary on Herodotus'' (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1912), vol. 2, p. 336</ref>
[[File:Illustrations pour Salammbô Poirson Victor-Armand.jpeg|thumb|upright=0.8|left|alt=A black-and-white painting showing five men, two in armour, crucified in front of a city|A nineteenth-century depiction of the crucifixion of rebel leaders by the [[Ancient Carthage|Carthaginians]] in 238 BC]]
Some Christian [[theologian]]s, beginning with [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] of [[Tarsus, Mersin|Tarsus]] writing in [[Galatians 3:13]], have interpreted an allusion to crucifixion in [[Deuteronomy]] {{bibleverse-nb||Deut|21:22–23}}. This reference is to being hanged from a tree, and may be associated with [[lynching]] or traditional hanging. However, Rabbinic law limited capital punishment to just 4 methods of execution: stoning, burning, strangulation, and decapitation, while the passage in Deuteronomy was interpreted as an obligation to hang the corpse on a tree as a form of deterrence.<ref>See Mishnah, Sanhedrin 7:1, translated in Jacob Neusner, The Mishnah: A New Translation 591 (1988), supra note 8, at 595–596 (indicating that court ordered execution by stoning, burning, decapitation, or strangulation only)</ref> The fragmentary Aramaic Testament of Levi (DSS 4Q541) interprets in column 6: "God ... (partially legible)-''will set'' ... right errors. ... (partially legible)-''He will judge'' ... revealed sins. Investigate and seek and know how Jonah wept. Thus, you shall not destroy the weak by wasting away or by ... (partially legible)-''crucifixion'' ... Let not the nail touch him."<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/scrolls_deadsea/uncovered/uncovered05.htm| title = Levi,''Aramaic Testament of Levi'' 4Q541 column 6}}</ref>

The Jewish king [[Alexander Jannaeus]], king of Judea from 103 to 76 BCE, crucified 800 rebels, said to be [[Pharisees]], in the middle of Jerusalem.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pbpSjsz_uY8C&pg=PA46 |first=Wenhua |last=Shi |title=Paul's Message of the Cross As Body Language |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |year=2008 |isbn=978-3-16-149706-3 |page=46}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/deadseascrollsbi0000vand |url-access=registration |first=James C. |last=VanderKam |title=The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible |publisher=Eerdmans |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-8028-6679-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/deadseascrollsbi0000vand/page/110 110]}}</ref>

[[Alexander the Great]] is reputed to have crucified 2,000 survivors from [[Siege of Tyre (332 BC)|his siege]] of the [[Phoenicia]]n city of [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]],<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_t09.html| title = Quintus Curtius Rufus, ''History of Alexander the Great of Macedonia'' 4.4.21| access-date = 2020-03-26| archive-date = 2016-04-08| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160408155932/http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_t09.html| url-status = dead}}</ref> as well as the doctor who unsuccessfully treated Alexander's lifelong friend [[Hephaestion]]. Some historians have also conjectured that Alexander crucified [[Callisthenes]], his official historian and biographer, for objecting to Alexander's adoption of the Persian ceremony of [[Proskynesis|royal adoration]].

In [[Carthage]], crucifixion was an established mode of execution, which could even be imposed on generals for suffering a major defeat.<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h-VlDC4Jt6gC&pg=PT92|first=Richard A.|last=Gabriel |title=Hannibal |publisher=Potomac Books|year=2011|isbn=978-1-59797-766-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/ahistoryrometoe01liddgoog|first=Henry George|last=Liddell|title=A History of Rome|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1855|page=[https://archive.org/details/ahistoryrometoe01liddgoog/page/n322 302]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o_pZEpbG498C&pg=PA23|first=Robin|last=Waterfield|title=Polybius. The Histories|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-19-953470-8|page=23}}</ref>

The oldest crucifixion may be a post-mortem one mentioned by Herodotus. [[Polycrates]], the tyrant of [[Samos]], was put to death in 522 BCE by the Persians, and his dead body was then crucified.<ref>Herodotus, ''Histories'', {{Herodotus|en|3|125}} ("Having killed him in some way not fit to be told, Oroetes then crucified him")</ref>{{Clear}}