Was Jesus executed on a cross or a stake? #3D: Historical (3rd century BC)

Note: This is my last post in this uncompleted series, which became too `long-winded'. It is now superseded by my new series: Jesus was executed on a cross, not a stake!

[See also Introduction #1; Linguistic #2A, #2B, #2C; Historical #3A, #3B, #3C, #3D]

Belatedly continuing from #3C: Historical (5th-4th century BC), in this series, Was Jesus executed on a cross or a stake? See previous #1, #2A, Justus Lipsius, #2B, #2C, #3A, #3B and #3C. As

[Above (click to enlarge): Possibly the earliest depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus, dated ~200-600 AD: Hypotyposeis. Jesus is depicted in a crucifixion pose, with arms outstretched, but not (as far as I can see) on a cross. If the ~200 AD date is correct (which is disputed), then this would be more evidence that Jesus was executed on a two- beamed stake, and not a single- beamed stake, as the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society (Jehovah's Witnesses) maintains.]

previously explained, this Part #3 Historical series is an extended refutation of Appendix 3C of the Watchtower's "The Kingdom Interlinear Translation," 1985, p.1149:

"In the writings of Livy, a Roman historian of the first century B.C.E., crux means a mere stake. `Cross' is only a later meaning of crux. ... Evidence is, therefore, completely lacking that Jesus Christ was crucified on two pieces of timber placed at right angles."

Again I acknowledge Leolaia's, "The facts on crucifixion, stauros, and the `torture stake'" which references I used to find and scan the passages in the books cited. Each quote is linked to a fuller version at the end of this post.

3rd century BC:
Livy. The Roman historian Titus Livius (Livy) (59 BC-AD 17), in his "History of Rome" (Ab Urbe Condita -"from the city's foundation"), wrote of the following 3rd century BC executions by stake (palum) and cross (crux):

Livy recounts that Vibius Virrius, a Roman who had led the revolt of the Italian city of Capua against Rome in 216 BC, speaking against the surrender of the city to the besieging Romans in 212 BC, vows that he will commit suicide rather than be "bound to a stake [ad palum deligatus], with my back mangled by rods" and "submit my neck to the Roman axe":

"I shall not see Appius Claudius and Quintus Fulvius, emboldened by their insolent victory, nor shall I be dragged in chains through the city of Rome as a spectacle in a triumph, so that I may then breathe my last in the prison, or else, bound to a stake [ad palum deligatus], with my back mangled by rods, may submit my neck to the Roman axe." (Livy, History of Rome, 26.13.15).

Note that Virrius expects he would be finally killed by beheading with "the Roman axe." That is because, being a Roman citizen, Virrius was "usually exempt from crucifixion" instead "dying more honorably by decapitation" ("Crucifixion: Roman Empire," Wikipedia). Since crucifixion on a cross was sufficient to kill a person (as it was with Jesus), this passage alone in Livy shows that there was a major difference between Roman execution on a stake (palum) and on a cross (crux).

In 217 BC the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca (c. 248-183), during the Second Punic [Phoenician] War (218-203 BC), "crucified [crucem sublato]" a guide who led him astray:

"There Hannibal, looking round on the mountains and rivers that enclosed the plain, called up the guide and asked him where in the world he was. And only when the guide had answered ... did he perceive at last how the man had blundered ... Whereupon he scourged the guide, and, to terrify the others, crucified [crucem sublato] him ...." (Livy, History of Rome, 22.13.6-9).

In the same year the Romans "crucified [crucem acti]" twenty-five slaves who had conspired with the Carthaginians:

"At about this time a Carthaginian spy who for two years had eluded capture was caught in Rome, and after his hands had been cut of}, was allowed to go; and five and twenty slaves were crucified [crucem acti], on the charge of having conspired in the Campus Martius." (Livy, History of Rome, 22.33.1-2).

