Tag: crucifixion


Earliest Depiction of the Crucifixion?

Earliest Depiction of the Crucifixion?

It is somewhat ironic that the oldest known depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus comes from Rome, and its in the form of a grafitto that mocks a follower of Jesus. This grafitto was discovered in a room on Palatine Hill (the area of the palaces of the Roman emperors) around 1856. It dates to about AD 200. The inscription features two characters: a soldier who has a hand raised in worship, and a donkey-headed figure on a cross. To the Roman mind, the idea of a crucified God was scandalous. Of......


More Evidence of Crucifixion

More Evidence of Crucifixion

Despite numerous historical references to crucifixion in the ancient literature, it was not until 1968 that the first physical evidence for the practice was discovered. It came in the form of a heel bone that was recovered from an ossuary in a 1st century AD tomb in the neighborhood of Giv’at ha-Mivtar, outside of Jerusalem. The heel bone still had an iron nail embedded in it. Then in 2019 a skeleton was uncovered in Gavello, Italy, that included a heel bone that had been pierced by a nail, indicating that the man had......


Crucifixion in Antiquity

Crucifixion in Antiquity

The practice of crucifixion is known from as early as the 5th century in Greece.  Herodotus mentions the crucifixion of a captured Persian general at the hands of the Athenians in 479 BC. Numerous other historical examples are known, including the following: Alexander the Great crucified 2,000 survivors of his siege of Tyre. Alexander Jannaeus, king of Judea from 103 to 76 BC, crucified 800 rebels, said to be Pharisees, in the middle of Jerusalem. In Hannibal’s day, crucifixion was an established mode of execution which could even be imposed on generals......