CRUCIFIXION
588
CRUCIFIXION
tory of the world, occur in varkms cmciftxes. Many | other modifications exist of the presentation of the cmcifixion, whether giren in fall relief, or high or { low relief, or whether painted in miniatnre, in mosaic, on fresco, or on canras.
Cmoiflzioii (prop. oravpitHnQ^ bnt in the N. T. the noun ^oea not occur, the act being designated by some form of the verb <rravp6ii>y to appljf the cross f once vpoifiniyvvfit^ to fatten^ L e. to the cross. Acts ii, 23 ; the classical writers nse vravpovv, dvaffravpovvj irKoXowiZiiVi ir^ariKovv, and, less properly, AvaaKiv ivXivHv; crua or patibtUo afficere^ tuffigert, or simply fyere [Tertull. de Pat, iii], cruciart [[Auson.] ad pa- bum aUigare^ cruoem oHcid ttatuere, m crucem agert, toUere, etc. ; the sofferer was called cruciarim). See Passiox.
L History, — The variety of the phrases shows the extreme commonness of the punishment, the inven- tion of which is traditionaUy ascribed to Semiramis. It was in use among the Egyptians (as in the case of Inarus, Thuc I, 80 ; comp. Gen. xl, 19), the Cartha- ginians (as in the case of Hanno, etc., Yal. Max. ii, 7 ; Polyb. i, 86; Sil. Ital. ii, 844; Plutarch, Parol 24; Justin, xviii, 7; Hirt BeO, Afric, 66), the Persians (Polycrates, etc.; Herod, iii, 126; iv, 48; vii, 194; Ctesias, Excerpt. 5 ; comp. Esth. vii, 10), the Assyrians (Diod. Sic. ii, 1), Scythians Qd. 0, 44), Indians (id. ii, 18), Germans (possibly Tacit. Germ, 12), and very fk«- qaent from the earliest times (Livy, i, 26) among the Romans. Cicero, however, refers it, not (as livy) to the early kings, bnt to Tarquinius Superbos (pro Bab, 4) ; Aurel. Victor calls it veius veterrwutrnque (? te- terr,) paiibulorum stqtpUcium, Both icptfiav and Mta- pendere (Ovid, Ibis, 299) refer to death by crndfimm; thus, in spealdng of Alexander's crocifixion of 2000 Tyrians, dvticpifuuTiv in Diod. Sic. answers to the cru- dbus affixus in Q. Curt iv, 4. The Greeks (Strabo, ziv, 647) and Macedonians (Appian, Mithr, 8 ; Curt vii, 11, 28 ; ix, 8, 6) also sometimes resorted to this mode of punishment.
This accnrsed and awfUl mode of punishment was happily abolished by Constantino (S(»om. i, 8) proba* bly towards the end of his reign (see Lipsius, De Cruoe, iii, 15), although it is curious that we have no more definite account of the matter. Examples of it are found in the early part of that emperor's reign, but the reverence which, at a later period, he was led to feel for the cross, doubtless induced him to put an end to the inhuman practice (Aurel. Vict Cess, 41 ; Niceph. vii, 46 ; Finnic, viii, 20). *' An edict so honorable to Christianity," says Gibbon, '^deserved a place in the Theodosian Code, instead of the indirect mention of it which seems to result fh>m the comparison of the 5th and 18th titles of the 9th book" (ii, 154, note). See
PUNISHMBMT.
II. As a Jewish CfusCom, — ^Whether this mode of ex- ecution was known to the andent Jews is a matter of dispute (see Bormitins, De Cruee num EbrtBor. suppUe, fuerit, Yiteb. 1644; Chanfepi^, in the MisceU, Duisb, ii, 401 sq.). It is asserted to have been so by Baro- nius {AnnaL 1, xxxiv), Sigonius (De Bep. Hebr, vi, 8), etc., who are refuted by Casanbon (c. Baron, Ezerc, xvi), Carpzov (Apparat. Crit, p. 591). The Hebrew words said to allude to It are iibpl, talah' (sometimes with the addition of ]^9n b$, *^ upon the tree ;" hence the Jews in polemics call our Lord "^"ibn, and Chris- tians ^^)>n ''laiJ, "worshippers of the crucified"), and 9^^, yaka^^ both of which in the A. Vers, are gen- erally rendered **to hang" (2 Sam. xviii, 10; Dent, xxi, 22 ; Num. xxv, 4 ; Job xxvi, 7) ; for wfaidi trrav- pota occurs in the Sept. (Esth. vii, 10), and cntc{/£re- rvmt in the Vulg. (2 Sam. xxi, 6, 9). The Jewish ac- count of the matter (in Maimonides and the Rabbis) is, that the exposure of the body tied to a stake by its hands (which might loosely be caUed crucifixion) took
place qfter death (Ughtfoot, Her, Hebr. m MatL xxr^ 81 ; Othonis Lex, Babb., s. ▼. Supplicia ; Belsnd, A\ ii, 6 ; Sir T. Browne, Vvlg, Errors, ▼, 21>. £▼«■ t placing of a head on a single upriglit pole ha« be called crucifixion. This cnatom of cmcifizicm ^Pf death (which seems to be implied in Dent, zzi, 28) was by no means rare ; men w«re JSrwi kOkd m mercy (Sueton. Cos, ; Herod, iii, 126 ; Flutarcfa, Otm, 88). According to a strange story in PHny (xxxry 15, § 24), it was adopted by Tarqoin as a post-niortaar disgrace, to prevent the prevalence of stdcide. IQ seems, on the whole, that the Babbis are comet ia »*' sorting that this exposure is intended in ScripCat. since the Mosaic capital punSsliments were four (vtL,. the sword, Exod. xxi ; strangling, fire. Lev. xx; aaj stoning. Dent. xxi). PhOo, indeed, aajs (Be leg. tper:\ that Moses adopted crucifixion as a murderer's pcni!^ ment because it was the worst be could discover; lii^ the passage in Deut. (xxi, 28) does not prove hit sertion. Probably, therefore, the Jews borrowed ^ from the Komans (Josephus, Ant. xz, 6, 2; War. i. 12, 6 ; Z^/Jj, 76, etc.), although there may have bea a few isolated instances of it before ^Josephus, Jit xiii, 14, 2). See Hanoino.