The Josephan story about taking a living man down from a cross after the Jewish Roman war of 70 c.e. has come up a number of times of this thread. Below is a copy of an earlier post of mine:
Was Antigonus crucified, hung on a stake, or was he beheaded? Probably both. According to Daniel Schwartz there was a period of time between the fall of Jerusalem to Herod in July of 37 b.c.e. and the execution of Antigonus by Marc Antony. Time in which a crucifixion, a hanging on a stake for punishment by scourging followed some months later with a death by beheading.
''The chronology of Herod's conquest of Jerusalem has been studied in detail by
numerous scholars, including, in the past generation, Schalit, "Schiirer,"
Stern, van Bruggen, Smallwood and Baumann. Although Josephus {Ant.
14.487) dates it to the Day of Atonement (10 Tishri), all these scholars, as
others, agree that the conquest was in fact completed in ca. July 37."'
Accordingly, on the basis of the usual assumption cited above, that Herod
counted his years from Nisan, it is usual to assume that he counted
"inclusively" from Nisan 37. If, as we argued, he used an "inclusive" autumn
era, it would have begun in 38. But such a conclusion as the latter is excluded
by various considerations which show that Herod counted his years from 37
(see below).
......
More important, however, is a second point: this whole problem is
only an illusion, for Josephus did not count Herod's years from the conquest
of Jerusalem, although Schiirer and numerous others say he did. In fact, if one
takes the statement in the scholarly locus classicus on Herodian chronology
(SVM I, p. 326, n. 165) that Josephus states that he reigned 37 years from the date of his appointment (40 B . C . ) , 34
years from his conquest of Jerusalem, 37 B . C . Cf. Ant. xvii 8 , 1 (191); B 7 i 3 3 , 8 (665)
and checks the references, he will find that Josephus in fact counts the thirty four years from
the execution of Mattathias Antigonus. But Antigonus was executed in Antioch by Mark Anthony {Ant. 14.488-490;
Strabo, apud Ant.15.9),"^ and, as is shown by the latter's movements, that occurred in the late
autumn of 37, or perhaps early in 36. Anthony was still in Tarentum in
September—October 37."' Thus, there is nothing here to contradict the usage
of an autumn 37 era. Apparently, Josephus, or already Herod, was only
willing to count the new king's regnal years after Antigonus was completely
removed.
.....
However, as we have seen, in fact
at least a few months went by between July 37 and Antigonus' execution.
Daniel R Schwartz: Studies in the Jewish Background of Christianity. Page 176/177/178.
Interestingly, Josephus, at the fall of Jerusalem in 70 c.e. tells a story about finding a friend of his crucified and has this friend removed from the cross - the friend survived - to die another day.
It seems to me that Josephus is simply remembering the history related to the siege of Jerusalem in 37 b.c. History repeating itself through the eyes of one steeped in his people's prophetic history. History viewed and recorded through a prophetic lens. Not in the sense of fortune tellers but in his people's age old method of retelling history through the form of stories or allegories.
And that is of course what the gospel writers have done - they told a story. A story cherished by millions of people. The search for early christian origins is not to diminish their story but to understand the history their story is attempting to preserve.