In 206 BC the Roman general Scipio (235-183 BC), in the same Second Punic War, punished Roman soldiers who had mutinied in Sucro, Spain, by binding them to a stake [Deligati ad palum], scourging (flogging) and beheading them:

"They were being dragged out into the centre stripped ... Bound to a stake [Deligati ad palum] they were scourged and beheaded ..." (Livy, History of Rome, 28.29.11).

In the same year, the Carthaginian general Mago Barca (243 BC-203 BC), a brother of Hannibal, "scourged and crucified" [cruci adfigi] Phoenician officials in Gades (Cadiz) because that city's gates had been closed to him:

"Mago, upon his return to Gades finding himself shut out of the city ... complained because the gates had been closed against him .... He thereupon enticed ... the highest magistrates among the Phoenicians - together with the treasurer to a conference and ordered them to be scourged and crucified [cruci adfigi]." (Livy, History of Rome, 28.37.3).

Scipio, after defeating Hannibal in the Battle of Zama in 202 BC, "crucified [crucem sublati]" Romans who had deserted to Carthage:

"The deserters were more severely treated than the runaway slaves, Latin citizens being beheaded, Romans crucified [crucem sublati]." (Livy, History of Rome, 30.43.12-13).

Valerius Maximus. The early first century Latin historical writer Valerius Maximus, using Scipio's later title "elder Africanus," confirmed that "he punished the Roman deserters" by "crucifying [crucibus adfixit]" them :

"The elder Africanus ... When he had conquered Carthage and brought into his power all those who had deserted from our armies to the Carthaginians, he punished the Roman deserters more severely than the Latins, crucifying [crucibus adfixit] the former as runaways from their country and beheading the latter as faithless allies." (Valerius Maximus, Memorable Doings and Sayings, 2.7).

That "crucifying [crucibus adfixit]" is very different from "Being bound to a stake" [Deligati ad palum]" is evident in that Valerius continued by criticising as an "insult Roman blood," Scipio's use of the former to punish Roman citizens because "national sentiment" was that it was "the punishment of slaves":

"I shall not pursue this action farther, both because it is Scipio's and because there is no need to insult Roman blood that suffered the punishment of slaves, however well deserved, especially as I am free to pass to doings which can be narrated without injury to national sentiment." (Valerius Maximus, Ibid.)

The significance of these quotes by and about Livy is that they refute the Watchtower's claim that: "In the writings of Livy ... crux means a mere stake," because Livy made a clear distinction between execution by crux and by palus, i.e. "When Livy did refer to the crux simplex, he used the word palus":

"A careful examination of Livy's writings shows the historian never used crux the way the Society says he did, i.e. with specific reference to a crux simplex ... every one of these references to crucifixion are laconic and devoid of detail as to the manner of the execution; none of the six excerpts reveal any information indicating what the nature of the crux was like. When Livy did refer to the crux simplex, he used the word palus: `Bound to a stake (deligati ad palum) they were scouraged [sic] and beheaded' (28.29.11; cf. also (26.13.15). The Society's claim must therefore be dismissed as false." (Leolaia, 2005, "The facts on crucifixion, stauros, and the `torture stake," Jehovah's Witnesses Discussion Forum, 11 June).

Because crucifixion was such a distasteful subject, ancient historians (including the Gospel writers) did not go into details of what it involved, which helps the Watchtower's assertion above that all instances of execution on a crux, up to and including "the first century B.C.E.," means on "a mere stake," not "two pieces of timber placed at right angles." But playwrights (then and now) do take on distasteful topics and what's more their scripts spell out to the actors what they have to do to depict them.

Plautus. The 3rd-2nd century BC Roman playwright, Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254-184 BC), dealt with crucifixion in several of his plays, and these are devastating for the Watchtower's argument:

"... But I must keep my mind on this job, and my eye on this door. [He plants himself squarely across the door with arms outstretched, facing the door.] I'll stand this way. Nobody's going to make a mug of me ... You're just in the right position to be spread-eagled on a cross [dispessis manibus, patibulum quom habebis] outside the gate ... I know I'm going to end up on a cross; that's where I shall follow my ancestors .... " (Plautus, Miles Gloriosus, 359, 376).

