crucifixion

[dayaa]

hello again all

could someone please tell me was crucfixion originally a jewish punishment or a roman punishment?
thank you

[brucegdc]

Originally Posted by dayaa

hello again all

could someone please tell me was crucfixion originally a jewish punishment or a roman punishment?
thank you

Widely used in the ancient world - there's an interesting page at http://www.joezias.com/CrucifixionAntiquity.html with lots and lots of cites. Apparently it may originally have been Persian, but it's also been used by both Jews and Romans (and Greeks and...).

And that wonderful resource on darned near anything... about.com, serves up:
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/crucifixion/

[Faithfulservant]

Crucifixion probably started first with the Persians (what is modern day Iran). Initially, the victim was suspended to keep their feet from touching holy ground. The Phoenicians, traders to many lands, seem to have also acquired the practice and probably spread it to other cultures, including the Greeks.
Alexander the Great (a Greek) introduced the practice to Carthage, where it was picked up by the Romans. The Romans started using it around the time Jesus was born.

The Romans perfected crucifixion as a punishment designed to maximize pain and suffering. It wasn’t about killing somebody—it was about killing somebody in a really horrible way. Someone who was crucified suffered the maximum amount of pain.

Crucifixion was also the most disgraceful form of execution. It was usually reserved for slaves, foreigners, revolutionaries, and vile criminals. The only time a Roman citizen was ever crucified was for desertion from the army.

As far as I have heard Jews were crucified but never used crucifixion as a means of punishment.. I had even heard somewhere that they could not personally put someone to death because of Levitical laws it even says in the bible that when told to try Jesus themselves.. they said they could not... which is why they demanded the Romans crucify Jesus because they themselves could not.