How to be Crucified

I thought it would be informative to study the effects of crucifixion. It’s not as easy as you think.

Victims are tied or most likely nailed to a cross piece. The nails are inserted through the feet and through the hands. Debate continues as to how the hands were nailed but the feet may have been nailed from the side, using a curved nail that would enter the wood piece. The hands were nailed anywhere from the forearm down to the hands but most likely were nailed just above the wrist where the two arm bones cross. The goal was capital punishment and eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. 

Death came in a few hours or a few days, depending on the health of the victim, the success of the person crucifying and even the weather. The list includes cardiac rupture, heart failure, hypovolemic shock, acidosis, asphyxia, arrhythmia, and pulmonary embolism and even sepsis from wound infections.

Since the whole-body weight was supported by the stretched arms, the typical cause of death was asphyxiation. The condemned would have difficulty breathing. He had to draw himself upward to breathe and when he no longer had strength to do this, he died within a very few minutes.

All this for you…and for me…