Due to the release of a certain movie tomorrow, I think we'll be seeing a lot of articles like this one in the next while: Savagery of crucifixion a message from Rome.
Posted on February 23, 2004 07:05 AM. Filed under: history & archaeology.Crucifixion was a painful, ignoble way to die. Its agony marred the body, and its image and memory still have the power to mar and madden the mind. Mel Gibson's movie about the Passion of Jesus Christ is only the latest echo.
Crucifixion, as a form of execution, was invented by the Persians, the ancestors of modern-day Iranians. It was picked up by the Greeks under Alexander the Great when they reached Asia. Alexander himself ordered 2,000 men of military age crucified after he captured Tyre in 332 B.C. The Romans adopted it and used it most spectacularly in 71 B.C., when 6,000 slaves who had rebelled under Spartacus were crucified along the Via Appia.
The punishment of crucifixion was meant to be shameful, lingering and exemplary: a public warning not to break the law. It was a horrible punishment, and by law Roman citizens were exempted from crucifixion. [continue]