A crucifixion was a ceremonious punishment of the Roman Empire that dates all the way back before to the Punic Wars with Carthage. Most people only think of the crucifixion of Jesus, but so many others were crucified before and after him. The crucifixion originated with the Assyrians and Babylonians as a form of execution for slaves and rebels. The process of a crucifixion is a horrific and humiliating type of capital punishment, not only was it the worst punishment you could receive, but it was also used for onlookers to see what heavy price certain crimes lead to. In today’s society there are people who boycott the electric chair and even death by lethal injection; I shudder to think of the reactions an actual crucifixion would cause, how inhumane they would view it in modern day.
After the conviction in a trial the prisoner is stripped of clothing and tied to a post, then flogged, also referred to as whipped. The whip used for flogging often had a wooden handle and long leather thongs, with bits of metal attached to the end of each end of the thongs. The prisoner is first bruised by the constant whipping, and then due to the metal that rips open the flesh, digging into the tissue and muscle, it would leave the prisoner drenched in their own blood. The flogging would continue until the back and shoulders of the condemned were unrecognizable and the soldiers knew the prisoner would not be able to withstand any more of it. The beating was not the end of it, it was intended only to weaken the person and cause even more pain when they moved on to the second phase. When they determined that the prisoner was near death and severally weakened, they would cease the beatings and continue to the second phase; of course some never even ...
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...0-2011) There were some who were taken down once they died and buried in an unmarked tomb, or claimed by their families, and then there were the ones left rotting, as a sign to people coming into the city, as a message of how serious they take crimes. However, society in more modern times tends to think that the electric chair and lethal injection are inhumane. Although the punishments are similar when the offender is on display, the sheer magnitude of the way you die from a crucifixion greatly outweighs any death imaginable.
Works Cited
all about jesus christ. (2002-2011). Retrieved from http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/crucifixion.htm
Borsheim, R. (2000-2011). The Crucifixtion. Retrieved from www.bandoli.no: http://www.bandoli.no/index.htm
Sailles, D. d. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.csun.edu: http://www.csun.edu/~hbeng151/icc/studies/account.html
With electrocution the prisoner had to be prepped, his head and one calf would be shaved, making for better contact of the leads (Powell, 2014). The prisoner is strapped into the electric chair at the wrists, waist...
Historical evidence points to Jesus being executed according to Roman law, for Roman reasons; crucifixion was reserved for slaves, non-citizens, dangerous criminals, and those who sought to oppose the government, sometimes occurring in large groups
The Tudor era, from 1485-1603, still had excruciating punishments towards criminals. They were intended to prevent others from committing the crimes. Public executions were very common during the Tudor era, and extremely popular. Beheading was a common for those who committed treason, and even for not complying with the correct religion. They were usually publically displayed, and attracted many crowds who had no entertainment, despite the true purpose of public executions. This expresses not only the views of physical pain and death to deter people, but also the entertainment that people had for seeing the death of people.
The history of the death penalty is a long and brutal one. From the stoning and crucifixion killings
Back in the days the cross was not just any other means of killing anyone. No. The cross was mainly used to kill run away slaves. During the times of Jesus many people were slaves to their Roman masters. When such slaves tried to run away, they would be crucified. To the Roman world it was the most shameful death of all because one would be hanged naked. As a result, no Roman citizen would ever be executed by hanging. Hanging was for second-class citizens. The cross was also the most torturous means of killing bad people in the society. This is because as one hung there; they would get tired of holding themselves up to breath and slowly die from suffocation. Their knees would be broken so as to ensure they do not support themselves. Eventually suffocation killed them. The Romans borrowed the concept of crucifixion from the Egyptians. The Egyp...
Prisoners were whipped with leather straps and cat-o'-nine tails until their flesh was raw and bleeding. Used in nineteenth century American prisons.
There were many different types of weird and absurd punishments used in the Renaissance. Most of these punishments targeted the body of the victim while most punishments used today are aimed to get into the criminal's mind. One of the most common punishments used was flogging. A flog consisted of leather thongs attached to a handle, used almost just like a whip. Victims of flogging were often punished in public too
For centuries, the canon narratives of the crucifixion and resurrection have been told through various Medias. The interpretations of these essential scriptures were influenced and shaped by the theological perspectives of the era they were formulated. The rendered expressions functioned as confessions of faith, teaching instruments, sources of devotion, expressions of individual piety and hermeneutical reflections.1
According to an article by the Death Penalty Information Center, “[u]ntil the 1890s, hanging was the primary method of execution used in the United States.” While it has been replaced by most states, it is still used as an option in Delaware and Washington (“Descriptions”), but has only been elected three times since 1976 (Kellaway 149). Hangings were usually conducted out in the open and in front of anyone that decided to watch. This public display was used to help send the message that there was a high price to pay for committing crimes, yet the hangings sometimes conveyed a different message. Often the executions induced sympathy and disapproval from the crowds (Dieter 791).