Here it is in another translation:

"... But I must mind what I'm about and watch this door. Here's how I'll block , it. (stands facing it, legs and arms outspread) Now, by heaven, they'll never fool me, that's sure! ... You'll soon have to trudge out beyond the gate in that attitude, I take it-arms outspread, with your gibbet on your shoulder [dispessis manibus, patibulum quom habebis]." (Plautus, The Braggart Warrior, 353,359).

Quite clearly, standing with "legs and arms outspread," and carrying a "gibbet" (patibulum) or cross-bar with "arms outspread," is intended by Plautus to depict what Roman crucifixion normally was in the 3rd-2nd century BC, affixed by each hand and foot outstretched on a two-beamed cross.

Two more devastating for the Watchtower quotes from different plays by Plautus are:

"... the hangmen will ... prod you full of holes as they run you down the streets with your arms on a cross bar [patibulatum] ..." (Plautus, The Haunted House, 55-57).

"Bearing my gibbet [patibulum] I shall be carried through the city; afterwards I shall be nailed to the cross [adfigatur cruci]." (Plautus, Carbonaria, 2).

These last two quotes confirm that carrying one's own cross (Mt 10:38; 16:24; 27:32; Mk 8:34; 15:21; Lk 9:23; 14:27; 23:26; Jn 19:17) means carrying the "cross bar [patibulatum]" or patibulum, not the upright pole (stipes) which the Watchtower claims is all the Roman crux was.

These passages in Plautus prove beyond reasonable doubt that Roman crucifixion in the 3rd - 2nd century BC was by "both arms outstretched" or "spread-eagled," which can only be on a two-beamed cross (i.e. on the patibulum crossbar part of a two-beamed cross).

Again, the Watchtower's claim has been shown to be false that:

"In ... the first century B.C.E., crux means a mere stake ... Evidence is, therefore, completely lacking that Jesus Christ was crucified on two pieces of timber placed at right angles."

To be continued in Part #3E Historical (2nd - 1st Century BC).

Stephen E. Jones.
My other blogs: CreationEvolutionDesign & TheShroudofTurin

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"staroo (in the sense `fence w. stakes' Thu. +) fut. stauroso; 1 aor. estaurosa. Pass.: pf. estaurmai: 1 aor. estaurothen nail to the cross, crucify (Polyb. 1, 86, 4; Diod. S. 16, 61. 2; Artem. 2, 53; 4, 49; Esth 7:9); 8:12 r: Jos. Ant. 2. 77; 17, 295). 1. lit. tina someone w. ref. to Jesus' crucifixion Mt 20:19; 23:34; 26:2; 27:22f, 26, 31, 35, 38; 28:5; Mk 15:13ff, 20, 24f, 27; 16:6; Lk 23:21, 23, 33; 24:7, 20; J 19:6a, b, c, 10, 15f, 18, 20, 23, 41; Ac 2:36; 4:10; 13:29 D; 1 Cor 2:8; 2 Cor 13:4; Rv 11:8; B 7:3, 9; 12:1; I Eph 16:2; GP 4:10; 12:52. Christos estauromenos I Cor 1:23; cf. 2:2; Gal 3:1. Also simply o estauromenos M Pol 17:2. o staurotheis GP 13:56. alethos estaurothe he was truly crucified (in contrast to the Docetic view that the Passion was unreal) I Tr 9:1. me Paulos estaurothe uper umon 1 Cor 1:13 - On the crucifixion of Jesus cf. Feigel, Weidel, and Finegan s.v. 'Ioudas 6: also) E.Bickermann. Utilitas Crucis: Rev. de l'Hist. des Rel. 112. '35. 169-241. 2. fig. oi tou Christou 'l. ten sarka estaurosan those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh w. its sinful desires Gal 5:24. Pass.: of the cross of Christ, di' ou emoi kosmos estaurotai kagi kosmo through which the world has been crucified to me, and I (have been crucified) to it, the believer who is inseparably united to his Lord has died on the cross to the kind of life that belongs to this world Gal 6:14. o emos eros estaurotai my desire (for worldly things) has been crucified I Ro 7:2. M-M." (Arndt, W.F. & Gingrich, F.W., 1957, "A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian literature," University of Chicago Press: Chicago IL, Fourth edition, 1952, Revised, pp.772-773. Emphasis original).

