Crucifixion in the Ancient World?

[lclapshaw]

Just how prevalent was execution by crucifixion in the ancient world I wonder?

Anyone who has seen Spartacus on the big screen remembers the ending with Spartacus and his followers nailed to crosses, and translations of the event into English use the terminology of crucifixion to describe the scene. But there is a small problem. The only author to describe this event is Appian in his work The Civil Wars.
In this work in book 1 chapter 14 section 120 he writes in Greek…

ἑξακισχιλίων, οἳ ληφθέντες ἐκρεμάσθησαν ἀνὰ ὅλην τὴν ἐς Ῥώμην ἀπὸ Καπύης ὁδόν.

6,000 were hanged on the road from Rome to Kapues, the Greek word here ἐκρεμάσθησαν (ekremasthesan) means “were hanged”. So no mention of crucifixion at all. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0231%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D14%3Asection%3D120

Other places where the term crucifixion is used heavily when translated are the books of Josephus and The New Testament, but when the original Greek is consulted the word stauros (stake) is only used. No sign of crosses here either. Josephus’ References to Crucifixion

Seneca the younger on consolation to marcia has at 20:3a

Video istic cruces ne unius quidem generis sed aliter ab aliis fabricatas

So it would seem that at least in some instances a cross was used for executions. Seneca: But is their actual usage nowhere near what we are led to believe? Is the word crucifixion artificially being used to describe executions that have nothing to do at all with nailing people to wooden crosses? Is crucifixion largely a myth that we moderns expect because we have been fed images of it in movies and tv as well as mistranslated ancient texts? I suspect yes!

It might be a worthwhile endeavor to track down every single reference in the ancient literature that is translated as crucifixion to see just how often it is a correct translation.

[billd89]

Question: when was Palestine de-forested? The Bronze Age? Deserts and semi-arid areas of the ME don't have big 'trees' - palm wood is poor for that.

If the Egyptians were taking lumber from Lebanon c.1000 BC, doesn't that suggest much of the Levant had already lost its big trees? The kind of timber you'd need to crucify lots of people ... no, I don't think that form of capital punishment was viable, economical then and there.

What am I missing, the forest for the trees? When did the big trees disappear?

[lclapshaw]

Question: when was Palestine de-forested? The Bronze Age? Deserts and semi-arid areas of the ME don't have big 'trees' - palm wood is poor for that.

If the Egyptians were taking lumber from Lebanon c.1000 BC, doesn't that suggest much of the Levant had already lost its big trees? The kind of timber you'd need to crucify lots of people ... no, I don't think that form of capital punishment was viable, economical then and there.

What am I missing, the forest for the trees? When did the big trees disappear?

I've wondered about that myself.

[arnoldo]

Josephus writes there were no trees near Jesusalem circa 70 A.D.

Titus, out of his commiseration of the people that remained, and out of his earnest desire of rescuing what was still left out of these miseries, began to raise his banks again, although materials for them were hard to be come at; for all the trees that were about the city had been already cut down for the making of the former banks. Yet did the soldiers bring with them other materials from the distance of ninety furlongs, and thereby raised banks in four parts, much greater than the former, though this was done only at the tower of Antonia
https://lexundria.com/j_bj/5.491-5.526/wst
[/white]

[Leucius Charinus]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedars_of_God

It appears that by the 16th century there were only 28 trees left.

2,000 Jews of the town Emmaus were crucified, <<<according to Florus, Epitome of Roman History (II,88)>>>

[mlinssen]

Question: when was Palestine de-forested? The Bronze Age? Deserts and semi-arid areas of the ME don't have big 'trees' - palm wood is poor for that.

If the Egyptians were taking lumber from Lebanon c.1000 BC, doesn't that suggest much of the Levant had already lost its big trees? The kind of timber you'd need to crucify lots of people ... no, I don't think that form of capital punishment was viable, economical then and there.

What am I missing, the forest for the trees? When did the big trees disappear?

The Egyptians were fond of impaling, "to give to the wood", as means of lethal execution. Some reuse there I presume, but indeed, talk of an army going by and "crucifiying" people by the hundreds, let alone the thousands, only discloses where that story is invented: in an area far away from places you describe

The only reason to change the staking into a cross(beam) is to have a dignified death - and that means that Marcion already had his Jesus staked. Not flogged, that's what Mark and Matthew add with the Roman loanword whereas John uses the native Greek and Luke merely the word "chastise"

[billd89]

The only reason to change the staking into a cross(beam) is to have a dignified death...

