How long did it usually take for people to die from crucifixion?
The length of time required to reach death could range from a matter of hours to a number of days, depending on exact methods, the health of the crucified person and environmental circumstances.
A theory attributed to Pierre Barbet holds that the typical cause of death was asphyxiation. He conjectured that when the whole body weight was supported by the stretched arms, the condemned would have severe difficulty inhaling, due to hyper-expansion of the lungs. The condemned would therefore have to draw himself up by his arms, or have his feet supported by tying or by a wood block. Indeed, Roman executioners could be asked to break the condemned’s legs, after he had hung for some time, in order to hasten his death.[15] Once deprived of support and unable to lift himself, the condemned would die within a few minutes. If death did not come from asphyxiation, it could result from a number of other causes, including physical shock caused by the scourging that preceded the crucifixion, the nailing itself, dehydration, and exhaustion.
Experiments by Frederick Zugibe have revealed that, when suspended with arms at 60° to 70° from the vertical, test subjects had no difficulty breathing, only rapidly-increasing discomfort and pain. This would correspond to the Roman use of crucifixion as a prolonged, agonizing, humiliating death. Zugibe claims that the breaking of the crucified condemned’s legs to hasten death, mentioned in the Gospel accounts, was administered as a coup de grâce, causing severe traumatic shock or hastening death by fat embolism. Crucifixion on a single pole with no transom, with hands affixed over one’s head, would precipitate rapid asphyxiation if no block was provided to stand on, or once the legs were broken.
It was, however, possible to survive crucifixion, and there are records of people who did. The historian Josephus, a Judaean who defected to the Roman side during the Jewish uprising of AD66 - 72, describes finding two of his friends crucified. He begged for and was granted their reprieve; one died, the other recovered. Josephus gives no details of the method or duration of crucifixion before their reprieve.
Source: Crucifixion - Wikipedia
If you look at a modern crucifix you’ll see some with no wood supporting the feet under Christ, and some with a wooden “thing” under Christ’s feet. I wonder which was accurate? Obviously if someone was supported during crucifixion the agony could go on for hours days even.
Some good cites here , though I’m not sure if they’re available on the web.
Needless to say, this is a subject that has been gone into somewhat thoroughly over the years.
Rico
October 6, 2007, 3:02am
5
In John, chapter 19, verses 32 and 33, it infers that there were foot “things.”
32 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.
Well, a good indication is found in Mark 15:44. When Pilate is told that Jesus is dead, he expresses surprise that death came so soon- it had been “only” a few hours.
MikeS
October 7, 2007, 4:40pm
10
vetbridge:
“Brake” isn’t incorrect here, just archaic. From the OED:
*n late Middle English “brake” became the regular form both in singular and plural, which, being retained in the Bible of 1611, is still familiar as an archaic form. But early in the 16th century, if not before, “brake” began to be displaced by the modern “broke”, formed after the past participle. Of the past particple, “broken” is still the regular form, but from the end of the 14th century this was often shortened to “broke”, which was exceedingly common in prose and speech during the 17-18th century, and is still recognized in verse.
I have a related question: who the hell invented crucifixion? I mean, how did they find out that if you do this, this, this, and that would lead to a humiliating and painful death.
Otto
October 7, 2007, 5:39pm
12
Where is it implied in those verses that Jesus had “foot things”?
They broke his legs so that he could no longer support his body on the pedestal.
A goodie is