Crucifixion

Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthaginians, and Romans, among others. Crucifixion has been used in parts of the world as recently as the 21st century. The crucifixion of Jesus is central to Christianity, and the cross (sometimes depicting Jesus nailed to it) is the main religious symbol for many Christian churches. Ancient Greek has two verbs for crucify: (ἀνασταυρόω), from (which in modern Greek only means "cross" but which in antiquity was used of any kind of wooden pole, pointed or blunt, bare or with attachments) and (ἀποτυμπανίζω) "crucify on a plank", together with (ἀνασκολοπίζω "impale"). In earlier pre-Roman Greek texts usually means "impale". The Greek used in the Christian New Testament uses four verbs, three of them based upon (σταυρός), usually translated "cross". The most common term is (σταυρόω), "to crucify", occurring 46 times; (συσταυρόω), "to crucify with" or "alongside" occurs five times, while (ἀνασταυρόω), "to crucify again" occurs only once at the Epistle to the Hebrews 6:6. (προσπήγνυμι), "to fix or fasten to, impale, crucify" occurs only once, at the Acts of the Apostles 2:23. The English term cross derives from the Latin word crux, which classically referred to a tree or any construction of wood used to hang criminals as a form of execution. The term later came to refer specifically to a cross. The related term crucifix derives from the Latin crucifixus or cruci fixus, past participle passive of crucifigere or cruci figere, meaning "to crucify" or "to fasten to a cross". Instrument of Jesus' crucifixion and Crucifix In the Roman Empire, the gibbet (instrument of execution) for crucifixions took on many shapes. Seneca the Younger (4 BCE–65 CE) states: "I see crosses there, not just of one kind but made in many different ways: some have their victims with head down to the ground; some impale their private parts; others stretch out their arms on the gibbet.