One, only one reason?? Suppose a) crucifixion was (rarely, dramatically) performed in antiquity, b) miraculous survivals had occurred (rumored, etc.), and c) some older, popular Salvationist Myth(s) involved a Celestial Cross.

People like very simple material expressions: a child w/ 2 sticks can make a cross. A wooden cross may have been inserted into the Death-Story for reasons other than Dignity; I think many strands were woven together. I like simplicity, but beware of oversimplification.

[mlinssen]

The only reason to change the staking into a cross(beam) is to have a dignified death...

One, only one reason?? Suppose a) crucifixion was (rarely, dramatically) performed in antiquity, b) miraculous survivals had occurred (rumored, etc.), and c) some older, popular Salvationist Myth(s) involved a Celestial Cross.

People like very simple material expressions: a child w/ 2 sticks can make a cross. A wooden cross may have been inserted into the Death-Story for reasons other than Dignity; I think many strands were woven together. I like simplicity, but beware of oversimplification.

I'd agree there, were it not that crucifixion as we know is a terribly uneconomic execution. You need 2 really fat trees, labour intensive rope or incredibly labour intensive nails, and a guard to watch for days and regularly check whether the victim is just passed out or dead.
It is absolutely unfeasible that anyone ever carried out a crucifixion other then just for shits & giggles

So yeah, rarely indeed. Dramatically too. Survival rate is incredibly high compared to impaling, though - or stoning

A celestial cross? Are you sure that's not a celestial σταυρός ?

[robert j]

... some older, popular ... Myth(s) involved a Celestial Cross.

A celestial cross? Are you sure that's not a celestial σταυρός ?

The short article about "Plato's Cosmic X" in the link in this previous post --- with brief descriptions from Plato's Republic of a heavenly portal through which souls might pass, and the intersecting celestial circles in his Timaeus --- is well worth a read. A few other ancient descriptions are also presented ---

The idea of a limit of the heavens that is a cross goes back to Plato, who sees in the cross of the solar and planetary orbits the Greek letter Chi ("X").

Plato's 'Chi-in-the-sky' is probably the seasonal intersection of the zodiacal light with the milky way.

The zodiacal light is so-named because it occurs along the plane of the ecliptic, that is, approximately the plane on which the planets orbit around the sun. The zodiacal light is not a familiar sight to most modern people for a variety of reasons, but light pollution is certainly a factor. The zodiacal light —- interplanetary dust illuminated by the sun —- is best visible in mid to mid-southern latitudes, and only in the spring and autumn and only for a period of time before dawn or after sunset, depending on the season.

For many ancients that spent much more time under very dark skies --- especially astrologers, mystics, diviners, and goat herders --- the phenomenon would have been quite well known.

At the times when the zodiacal light happens to intersect with the Milky Way, a giant “X” is visible across the sky. This is most likely the celestial X that Plato was referring to in his Timaeus. Here’s a decent article that presents that point of view, and even includes a photograph of the phenomenon (scroll down the page for the article) ---

“Plato’s Cosmic X: Heavenly Gates at the Celestial Crossroads”
https://www.academia.edu/1536305/Platos ... Crossroads

Here's another photo of the celestial cross when the zodical light intersects with the Milky Way. In this photo, one can picture the light as two intersecting circles on the celestial sphere as described by Plato in his Timaeus in the article with the link above.

From: "Sky & Telescope" --- https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/z ... uty101514/
The article describes the phenomenon of the zodiacal light.

Photo caption:
The zodiacal light (left) reaches up beyond Jupiter to cross over the Milky Way in this photo taken on October 1, 2014, under very dark, mountaintop skies on Tenerife. Details: 8mm f/3.5 fisheye, two 3-minute exposures at ISO 1600.
Damian Peach

[lclapshaw]

This is a post from a history thread on this subject. https://historum.com/threads/crucifixio ... st-3593383 from here https://historum.com/threads/crucifixio ... ld.193197/

Is this true? Is the term crucifixion (cruciatus) just a general term for punishment that has nothing whatsoever to do with crosses?