RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Crowther Crucifixion
self or another carried before him. Naturally this titulus was attached to the cross after the act of execution (cf. Matt, xxvii. 37, and parallels).
No definite data are found in the New Testament concerning the nature of the cross on which Jesus died. It is only the Church writers after Justin Martyr who indicate the composite four-armed cross as Christ's vehicle of torture. Justin, Irenseus, Tertullian, and others mention 3. The Cross the presence of a sedile. The palatine and Cruci- travesty cross belonging to the begin-
fixion of ning of the third century is of the Jesus. four-armed pattern, but without the sedile and with the wooden step. There is no valid reason for supposing that the representation of the form of the cross of Jesus given by ecclesiastical antiquity is an imaginary construction of later times. If there were witnesses of the death of Jesus, and if the words from the cross furnished the central theme of apostolic and postapostolic preaching, then a genuine tradition as to the form of the Lord's cross may well have been maintained till the time of Justin. Indeed, in the Gospel narrative itself some indications are found which confirm this conclusion. The "cross" borne by Jesus himself (John xix. 17) or by Simon of Gyrene (Matt, xxvii. 32, and parallels) can hardly have been the upright, embedded post, with or without the patibulum, since the strength of one man alone might scarcely have sufficed for so great a burden. If " cross," however (Gk. stauros), in the passages cited be interpreted as meaning the patibulum — which is quite possible — the narrative is in accord with custom, as already noted. Furthermore, at Jerusalem as elsewhere, posts were no doubt in readiness at the place of execution driven into the ground to serve their purpose. From the circumstance, finally, that the executionary order caused the titulus to be fastened at the upper end of the cross it may be deduced that the cross-piece did not rest on top, but intersected the post; or, in other words, the cross was a fourarmed one. A basis for estimating the height of the cross of Jesus is afforded by John xix. 29 (cf. Matt, xxvii. 48, and parallels). The length of the "[reed of] hyssop" there mentioned was probably about one yard; the height of the entire cross, therefore, was from two and a half to three yards.
Crucifixion was accounted in all antiquity the most cruel and at the same time the most infamous death penalty, and was applied almost exclusively to slaves and persons of inferior estate {servile supplicium), or to aliens lacking Roman citizenship; and this for both common and political transgressions. A scourging commonly preceded, conjoined with all kinds of mockery at the expense of the culprit. The disrobing which anticipated the closing act accorded with a general custom, as did also the distribution of raiment among the executioners. The corpse was ordinarily left on the cross. Nevertheless, there was no statutory obstacle to the surrender of the body. Value was attached to publicity of execution; and for this reason highways or elevated squares were selected for the place. The crucifixion of Jesus accords fully with our general knowledge of such executions.
save that certain peculiar features were added owing to Jewish views and customs: for instance, the stupefying potion (cf. Prov. xxxi. 6) and the removal of the body no later than Friday evening (Deut. xxi. 22-23). The matter of nailing the feet is debatable, and a positive decision on this point is not attainable. Constantine the Great abolished the penalty of crucifixion.
The first picture of the crucifixion, so far as known, is the " travesty crucifixion " referred to above (§ 2), and is by a pagan hand. The religious sentiment of Christianity regarded the Savior not so much in the act of his humiliation as in his powerful exaltation; and, accordant with this feeling, Christian art for a long time made no 4. The Cru- representations of the Passion. When cifixion in the first irresolute steps were taken Art. in the way of such art, the controlling design appears to have been to soften the agony as far as possible (cf. Victor Schultze, Archdologie der altchristlichen Kunst, Munich, 1895, pp. 332 sqq.). The first example of a crucifixion of Christian origin is found in a relief of the timber door of Santa Sabina at Rome, dating at the earliest from about the middle of the fifth century. The background represents the walls of Jerusalem. The heroic form of the Savior is accompanied by the two malefactors, the latter being of a somewhat youthful design. Of perhaps the same age is a North Italian ivory tablet of the British Museum, grouping John and Mary with the Savior, and expressing chiefly an emotion of deep silent sorrow. In both cases Christ is represented as alive and free from suffering. How strongly, indeed, the earlier sentiment still acted even a century later is attested by the small metal flasks at Monza in North Italy, which came from Jerusalem to the West in the time of Gregory the Great. They manifestly endeavor to deviate from the real crucifixion, and stop short with suggestions; as where, in one instance, Jesus extends his arms in the manner of a crucified victim, though the cross itself is wanting; or, again, where only his head hovers above the cross.
During the transition from the early Christian to the Romanesque period, the reactive influences of the more primitive age still appear; Christ is represented as living, draped only with the loin cloth, his feet placed side by side. In another aspect, the increasing number of accompanying figures indicates an elaboration of the treatment; while also the long tunic occurs, though this exceptionally. In contrast with the West, Byzantine art favors both in this period and subsequently the representation of the dying Savior, as he succumbs in death's agony. In every instance his hands and feet are pierced, the feet resting on a step-fashioried cross-piece. The Romanesque epoch, during which the crucifixion was most extensively treated as a theme of painting or sculpture, adorns the head of Christ with a wreath or diadem; but there now also occur more and more frequent examples of the treatment of the Lord as dead or dying; in fact, there is a tendency toward sharpest realism. On the other hand, there still persists as a characteristic trait the composure of the feet side by side; and
Crucifixion Crusades