There is, perhaps, no person who does not know about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ at Calvary. And while believers and atheists argue about the reliability of this fact, historians argue that execution by crucifixion existed in the East for a long time and was considered the most shameful, most painful and most cruel. In addition to unbearable pain and suffocation, the crucified one experienced a terrible thirst and mortal anguish. Today, in a review on how this actually happened.
The Romans practiced crucifixion (literally "attachment to the cross") for nearly a millennium. Like death by guillotine during the French Revolution, crucifixion was a public execution. But unlike the instant execution with the help of the guillotine, the crucifixion presupposed a long and painful death. Crucifixion, in fact, was not only an execution, but also acted as a "deterrent" for potential criminals, because they saw with their own eyes the pain and humiliation of a dying person who spent the last hours or days of his life naked, nailed to a cross, which was usually installed near a crowded roads. In this case, the person on the cross most often died from dehydration, suffocation, or infection. The Roman orator Cicero called this type of execution "the most cruel and most terrible".
Historians believe that the practice of crucifixion originated in Persia, while the Romans simply later adopted this type of execution. In ancient Rome, either the Crux immissa (roughly analogous to the Christian cross) or the Crux commissâ (T-shaped cross) were used. As a rule, at first, the victim was tied or nailed by the hands to the crossbar of a cross lying on the ground, after which the cross was raised and dug into the ground.
A plaque was attached above the victim's head, on which the name of the executed and his crime was written. The victim's hands were nailed to the crossbar with long square nails (about 15 cm long and 1 cm thick). The legs were nailed either on the sides of the vertical pillar, or they crossed them in front of the pillar and hammered in one nail in the middle. Then the arms and legs were additionally tied with ropes. To speed up death (as a result of hemorrhage, painful shock and shortness of breath, since the person could no longer lean on his legs), the victim's legs were sometimes broken.
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The Romans practiced a similar method of execution at least until the 3rd century AD, until in 337 AD. crucifixion was not forbidden by Emperor Constantine. Surprisingly, there is now almost no direct archaeological evidence of a crucifixion. Scientists suggest that there are several explanations:
- Wooden crosses have not survived, since thousands of years have passed and they were destroyed long ago.
- The victims of the crucifixion were criminals and therefore were not buried. The bodies were most often simply thrown into the river or in a garbage dump. Therefore, such bodies are almost impossible to find.
- It was believed that the nails with which a person was nailed to a crucifix had magical or medical properties, so they were simply plundered over the centuries.
- In the process of crucifixion, mainly soft tissues were damaged, which naturally decomposed over time. There was no obvious damage to the skeleton.
Reconstruction of the face of Johanan Ben-Hagalgol, made by scientists in 1970.
Only one example of a crucifixion has been found. In 1968, during excavations of a tomb in the northeastern part of Jerusalem, the remains of a man were found who, apparently, was crucified. His name was written on the crypt - Johanan Ben-Hagalgol. After analyzing the remains, the approximate age of the person at the time of death was established - 24-28 years.
In 1968, human bones were found in the Givat ha-Mivtar cave, which is considered proof that in the first century AD. e. crucifixion was practiced in Judea.
His height was approximately 167 cm, which was the average for men of that era. The upper jaw of the skeleton was split, and the feet of the half-bent legs were turned outward. A 19-centimeter nail was driven through the heel guests. Further research on the remains of Johanan Ben-Hagalgol is not possible as they were reburied after preliminary analyzes in the mid-1980s.
Reconstruction of the crucifixion of Johanan Ben-Hagalgol.
Another historical evidence of the practice of crucifixion is the mention of the uprising of Spartacus (73-71 BC). After the suppression of the uprising, all captured slaves (about 6,000 people) were crucified on crosses installed along the road from Capua to Rome.
