Jesus crucified on a X

[Peter Kirby]

One of the earliest representations anywhere, which may refer to Christian beliefs (not by a Christian).

Alexamenos graffito


I've subjected it to painstaking expert examination and infrared spectrographic analysis (no, just kidding) and concluded that this was a crux commissa. But there is just the possibility here of a crux imissa too.

[maryhelena]

One of the earliest representations anywhere, which may refer to Christian beliefs (not by a Christian).

Alexamenos graffito


I've subjected it to painstaking expert examination and infrared spectrographic analysis (no, just kidding) and concluded that this was a crux commissa. But there is just the possibility here of a crux imissa too.

• Wikipedia: No clear consensus has been reached on when the image was made. Dates ranging from the late 1st to the late 3rd century have been suggested,[13] with the beginning of the 3rd century thought to be the most likely

[Peter Kirby]

One of the earliest representations anywhere, which may refer to Christian beliefs (not by a Christian).

Alexamenos graffito


I've subjected it to painstaking expert examination and infrared spectrographic analysis (no, just kidding) and concluded that this was a crux commissa. But there is just the possibility here of a crux imissa too.

• Wikipedia: No clear consensus has been reached on when the image was made. Dates ranging from the late 1st to the late 3rd century have been suggested,[13] with the beginning of the 3rd century thought to be the most likely

Wikipedia: The Innisfail Eagles are a senior ice hockey team based in Innisfail, Alberta, Canada. Alberta Senior AA champions in 2012-13, the Eagles moved up to compete at the Senior AAA level for 2013-14. They presently play in the Chinook Hockey League.

[EdwardM]

Okay, I have the Link for the Pozzuoli. The article is in Italian, but you can translate it with google, bing or any other online auto-translator.

Link: http://www.infotdgeova.it/dottrine/pozzuoli.php

[arnoldo]

Actually, this topic is considered a trivia pursuit question by most Christians.
The claim that Jesus was nailed through the wrist instead of the hands is another one of those trivial but distracting questions.

FWIW, the shroud of turin appears to show someone who has wounds on the wrists rather than hands.


[wiki]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of ... d_of_Turin[/wiki]

[Peter Kirby]

Actually, this topic is considered a trivia pursuit question by most Christians.
The claim that Jesus was nailed through the wrist instead of the hands is another one of those trivial but distracting questions.

FWIW, the shroud of turin appears to show someone who has wounds on the wrists rather than hands.

Does it? I can't tell whether it's supposed to be just above the wrist joint or just below it. (Hopefully not through it, as that wouldn't actually help support as much as being clearly on one side [not the hand side, of course], in my not-expert opinion.)

Deciding on this question sort of reminds me of how you can play a tape backwards and hear "here's to my sweet Satan" on it--clearly, after it's pointed out.

[DCHindley]

Martin Hengel's Crucifixion in the Ancient World, which is available online, pretty much shows that we don't know anything about the exact manner a crucifixion might take. All those different styles of crucifix with those fancy-schmancy Latin names are not attested in ancient documents at all, not even once, despite the work reproduced on the Perseus site.

Now a while back (2010) I was interested in whether the Greek word APOSTAUROŌ equated with crucifixam or adfigio cruci.

What I learned was that all cases of APOSTAUROŌ in ancient Greek writers had to do with setting defensive perimeters made of sharpened stakes. I suppose that STAUROŌ similarly dealt with a sharpened stake (the sharp end was probably the end set into the ground, but perhaps not always, if you know what I mean).

According to Novum Lexicon Manual Graeco-Latinum et Latino-Graecum, 4th edition 1825 vol. 1, pg 504 (available @ Google Books) APOSTAUROW corresponds to Vallis (palisade/stockade), seu palis (to stake), ligneis in terram defixis munio (wood cut in the land, defenses to build), seu cingo: seclude (to surround/seclude), 2) Adfigo cruci (from affigo = affix + crucio = to torment)

I'm sure you refer to an equation like #2 above, and while I acknowledge that such a translation as crucifixam is possible (I did find another Gr-Lat lexicon which had this form next to adfigo cruci), it seems that the term could also be used to refer to the posting of war trophies or captured soldiers on stakes in the sight of the enemy to torture the enemy with shame on account of their capture. I would feel better if someone could provide an actual case where this Greek word is actually translated so in ancient literature. For all we know, the equation with crucifixam is there precisely because it seems that Latin Irenaeus and Tertullian do so, and is thus circular.

Searching for forms of the words adfigo and crucio in the same passage, the only passage I could find was Ammianus Marcellinus, Rerum Gestarum 28.1.10 "Thus Maximinus gained the power of doing harm and poured out the natural cruelty implanted in his hard heart" … and 13 "[Maximinus] ruled that all those whom the justice of the ancient code and the edicts of deified emperors had made exempt from inquisitions by torture should, if circumstances demanded, be examined with torments."