"But first it is only right, so we think, to record the punishment which was visited by the gods upon those who had committed the outrage on the oracle. For, speaking generally, it was not merely the perpetrators of the sacrilege but all persons who had the slightest connection with the sacrilege that were hounded by the inexorable retribution sent of Heaven. In fact the man who first schemed for the seizure of the shrine, Philomelus, in a crisis of the war hurled himself over a cliff, while his brother Onomarchus, after taking over the command of his people, now become desperate, was cut to pieces in a battle in Thessaly, along with the Phocians and mercenaries of his command, and crucified [estaurothe]. " (Diodorus Siculus, "Library of History," 16.61.2, Sherman, C.L., transl., 1952, Heineman: London, Vol. VII, Reprinted, 1967, p.409).

"But the difficulty experienced by Carthaginians in pronouncing Latin names caused the guide to [B.C. 217] understand Casilinum instead of Casinum; and quitting the proper road he led him down through the districts of Allifae, Caiatia and Cales into the Plain of Stella. There Hannibal, looking round on the mountains and rivers that enclosed the plain, called up the guide and asked him where in the world he was. And only when the guide had answered that he should lodge that night in Casilinum, did he perceive at last how the man had blundered, and that Casinum lay far off in another direction. Whereupon he scourged the guide, and, to terrify the others, crucified [crucem sublato] him, and going into camp behind entrenchments, dispatched Maharbal with the cavalry to ravage the Falernian country side." (Livy, "History of Rome," 22.13.6-9, Foster, B.O., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, Vol. V, 1929, Reprinted, 1957, p.245).

"At about this time a Carthaginian spy who for two years had eluded capture was caught in Rome, [B.C. 217] and after his hands had been cut of}, was allowed to go; and five and twenty slaves were crucified [crucem acti], on the charge of having conspired in the Campus Martius. The informer was rewarded with freedom and twenty thousand sesterces." (Livy, "History of Rome," 22.33.1-2, pp.v:309, 311).

"Therefore since the immortal gods have made a contrary decision, inasmuch as I [Virius] ought under no circumstances to refuse death, I, while free and my own master, can escape tortures and insults which the enemy is preparing, by a death which is not only honourable, but also gentle. I shall not see Appius Claudius and Quintus Fulvius, emboldened by their insolent victory, nor shall I be dragged in chains through the city of Rome as a spectacle in a triumph [B.C. 211], so that I may then breathe my last in the prison, or else, bound to a stake[ad palum deligatus], with my back mangled by rods, may submit my neck to the Roman axe. Nor shall I sec my native city destroyed and burned, nor Capuan matrons and maidens and free-born boys carried off to be dishonoured." (Livy, "History of Rome," XXVI.13-15, Moore, F.G., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, Vol. VII, 1943, Reprinted, 1958, pp.51,53)

"The herald's [B.C. 206] voice was heard, calling out the: names of those condemned in the war-council. They were being dragged out into the centre stripped, and at the same time everything requisite for punishment was being brought out. Bound to a stake [Deligati ad palum] they were scourged and beheaded, while the spectators were so paralysed by fear that not only was no fierce protest against the severity of the punishment heard, but not even a groan." (Livy, "History of Rome," 28.29.11, Moore, F.G., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann: London, Vol. VIII, 1949, Reprinted, 1955, p.123).

