Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 9:44 am
Doug - I'm giving you the roots of the tradition, not the biblical account. Heresy is the "crime" for which jesus was arrested. Mosaic law whipped him and Roman law executed him. Tradition also has jesus nailed to the cross - modern tradition has it that he was the only one nailed to the cross - all others were just tied there. Traditional also has it that the nails went through his hands, which is not possible according to forensic research - the nails would just pull through, so if he was nailed to the cross, the nails would have gone through his wrists. As to the length of time it takes to die by crucifixion, that is totally based on how strong a person is and how long they can manage to keep pushing themselves up to breathe braced against the upright arm of the cross. The research I read years ago didn't go so far as to kill anyone, but did test volunteers (?!?) tying them to crossbeams in the crucifixion position, but without the upright to brace against. It has something to do with the arms being outstretched rather than just straight up. The volunteers were unconscious within 6 minutes. They cut them down at that point, and then extrapolated how much longer it would take for them to actually die. That's the reason for breaking the victims' legs (Romans did pay attention to local law and superstition as long as it didn't interfere with Roman laws - part of keeping the natives subdued is to not outrage them on what were to Romans minor issues), so they can't push themselves up to get a breath.