CROWN OF THORNS
CRUCIFIXION
397
reckoned to have been about 2A millions (Sanday, Sacred Sites of the Gospels, p.' 16). See, further, art. Multitude. R. Bkuce Taylor.
CROWN OF THORNS ((rr^^a-os i^ aKapBCv or d/cd^9(TOS o-W^a^os, Mt 272», Mk 15", Jn lO^- 1^).— This was plaited by the soldiers and placed on Christ's head in mockery of His claim to Kingship, after Pilate had condemned Him to be scourged. It was a garland hastily twisted from the twigs of some thorny plant, which it is difficult now to identify. Tristram {Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 429) supposes it was the thorn-tree or 7iubk of the Arabs, which is very common in the warmer parts of Palestine. It abounds near Jerusalem, grows to a great size ; its twigs are tough and pliant, and the spikes very sharp and numerous. Others incline to think it was the Zizyphus Spina- christi, a spiny plant covered with sharp prickles. The purpose of the soldiers was rather, perhaps, mockery of the Jews than cruelty to Christ. Pliny speaks (HN) of ' the meanest of crowns, a thorny one.'
In the writings of St. Paul a crown is promised to faithful followers of Christ, and in many parts of the NT Christ Himself is spoken of as wearing a crown. Sometimes the word for a victor's wreath is used {<rTi(pa.tios), and sometimes that for a royal crown {Siddriij.a).* The emblematic signihcance, afterwards seen by the Church in the crown of thorns, is possibly hinted at in He 2^ 'crowned with glory and honour.' As a sacrificial victim, in being led out to death, often wore a garland of flowers, so Jesus, in the eyes of God and His own disciples, even in suffering the deepest liumiliation, wears a crown of glory. In the death of Christ His Church sees mankind crowned with life, be- cause the law of sin and death was thereby abro- gated, and the Kingdom of heaven opened to all believers. The thorns mth which a hostile world pierced the Saviour's brows are an emblem of the sin of man, the curse of thistles and thorns having been threatened after the Fall (see Dr. H. Mac- mUlan's Ministry of Nature, ch. v., where this idea is finely worked out). But these wounds become the world's salvation. Througli the sinful cruelty of man new life comes to a condemned world. God thus makes the wrath of man to praise Him. What was meant as derision is really a prediction of glory. See also art. Thorn.
David M. W. Laird.
CRUCIFIXION.— Crucifixion was originally an Oriental punishment. It was practised by the Persians (Herod, ix. 122), by the Phcenicians and their colonists the Carthaginians (Valer. ii. 7), and by the Egyptians (Thuc. iv. 110). It was practised also by the Greeks, probably in imitation of the Persians (Plut. Alex. 72. §2), and by the Romans, who, though Cicero ascribes its introduction to Tarquinius Superbus, probably learned it from their enemies the Carthaginians. Regarding it, however, as an ignominious doom, the Romans reserved it for slaves (whence it was called servile supplieium), the worst sort of criminals such as robbers ^5en. Ep. vii.), and provincials. To inflict it on a Roman citizen was reckoned an impiety (Cic. in Verr. v. 66). It was a horrible punish- ment. Cicero designates it crudelissimum teter- rimumque supplieium. The verb cognate to erux, ' cross, was crueiare, ' to torture ' (cf. ' excruciat- ing ').
There were two kinds of cross :
1. The erux simplex, which was a single stake. Sometimes the victim was fastened to it by his hands and feet, the former being extended above
* The diatinction between trriaxvoi, the badge of merit, and hittivifjM, the badge of royalty, la not conaistently obaerved in Hellenistic Greek (see Encyc' BM. i. 963).
his head. Usually, however, it was a sharpened stake {aKb\o\(/), and the victim was impaled upon it. It passed through the length of his body, issuing from his mouth. Cf. Sen. Ep. xiv. : ' ad- actum per medium hominem qui per os emergat stipitem ' ; cf. de Consol. ad Marc. xx. The former method was called affixio, the latter infixio.
2. The erux compaeia, which was composed of two pieces. It had three forms : (1) The crux decussata X> called also the crux Andreana, be- cause it is said to be the cross on which St. Andrew suffered at Patrse. It was this form of cross that the Fathers had in view when in the crossing of Jacob's hands as he blessed Ephraim and Manasseh (On 48'''''') they saw a prophecy of the Crucifixion. Cf. Tert. de Bapt. § 8; Isid. Pel. Epp. i. 362. (2) The crux commissa or St. Anthony's cross, resembling the letter T- t!f. Barn. Ep. § 9 ; Luc. Jud. Vocal. % 12. The up- right was called stipes or staticulum, and the transom patibulum or antenna. (3) The ertix im- ■missa, which had the top of tlie upright protruding above the transom, f. From the middle of the upright there projected a peg, the seat (sedile) or horn {cornu}, on which, to support its weight, the body rested as on a saddle. Cf. Iren. adv. Hmr. ii. 36. § 2 : ' Ipse habitus crucis fines et summitates habet quinque, duos in longitudine et duos in lati- tudine, et uuum in medio in quo requiescat qui clavis affigitur ' ; Just. Mart. Dial. c. Tryph. p. 318 C (ed. Sylburg.) : t6 iv ry fiAai^ iryiyvvix^vov (is Kifiai KOi avrb l^exov icTlv, 4(p' ij iiroxoOvTai ol jravp-