Physical punishments were the panicle of consequences that one had to endure when a law was disregarded by a citizen. Foucault describes a public execution that happened in March 1757, “This last operation was very long because the horses used were not accustomed to drawing; consequently, instead of four, six were needed; and when that did not suffice, they were forced, in order to cut off the wretch’s thighs, to sever the sinews and hack at the joints...” (Foucault 3). This particular idea is rather gruesome, the idea of being drawn and quartered multiply times only to fail and have t...
The death penalty has been part of our civilization since earliest times, from the ancient cultures to the Romans were harsh and swift in their judgments and execution. Jesus himself was a victim of the death penalty. Up though time murder has always been punishable by death as well as many other crimes. Justice was often harsh and brutal. In England there was hanging, drawing and quartering or beheading, France the guillotine was used as being quicker. When we came to this country we brought the same ideals with us. The witches of Salem were burned or drowned when they were thought to cause deaths. We used firing squads, hanging was popular in the east as well as out west, the electric chair and gas chamber, now the lethal injection. And until the present time justice was swift! When our forefathers signed the constitution the death penalty was being used but no mention of it was made in the 8th Amendment as the death penalty being "cruel or unusual punishment", because they did not feel being put to death because you deliberately took anothers life was unusual or cruel but EXPECTED!
The death penalty, created in the Eighteen Century B.C by King Hammurabi of Babylon, was a way to punish those who went against the laws and committed crimes. Back in the B.C. era and all the way until the late Tenth Century the methods of the death penalty were being crucified, beaten to death, burned alive, and drowned. The methods of execution died down in the Tenth Century, the execution methods became less heinous and over the top. Hanging became the most used method of execution, but that soon changed in the Sixteenth Century. Henry VIII of Britain brought back all the horrible and gruesome methods of execution and also implementing more ghastly methods. Over 72,000 people were executed either by being boiled to death, burned at the stake, hanged, beheaded, and drawing and quartering. Drawing and quartering is where the accused is tied to a horse and dragged to the gallows where he is hung by the neck for a...
The form of punishment, “crucifixion,” was commonly used in the ancient world in the Roman, Persian, Seleucids, and Carthaginian empires between the 6th center BCE to the 4th century CE. This was indeed a form of punishment deserved for the lowest of criminals. Prior to the actually crucifixion, individuals were whipped and thereupon had to carry the cross beam of their cross to the site of the crucifixion. The individual was then stripped of his clothing and bound to the cross beam by tightly wrapped straps or nails. The beam was then raised to approximately 9 to 12 feet in the air an attached to the upright shaft. The feet were then tightly wrapped or nailed to the shaft. At the top of the cross was a label that read the person’s name and
Capital punishment is the death penalty, or execution which is the sentence of death upon a person by judicial process as a punishment for a crime like murdering another human and being found guilty by a group of jurors who have listen to a court hearing were the District Attorney and the defendant argue their sides of the case. Historical penalties include boiling to death, flaying, disembowelment, crucifixion, crushing (including crushing by elephant), stoning, execution by burning, dismemberment.(2008) The U.S., begin using the electric chair and the gas chamber as more humane execution then hanging, then moved to lethal injection, which in has been criticized for being too painful. Some countries still choose to use hanging, and beheading by sword or even stoning.
Capital punishment, or otherwise known as the death penalty, is death sentenced upon a person by the state as a punishment for a crime. These crimes are known as capital crimes or capital offenses. Capital punishment has been practiced in many societies; now 58 nations practice the death penalty, while 97 nations have abolished it. In the past, it was common for the ruling party to make the offender known throughout the community for his or her criminal act. Thus, if the community were made aware of the consequences for breaking the laws, the crime rate would reduce. Such criminal penalties included: boiling to death, disembowelment, crucifixion and many more. As time went on the movement towards more humane treatments took hold. In the US, the electric chair and gas chambers were introduced but have been almost entirely superseded by lethal injection. Nevertheless, capital punishment has been a part of human history and will always continue to be a controversy and a debate. (Bedau)