At Perseus.org a form of APOSTAUROW is found about 10 times:

Xenophon:

Anabases 6.5 Before breakfast time came, they proceeded to dig a trench across the way of approach to the place, and they backed it along its entire length with a palisade,

Hellenica 5.4 When he found, however, that the plain and the most valuable portions of their territory had been surrounded by a protecting trench and stockade

Hellenica 7.4 the Arcadians and those with them were so fearful for the coming day that they did not so much as go to rest during the night, being engaged in cutting down the carefully constructed booths [built by merchants or for the shelter and convenience of visitors] and building a stockade.

Agesilaus Ages.2 he made another expedition against Thebes, and, after crossing the stockade and trenches

Thucidydes:

Peloponnesian War 4.69 and the fruit-trees and timber cut down to make a palisade wherever this seemed necessary

Peloponnesian War 6.101 As soon as the Athenians had finished their work at the cliff they again attacked the stockade and ditch of the Syracusans.

Peloponnesian War 7.80 they found there also a Syracusan party engaged in barring the passage of the ford with a wall and a palisade

Polybius:

Histories 4.56 and they [the Sinopeans] accordingly determined to strengthen the line of the peninsula, where it was washed by the sea, by putting up wooden defenses and erecting palisades

Histories 16.30 Having then invested Abydos partly by a palisade and partly by an earthwork,

Appian:

The Civil Wars 1.14 He [Licinius Crassus] overtook them [Sparticus and his remaining forces] and enclosed them with a line of circumvallation consisting of ditch, wall, and paling.

These are all cases of erecting defensive palisades, not one of crucifixion. Impaling of trophies or war captives would more likely have been expressed in Greek with a form of ANASTAUROW (Plut.2. impale, Sid Ep 6.1, Ambrose Sacram 6.2.8, concrucifigo sacrum)

Here is a description of Roman use of these kinds of palings, from Julius Caesar's Gallic War 7.73 "Caesar thought that further additions should be made to these works, in order that the fortifications might be defensible by a small number of soldiers. Having, therefore, cut down the trunks of trees or very thick branches, and having stripped their tops of the bark, and sharpened them into a point, he drew a continued trench every where five feet deep. These stakes being sunk into this trench, and fastened firmly at the bottom, to prevent the possibility of their being torn up, had their branches only projecting from the ground. There were five rows in connection with, and intersecting each other; and whoever entered within them were likely to impale themselves on very sharp stakes [se ipsi acutissimis vallis induebant]. The soldiers called these "cippi" [the stakes]. Before these, which were arranged in oblique rows in the form of a quincunx, pits three feet deep were dug, which gradually diminished in depth to the bottom. In these pits tapering stakes, of the thickness of a man's thigh; sharpened at the top and hardened in the fire, were sunk in such a manner as to project from the ground not more than four inches; at the same time for the purpose of giving them strength and stability, they were each filled with trampled clay to the height of one foot from the bottom: the rest of the pit was covered over with osiers and twigs, to conceal the deceit. Eight rows of this kind were dug, and were three feet distant from each other. They called this a lily from its resemblance to that flower. Stakes a foot long, with iron hooks attached to them, were entirely sunk in the ground before these, and were planted in every place at small intervals; these they called spurs."

Aren't these Greek-Latin Lexicons meant to help modern students translate Greek classics into Latin for composition exercises? Aside from Latin Irenaeus and Tertullian, I am beginning to doubt that this has been done in ancient literature.

DCH

[Peter Kirby]

Martin Hengel's Crucifixion in the Ancient World, which is available online, pretty much shows that we don't know anything about the exact manner a crucifixion might take. All those different styles of crucifix with those fancy-schmancy Latin names are not attested in ancient documents at all, not even once, despite the work reproduced on the Perseus site.

Thank you for this. I did quickly search some collections of ancient Latin and had turned up empty for these phrases, but I am more comfortable saying that now knowing that I am not the only one to notice this. Yes, I can't find these particular terms in ancient Latin. On the other hand, perhaps some of the ideas underlying said terms (but not the actual terms) are found. The work does have some references that could be followed up. Hengel must cover all of these references and more himself, of course.

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... ry=crux-cn

The mode of punishment is too well known to need much description. Scourging, as with Roman capital punishments in general, usually preceded it (Liv. 22.13, 33.36; Cic. in Verr. 5.62, § 161 ff.).

The word crux is also applied to the single stake used in impalement: the latter process is alluded to by Seneca in two passages, but, as he is speaking of death by torture in general, it may be doubted in the absence of direct evidence whether this was a Roman custom (Cons. ad Marciam, 20.3, where crucifixion with the head downward is mentioned; Ep. 14.5).

