Today, Good Friday, is recognised by Christians around the world as the anniversary of Jesus being crucified. And so, to honour this, we are taking a short break from our series pegged around the alleged ill-treatment of Ghislaine Maxwell. Instead, we are examining crucifixion.

What is crucifixion?

Crucifixion is a torturous form of execution, more associated with history than the modern day. Its name is derived from the Latin words crucifixio and crucifixus, meaning to fix to a cross. Crucifixion crosses were made of wood and came in a variety of shapes and sizes though they generally had both vertical and horizontal beams that slotted together. That said, it is also possible to crucify someone without an actual cross, by attaching their spread arms and their feet to any suitable surface such as a tree trunk.

What are its origins?

Though it originated in other societies, the Roman Empire perfected crucifixion as a form of torture. Roman crucifixion was a long, slow journey to death with the maximum amount of fear, pain and other suffering along the way. It was the ultimate threat to those who might be tempted to step out of line.

Who got crucified?

In general, Roman crucifixion was the fate of the lowliest in society. It was inflicted upon slaves, peasants and criminals, but rarely to Roman citizens. It was famously deployed on slaves in 71 BC when 6000 followers of the rebel slave leader Spartacus were crucified along the Via Appia - the road extending south from Rome, the very heart of the Roman Empire. And zipping forward a couple of generations to history’s most famous crucifixion, on the original Good Friday in 30 or 33 AD, Jesus was crucified between two thieves:-

When they [the Romans] came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals - one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
(Luke 23:32-34)

Over the next few years, it is thought that many of Jesus’ original followers were crucified - as punishment for spreading the message of Christianity. And during the subsequent two millennia in certain parts of the world, Christians - that is, followers of Jesus Christ - have sometimes suffered the same fate as their Lord.

Even today, crucifixion occasionally pops up in the news as having been used as a method of killing someone or as a means of inflicting extreme non-fatal violence.

Flogging and mocking

There is no doubt that crucifixion is a torturous form of execution. But even before Jesus picked up His cross and walked to His execution site, He was tortured in other ways.

It was not uncommon for the Romans to beat and maim their victims prior to crucifying them. A whip of three leather tails studded with metal balls and pieces of bone was used to inflict deep wounds across the condemned person’s shoulders and back. These wounds exposed muscle and could even damage internal organs. Many victims did not survive this ordeal - and so at least were spared the actual cross.

And along with the physical torture He endured, Jesus was also tortured psychologically:-

He [Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor in Jerusalem] had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified…They [the Roman soldiers] put a purple robe [a symbol of royalty] on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!”. Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
(Mark 27:15-20)

Crucifixion as SLOW torture

If a condemned person managed to survive his pre-crucifixion flogging, he would then have the ignominious task of carrying his own cross - or at least its horizontal crossbeam - to his site of execution. Jesus was so weak after His flogging that He had to have assistance carrying His cross. But then He finally arrived at Jerusalem’s execution site, which was named Golgotha - the local word for skull - because it sat on top of a rockface that looked remarkably like the front of a skull and can still be seen today. And there He was nailed to His cross:-

This man [Jesus] was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
(Acts 2:23)

His cross was then set upright in a hole in the ground, and He was left to hang - suspended by His nailed limbs - until He died. And today, various forms of suspension remain popular methods of torture.

A Roman crucifixion victim’s death could be a long time coming, taking up to several days. And so, as happened in the Easter Story, an executioner would sometimes inflict further injury to hasten death:-

Now it was the day of Preparation [for the Jewish feast of the Passover], and the next day was to be a special Sabbath [rest day]. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
(John 19:31-34)

Many medical papers have tried to understand the pathology underlying death from crucifixion, noting it was likely multifactorial and included the after-effects of flogging, haemorrhage and dehydration causing hypovolaemic shock, and asphyxia caused by impairment of respiratory movement. Regardless of the exact mechanism of death though, it is surely an excruciating way to die.

Why was jesus crucified?

As a Christian faith-inspired organisation, we recognise the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made for us at Easter, giving His life for us. The pain He endured physically, spiritually and mentally are more than any human being should have to bear. But for our sake He, God on earth, entered our broken world in human form to die so that we wouldn’t have to:-

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!
(Philippians 2:6-8)

If you’d like to know more about why Jesus came to Earth and died on the cross, you might like to look at this simple cross-shaped leaflet, which we created especially for detainees wanting to understand the Easter Story:-

But What about now?

On this Good Friday, as every Good Friday, we remember one sobering episode of barbaric violence from the First Century. Still, although it does still occasionally occur, these days crucifixion is seen as old fashioned. In its place, other - supposedly more ‘modern’ - forms of torture and execution now wreak havoc around the globe.

Why oh why do we human beings continue to inflict torture and cruel, inhuman & degrading treatment on each other? It seems that nothing will stop it. Indeed, it is tempting to think that opposing torture & ill-treatment is a completely futile endeavour!

But it’s not.

Just as Good Friday was not the end of Jesus’ story, we should not give up hoping that torture & ill-treatment will end some day. In defeating death, Jesus paved a way for our reconciliation with God and everlasting life with Him. Through that we have genuine cause for hope in a better world and a better life to come. We can look forward to that day:-

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
(Revelation 21:4)

Still for now, whilst still having one eye on the future, we and all other Christians must live in day-to-day obedience with God’s mandate to fight on behalf of the vulnerable:-

Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed…
(Isaiah 1:17)

And this includes victims of torture & ill-treatment.

Happy Easter.

Dr Esme MacKrill with Dr Rachael Pickering

PS If you’d like to support our anti-torture & ill-treatment work, we welcome donations towards the Gerry Serrano Centre.