"Mago, upon his return to Gades finding [B.C. 206] himself shut out of the city, put in with his fleet to Cimbii, a place not far from Gades. He sent emissaries and complained because the gates had been closed against him, an ally and friend. The Gaditani tried to excuse themselves, saying it was done by a mob enraged on account of some looting committed by the soldiers as they were embarking. He thereupon enticed their sufetes-the highest magistrates among the Phoenicians-together with the treasurer to a conference and ordered them to be scourged and crucified [cruci adfigi]." (Livy, "History of Rome," 28.37.3, p.viii:149).

"Under these circumstances the Carthaginians were sent away from Rome, and having presented themselves to Scipio in Africa, they made peace upon the terms above mentioned. They surrendered warships [B.C. 201], elephants, deserters, runaway slaves, and four thousand captives, among whom was Quintus Terentius Cullco, a senator. The ships Scipio ordered to be put to sea and to he burned. Some historians relate that there were five hundred of them - every type of vessel propelled by oars; and that when the Carthaginians suddenly caught sight of the fire it was as doleful for them as if Carthage itself were in flames. The deserters were more severely treated than the runaway slaves, Latin citizens being beheaded, Romans crucified [crucem sublati]." (Livy, "History of Rome," 30.43.12-13, p.viii:533).

"Scel. ... But I must mind what I'm about and watch this door. Here's how I'll block , it. (stands facing it, legs and arms outspread) Now, by heaven, they'll never fool me, that's sure! ... Pal. (noting his position) You'll soon have to trudge out beyond the gate in that attitude, I take it-arms outspread, with your gibbet on your shoulder [dispessis manibus, patibulum quom habebis]." (Plautus, "The Braggart Warrior," 353, 359, in "Plays," Nixon, P., transl., Heinemann: London, Vol. III, 1957, pp.159, 161).

"Gr. Oh, I bet the hangmen will have you looking like a human sieve, the way they'll prod you full of holes as they run you down the streets with your arms on a cross bar [patibulatum], once the old man gets back! ... Tr. Shut up, and be off to the farm! I want to go to the Piraeus and see about some fish for supper for myself. To-morrow I shall send someone to the villa with (emphatically) your fodder for you. (as Grumio bridles) What ails you? What are you scowling at me for now, gallowsbird [furcifer]? (Plautus, "The Haunted House," 55-57, in "Plays," Nixon, p.295).

"SCELEDRUS: ... But I must keep my mind on this job, and my eye on this door. [He plants himself squarely across the door with arms outstretched, facing the door.] I'll stand this way. Nobody's going to make a mug of me. ... PALAESTRIO: You're just in the right position to be spread-eagled on a cross [dispessis manibus, patibulum quom habebis] outside the gate ... I know I'm going to end up on a cross; that's where I shall follow my ancestors - father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather. " (Plautus, Miles Gloriosus, 359, 376, in "The Pot of Gold and Other Plays," Watling, E.F., transl., Penguin: Harmondsworth, 1965, pp.166-167. Emphasis original).

"Bearing my gibbet [patibulum] I shall be carried through the city; afterwards I shall be nailed to the cross [adfigatur cruci]." (Plautus, "Carbonaria," 2, fr., in "The Comedies," Riley, H.T., transl., Henry G. Bohn: London, 1852, p.518).

"The elder Africanus was the mildest of men. Yet for the confirmation of military discipline he thought proper to borrow some harshness from a cruelty quite alien to himself. When he had conquered Carthage and brought into his power all those who had deserted from our armies to the Carthaginians, he punished the Roman deserters more severely than the Latins, crucifying [crucibus adfixit] the former as runaways from their country and beheading the latter as faithless allies. I shall not pursue this action farther, both because it is Scipio's and because there is no need to insult Roman blood that suffered the punishment of slaves, however well deserved, especially as I am free to pass to doings which can be narrated without injury to national sentiment." (Valerius Maximus, "Memorable Doings and Sayings," 2.7, Shackleton Bailey, D.R., transl., Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA, Vol. I, 2000, p.191).