The upright post is called stipes, the transverse beam patibulum; and it was this, rather than the entire instrument, which the criminal carried to the place of execution (Plut. de Sera Num. Vind. p. 554 B; Artemid. Oneirocr. 2.61; Plautus, Mostell. 1.1, 53, and ap. Non. s. v. patibulum).
It was impossible that the whole weight of the body should rest upon the nails; hence there was a piece of wood projecting from the stipes on which the sufferer sat, or rather rode (κέρας ἐφ᾽ ᾦ ἐποχοῦνται οἱ σταυρούμενοι, Just. Mart. Dial.c. Tryph. 91; sedilis excessus, Tertull. adv. Nat. 1.12; cf. Iren. adv. Haer. 1.12).

The expression acuta si sedeam cruce, in the famous lines of Maecenas ap. Sen. Ep. 101, probably refers to this support, and not, as Lipsius thought, to impalement (see Archd. Farrar in Dict. of the Bible, s. v. Cross). when it was wanting, the body was probably sustained by ropes: the combination of ropes with nails is mentioned by Pliny (fragmentum clavi a cruce and spartum e cruce as charms, H. N. 28.46) and Hilary ( “colligantium funium vincula et adactorum clavorum vulnera,” de Trin. 10).

Tying to the cross is also mentioned as an Egyptian custom by Xenophon Ephesius (4.2), but his romance, apart from its late date, is of no historical authority; and there does not appear to be any sufficient evidence for the practice in classical times.

The well-known breaking of the legs to hasten death is alluded to by Plautus (Poen. 4.2, 64) and Cicero (Cic. Phil. 13.12.27).

The dead body was generally left hanging on the cross, to be devoured by birds and beasts: the feet were but little raised above the ground (not as in most pictures), and it was not out of the reach of the latter (Hor. Ep. 1.16, 48; Juv. 14.77; Artemid. Oneirocr. 2.53).

Sepulture was therefore forbidden, and a soldier set to watch the corpse (Petron. 111, 112).

The place for these executions was always outside the walls of cities: at rome it was the Campus Esquilinus, to the cast of the city, part of which was afterwards occupied by the gardens of Maecenas. The Sessorium and the Sestertium, sometimes mentioned in this connexion, were probably two distinct spots in the Campus Esquilinus: the former on the Lateran Hill near the basilica of Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme, where there are some remains of a building traditionally called Sessorium (Schol. Cruq. on Hor. Epod. 5, 100, and Sat. 2.8, 8; Orell. ad loc.; Burn, Rome and the Campagna, pp. 218, 226); the latter at some place distant 2 1/2 miles (whence the name Sestertium) from the Esquiline gate in the Servian wall, not from the later circuit of the city (Tac. Ann. 15.60, with Orellius' note; Plut. Galb. 28, where Sintenis quite needlessly reads Σεσσώριον for Σητέρτιον, from a conjecture of W. A. Becker; Burn, l.c. p. 219).

Following the references would be an interesting project, to be sure.

If nothing else, there's that crucified animal image (but it's not a "document"). Maybe there are other relevant art and inscriptions.

If I remember correctly, there are two graffiti and one fresco that indicate that the Romans used T-shaped and t-shaped crosses in Italy in the late first century.

- Pozzuoli Graffito, which shows a person (scholars can't agree on the sex of the person) riding on a sedile with a Cornu / acuta crux attached. This latter thing is a curved vertical stake that curved outward; he or she is actually riding this thing rather than the sedile proper. The greater frame appears to be T-shaped.

- Vivat Crux Graffito, which appears to be a rebus to the reader (vivas in cruce). There is a lower "V" but one side crosses the pole and the other side has two strokes, as if to indicate a sharp spike. Where the cross beam sits appears to be two branches extending from the pole to support the beam. These branches could be natural branches, or brackets set into the pole.

- Fresco in the Colosseum in Rome. It shows three suspended and a tough being nailed. The suspended one on the left appears to be sitting on something. The one in the middle appears to be being asphyxiated by smoke from a fire set directly beneath. The one on the right is suspended crookedly; his torso seems to be leaning out from the cross, with his buttocks against the pole. All crosses appear to be t-shaped; but there is no indication these are crucifixes ( two-beam crosses with each timber inlaid into the other ).

Typing on my iPhone, will send links later.

[outhouse]

Deciding on this question sort of reminds me of how you can play a tape backwards and hear "here's to my sweet Satan" on it--clearly, after it's pointed out.

So true.

It is a failure to bring that into a historical debate of any kind.


"We don't now" is often so much better then guessing poorly.

[DCHindley]

Deciding on this question sort of reminds me of how you can play a tape backwards and hear "here's to my sweet Satan" on it--clearly, after it's pointed out.

So true.

Peter, do you mean the 1971 song Stairway to Heaven by Led Zepplin, or the 1960 song with the same name by Neil Sedaka?

Sedaka's song was, after all, on an album named Neil Sedaka Sings Little Devil and His Other Hits.

And here I thought it was just the phrase "number nine" on the Beatles' song Revolution 9 when played backwards.

Perhaps Tanya could pipe in now about the evils of popular music?

DCH