9 Brutal Facts About Historical Crucifixion

Romans used an instrument called the Flagrum.FlagrumIt was also called the flagellum. This tool held several leather whipping cords connected to one handle. These cords often had knotted metal, made of zinc or iron, tied to the ends. Bone and hooks sometimes attached to these cords.

The Flagrum flayed the victim's back before crucifixion. Victims also bent their backs, which caused more skin damage and inflicted greater pain.

Nails used in crucifixions were so long that archeologists thought only one nail went through both feet for years. The victim had to cross one foot over the other before that single nail passed through. Now, historians believe thesenailsTwo nails, which were five- to seven-inch-long iron spikes, hammered into each foot.

These nails needed that length to pass through the body and into the wood deep enough to support a person's weight. Hammering them in caused little bleeding but maximum pain.

Archaeologists still argue whether nails pierced the palms or wrists during crucifixion. These nails pierced sensitive nerve endings, causing severe pain.

Specifically,crucifixionwould damage the ulnar and/or median nerves. Some researchers suggest these nails might have been placed near the elbow, where the arm and forearm bones join.

New evidence disputes the idea that feet were nailed together onto the front of the cross with one large spike. In the 1980s, archaeologists found theskeletal remainsof a man crucified in the first century BCE. This proved that, in some cases, feet were nailed to the cross's sides through the heels or ankles with two spikes.

Nailing the feet increased the time to death on a cross. Hanging only by the arms made breathing hard and quick suffocation likely. Nailing the feet let the person lift themselves with their legs, opening their diaphragm for breath. Centurions could break the legs to speed things up.

As the condemned pulled up to breathe and then relaxed from exhaustion, the person's back rubbed against theraw woodcross. This happened after the flagellum had already flayed the victim's back.

This huge blood loss could send the victim intohypovolemic shockThis shock happens after losing over one-fifth of the body's blood supply. This caused death sometimes during crucifixion.

Crucifixion strung the victim to strain breathing and circulation. With arms out, a person had to lift themselves to exhale.The victim exhaled.This task eventually proved too hard; the person slowly suffocated on the cross.

Some historians state Roman centurions often just watched the victim, waiting for gravity to kill them.

Survivors of the pain and difficulty of crucifixion faced death from the elements. Death speed was not exact science; some victims lasted days if guards did not break their legs to stop them from lifting for air.

In these cases, exposure and dehydration could eventually kill a victim.long exposure to weather and lack of fluids would kill the victim.This surrender to nature's forces is what one doctor called a "voluntary surrender of life."

Victims of crucifixion typically carried the horizontal crossbar known as the low tau, although Jesus of Nazareth is often depicted carrying the entire cross.The patibulum weighed 75-125 pounds. Victims carried it behind the neck, tying the arms to drag it to the execution site. There, it attached to the vertical post, the stipe.The patibulum weighed 75-125 pounds. They carried it behind the neck, tying the arms to drag it to the execution site. There, it attached to the vertical post, the stipe.

Sometimes a seat called a sedile attached to the execution to prolong it. A titulus sometimes nailed to the top of the cross named the condemned and their crime. Then, the condemned attached to the finished cross.

The cross depiction for Jesus of Nazareth's crucifixion is called "The Romans employed multiple types of crosses.." This low tau cross placed the crossbar two to three feet below the top of the vertical bar. A high tau cross attached the crossbar to the top of the vertical bar.

In some instances, victims were nailed to a tree; the branches served as the crossbar.