The Crucifixion

The story of the Crucifixion of Jesus is probably one of the most powerful tales in the Bible. In fact, it could be said that the Crucifixion is the most important story in all of Christianity. It gave them a Hero, one who gave his life so they may have salvation in another life. That’s pretty much standard dogma right there.

Jesus was flogged by Roman soldiers, nailed to the cross, and upon his death was buried in a tomb. That’s the gist of it anyways, but something about this story doesn’t make sense. It’s not that it couldn’t have happened, quite the contrary. Almost all cultures crucified people in some way, and it definitely predates the Roman Empire. They did it in Japan up until the 17th century for Christ’s sake (Haha)! To really delve into this topic, we need to learn more about this form of capital punishment itself.

The victims of crucifixion usually fell into three categories: slaves, pirates, and enemies of the state. It was a shameful and disgraceful way to die, and like many other forms of capital punishment (like burning at the stake) it was a way to send a message to a large number of people at once. Its goal was to mutilate and dishonor the body of the criminal, as well as to showcase the criminal’s low social status. Usually Roman nobles were exempt from crucifixion, for that very reason.

Most often, the criminals were beaten (flogged) before they were put up onto the cross. In fact, the process was so common that it’s no wonder Jesus was beaten on the way to his death. The fact that this is often brought up as a selling point for the concept of Jesus’ sacrifice is ludicrous, as it was done to all criminals. One of the most important things we have to remember here is that what happened to Jesus was not out of the ordinary.

The flogging was mostly just for shock value, being public, but it also had a physiological effect. It was used to bring the convict close to shock, so that he may die faster. After the person was beaten, he was forced to carry the crossbeam to the site of his crucifixion. Criminals were not made to carry the whole cross. Generally speaking, the tall beam was already in place, and only required that the crossbeam be added. The purpose of the carrying was to humiliate the beaten criminal.

Once the crossbeam was in place, the criminal was hung to the structure. Nails are often written about, but there is little archeological evidence to support this. This is due to the fact, I believe, to the symbolic importance of being nailed as opposed to being tied. Nevertheless, whether he was tied to the cross or nailed, the criminal was made to stay there until his death. He would always be nude, despite most depictions of victims having a loin cloth. A painful repercussion of this was that if the person had to use the restroom that was too bad, he had to do it in public.

Death usually came about by suffocation, depriving the body of the necessary oxygen that it needed. The lack of blood usually came from wounds that didn’t heal.

As soon as the person was dead, his body was left to hang for all to see. Vultures would eventually eat it, leaving very little behind. The Romans forbade burial, and so would leave the body up until it was gone. By the way, when I say forbade, I mean it.

So, that’s how crucifixion went down. Quite the process just to get rid of a lowly criminal, but it served its purpose. So, how does any of this involve Mr. Jesus?

The myths concerning his crucifixion do not line up perfectly with Roman practice. First off, it was very common for criminals to be beaten on the way. This is not something that the Romans did to Jesus because they really feared him; it was just how it went down. Secondly, there is little evidence to support the notion that people were nailed to crosses. It is most likely that Jesus would have been tied to the cross with rope and left to die. Lastly, the Romans did not bury crucifixion victims; they left them to rot on the beams. They would not, and I repeat, would not have allowed Jesus to have been buried in a tomb, or allowed anyone to take him to a tomb. The Romans would have treated him like any other criminal and left him there.

Some of the stories about the crucifixion from outside sources (other than the bible) come from the Jewish writer Titus Flavius Josephus (Yosef Ben Matiyahu in Hebrew). He mentioned nails, but once again there is very little evidence in the archaeological record to support this. Josephus is also used by apologists to prove the existence of the Christ, but I have not seen a secular scholar confirm the historicity of anything Josephus said. That fact ties in to my nail problem.

So you see, the story of Jesus’ crucifixion do not line up with what was common Roman practice in the Empire. This, to me, is just another one of the ways that the story behind Jesus himself is just that, a story.

One Nation Under Jupiter?

Christianity is one of the largest and most widespread religions in the world. It spans every continent, and nearly every country and society in the world, but how did it get that way? Was it because people saw that Christianity was the one true religion, and that the Jewish God was the true god?

I highly doubt that.

A lot of people like to point to the fact that a majority of people in the world are Christian. This, for some reason, validates their belief in Christianity and makes its doctrine fact. They’ll point it out whenever you talk about it too, because for some reason there is this common belief that the truth is democratic. It’s a delusion. An obscure one, yes, but a delusion nonetheless. There are a few major factors that really led to the ubiquity of Christianity in the world, but there is one reason that stands above them all:

The Romans.

Emperor Constantine, watching his empire being torn apart by warring Christian and Pagan factions, made a critical move in the year 333 CE. He converted to Christianity, thereby making it the religion of the Empire. It wasn’t long after that the Council of Nicaea was held, wherein the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church* was drawn up, specific details about the divinity of the Christ were sorted out, and the books of the Bible (the ones that they wanted anyways) were brought together and combined. The Romans built churches all across the Empire (most of Europe), gave the church power, and forced their citizens to convert, usually under penalty.

It didn’t take long for the Romans to spread Christianity across Europe. In fact, it only took them a century to forget about Mars and Venus. Though, the founding of the church wasn't the most important part of the spreading of Christianity. The real important factor was what happened after the Empire fell in 476 CE.

With all of the political institutions of the Empire nullified, only one organization was left with any power: the Catholic Church. The “kingdoms” that were established by the Franks, Goths, and other Germanic tribes after the fall of the Empire had very little power. By that matter, the Church became the only real governing authority in the lands, even though their former empire was gone. No kingdom in Europe at that time was not subject to the rule of the church (except, maybe the Scandinavians. Vikings!).

This is the factor that really led to the dominance of Christianity. When the Roman Empire fell, the Church stepped in and filled that power void. Its power ranged from the individual people, to the rulers of the new kingdoms themselves.

This is also a good example of why we have the first amendment. It wasn’t long before Christian Europe went to war, and we all know what happened with the Crusades, the Inquisition, old imperialism, etc. All of those events that spread Christianity are the result of the filling of the power void left after the Roman Empire by the Catholic Church. It did not become widespread by the choice of the individuals.

This raises an interesting question. What if Constantine hadn’t converted and Rome stayed Pagan? Could we have been America, one nation under Jupiter?

* Catholic is derived from the Greek word that means “universal”, which is a reference to the fact that at the time the Church of Rome represented all Christians.