Death by Crucifixion

A crucifixion was a ceremonious punishment of the Roman Empire that dates all the way back before to the Punic Wars with Carthage. Most people only think of the crucifixion of Jesus, but so many others were crucified before and after him. The crucifixion originated with the Assyrians and Babylonians as a form of execution for slaves and rebels. The process of a crucifixion is a horrific and humiliating type of capital punishment, not only was it the worst punishment you could receive, but it was also used for onlookers to see what heavy price certain crimes lead to. In today’s society there are people who boycott the electric chair and even death by lethal injection; I shudder to think of the reactions an actual crucifixion would cause, how inhumane they would view it in modern day.

After the conviction in a trial the prisoner is stripped of clothing and tied to a post, then flogged, also referred to as whipped. The whip used for flogging often had a wooden handle and long leather thongs, with bits of metal attached to the end of each end of the thongs. The prisoner is first bruised by the constant whipping, and then due to the metal that rips open the flesh, digging into the tissue and muscle, it would leave the prisoner drenched in their own blood. The flogging would continue until the back and shoulders of the condemned were unrecognizable and the soldiers knew the prisoner would not be able to withstand any more of it. The beating was not the end of it, it was intended only to weaken the person and cause even more pain when they moved on to the second phase. When they determined that the prisoner was near death and severally weakened, they would cease the beatings and continue to the second phase; of course some never even ...

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...0-2011) There were some who were taken down once they died and buried in an unmarked tomb, or claimed by their families, and then there were the ones left rotting, as a sign to people coming into the city, as a message of how serious they take crimes. However, society in more modern times tends to think that the electric chair and lethal injection are inhumane. Although the punishments are similar when the offender is on display, the sheer magnitude of the way you die from a crucifixion greatly outweighs any death imaginable.

Works Cited

all about jesus christ. (2002-2011). Retrieved from http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/crucifixion.htm

Borsheim, R. (2000-2011). The Crucifixtion. Retrieved from www.bandoli.no: http://www.bandoli.no/index.htm

Sailles, D. d. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.csun.edu: http://www.csun.edu/~hbeng151/icc/studies/account.html