Ancient Crucifixion Images
Roman Crucifixion Methods and Jesus’ Crucifixion
This second-century graffito of a Roman crucifixion from Puteoli, Italy, is one of a few ancient crucifixion images that offer a first-hand glimpse of Roman crucifixion methods and what Jesus’ crucifixion may have looked like to a bystander.
Crucifixion images abound today—from sculptures and icons in churches to the masterful paintings hanging in museums. But how many of these actually give us a realistic idea of what Jesus’ crucifixion looked like? Do these artistic crucifixion images accurately reflect ancient Roman crucifixion methods?
In the March/April 2013 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Biblical scholar Ben Witherington addresses these questions by looking at some of the earliest archaeological evidence of crucifixion and imagery roughly contemporary with Jesus’ crucifixion.
Witherington discusses three crucifixion images—two wall graffiti and a magical amulet—from the first centuries of the Christian era.
The two graffiti were both discovered in Italy—one, the so called Alexamenos graffito, on the Palatine Hill in Rome and the other (pictured right) in Puteoli during an excavation. Both show a crucified figure on a cross and date to sometime between the late first and mid-third centuries A.D. Likewise, a striking red gemstone bears a crucified figure surrounded by a magical inscription.
The Bible History Daily feature Roman Crucifixion Methods Reveal the History of Crucifixion includes a full “Scholars’ Corner: New Analysis of the Crucified Man,” by Hershel Shanks.
Scholars have long assumed that early Christians did not depict Jesus’ crucifixion; however, a christogram symbol depicting Jesus’ crucifixion sets the date back by 150-200 years. Read The Staurogram: The earliest images of Jesus on the cross in Bible History Daily.
All three of these ancient crucifixion images shed light on the reality of Roman crucifixion in practice and share a few features in common: The crosses are in the shape of a capital tau, or Greek letter T; the Puteoli graffito and the gemstone seem to depict figures who have been whipped or flayed; all three figures appear to be nude, perhaps explaining why at least two of them are shown from behind; and in each case, the feet seem to be apart and possibly nailed separately (unlike the overlapping feet of Jesus in popular portrayals). That last feature is supported by the well-known ankle bone of a crucified man discovered in Jerusalem, which still had an iron nail embedded in its side.
Assuming that Roman crucifixion methods were similar throughout the empire, these crucifixion images give us a more authentic depiction of how Jesus’ crucifixion was carried out.
To read more about ancient crucifixion images and what they can tell us about Roman crucifixion methods and Jesus’ crucifixion, see Ben Witherington III, Biblical Views: “Images of Crucifixion: Fresh Evidence” in the March/April 2013 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
Related reading in Bible History Daily
A Tomb in Jerusalem Reveals the History of Crucifixion and Roman Crucifixion Methods
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n the Syriac of Ignatius’ letter to the Ephesians, .9., Ignatius clarifies:
“And you are prepared for the building of GOD the Father,
and you are raised up on high by the instrument of Jesus Christ, which is the Cross,
and you are drawn by the rope, which is the Holy Spirit;
and your pulley, is your Faith;
and your Love [Heb. “ahavah” – your GOD – breathed trust] is that Way
[or Path] which leads up on high to GOD.”
The drawing up of the Cross, by rope-and-pulley, was accomplished by means of metal stakes that were driven into the Cross; which was a more sophisticated task than most modern scholars and lay people comprehend. Tertullian, the renowned Carthaginian Christian lawyer who resided and practiced in Rome from ca. 190 – 210 A.D., furthers our understanding about the Cross upon which Christ was crucified, saying:
” ‘His glory, is that of a bullock. His horns, are that of a unicorn; (and) with them, shall He push the nations to the very ends of the Earth.’ He was not, of course, designated as a mere unicorn with its one horn, or a Minotaur with two; but Christ was indicated in him — a bullock, in respect of both His characteristics — to some, as a severe Judge; to others, as a gentle Savior; whose horns were the extremities of His Cross. For the antenna, which is part of the Cross, the ends are called horns; while the mid-way stake of the whole frame is the Unicorn. His Cross is then, by this virtue and in this manner, “horned”. He is both now pushing all nations through Faith, bearing them away from Earth to Heaven; and will then push them through Judgment, casting them down from Heaven to Earth.” (Tertullian, Against Marcion, Book 3, Chapter 18)
Here we see a long metal protrusive stake through the back of the Cross, which is called a “unicorn”. We also see the inference to metal spike also in the extremities of the Cross, likened to those Passover strokes of Lamb’s blood on the door posts and lintel, which are called “antenna”. It was to these that perhaps only 3 slaves were required to winch up a Cross and set it, while the soldiers could do their job, and stand guard; ensuring that the execution is carried out without interruption.
“Thou hast heard Me from the horns of the unicorns…”
(Psalm 22:21 – KJV)
Again, in “An Answer to the Jews”, Tertullian explains:
“For even in the ship’s yard — this is the name by which the extremities are called, which is a part of (the Cross), — the central pole of a mast is (called) a ‘unicorn’. In fact, by this power and in and in this manner (is) the Cross ‘horned’.” (Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews, .10)
The Romans used workers who used a contraption. The victim was nailed to a cross-beam, hoisted by rope and pulley, and placed on the vertical assembly and secured.