by Allan McGregor

Created on: April 12, 2008

Was Jesus Christ crucified? The simple answer is yes, but that does not explain why.

This is significant because the biblically prescribed form of capital punishment in Jewish society was stoning, while educated Romans especially had a distaste for crucifixion, which they reserved for the very worst criminals both to serve as a terrifying example and salutary deterrent to traitors, rebels and revolting slaves. More generally, the Romans favoured beheading or simply driving a sword down between the victim's neck and clavicle, thus severing the aorta, subclavian vein or both. But the more unsavoury methods of despatch were reserved for non-Romans and the lower classes. We understand that the Apostle Paul was most likely cleanly beheaded, but Paul was a Roman citizen. Other means included simple hanging, stabbing and even clubbing to death.

Don't get me wrong, though, the Romans were brutal by our standards, and could crucify condemned men on an industrial scale if they thought it was needed. The Romans tended to be stoical and regarded a manly death as noble, which is why crucifixion was designed to strip its victim of all dignity.

Carried out outside the precincts, represented ones exile from decent society. The victim was also stripped entirely naked, to remove all dignity. (Women were never exposed, but executed behind closed doors to preserve Roman modesty.)

As for the scourging; this was nothing special; all Roman judicial executions had to be preceded by scourging, and indeed scourging was another means of execution in its own right. The purpose, as always, was humiliation - deprivation of dignity being an essential element of all Roman capital punishment, except for the upper classes.

And one more detail of Jesus' death tells us something of the political dynamics between the Jewish authorities and Pontius Pilate. Jesus was nailed to the cross!

This may sound almost tautological, but nailing was not the universal practice. The Romans actually considered it kinder and more humane because the additional haemorrhage and shock induced would likely hasten the victim's death.

I suspect that Pilate - who notoriously despised the Jewish authorities - ordered this 'mercy' having been manouevred and coerced into crucifying Jesus of Nazareth instead of Jesus Barabas. For the same reason as he upset the same people by nailing the inscribed accusation above the cross in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, often depicted in art by the Latin initials 'INRI', but which in Herew forms the

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