Descriptions in antiquity of the execution cross, whether by Christians or non-Christians, present the instrument ordinarily used in putting people to death by crucifixion as composed of two wooden pieces. Whether the two pieces of timber of the normal execution cross were permanently conjoined or were merely put together for the purpose of the execution is not stated.
Atypical executions on cross-like structures also took place, "especially when the executioners decide[d] to engage in cruel creativity", as indicated by Seneca the Younger.The Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus: Texts and Commentary. Mohr Siebeck; 2015. . pp. 313–314.David W. Chapman. Ancient Jewish and Christian Perceptions of Crucifixion. Mohr Siebeck; 2008. . pp. 8–9.John Granger Cook. Crucifixion in the Mediterranean World. Mohr Siebeck; 2018. . p. 97.
Terminology
A distinction is commonly made between a single-pole or single-stake crux simplex and a crux compacta composed of more than one piece of timber. This terminology was invented by Justus Lipsius (1547–1606) and so was not used by the Early Christians or their contemporaries.Gunnar Samuelsson, Crucifixion in Antiquity (Mohr Siebeck 2013), pp. 3–4 e 295
Lipsius distinguished two types of the transom-less crux simplex: the crux simplex ad affixionem to which the victim was attached and left to die, and the crux simplex ad infixionem with which to impale him. Similarly, he distinguished three types of crux compacta: crux decussata (X-shaped), crux commissa (T-shaped) and crux immissa (†-shaped).
Some scholars think the distinction between crux commissa and crux immissa within the crux compacta category is unnecessary. Hermann Fulda called it a meaningless distinction that Lipsius grabbed out of thin air. Others too, including Gerald G. O'Collins, do not accept all the proposed subcategories of crux compacta.
Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC – AD 65) records the use in the first century AD of the crux compacta with transom (patibulum) and of the crux simplex ad infixionem (impalement), but does not mention the transom-less crux simplex ad affixionem; he seems to indicate that execution on a cross tended to follow a fairly common routine, while still being open to significant variations.
Departure from normal crucifixion routine is also mentioned by Josephus (37 – c. 100) in his The Jewish War: "The soldiers, out of the wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed those they caught, one after one way, and another after another, to the crosses, by way of jest, when their multitude was so great, that room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies".Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 5:451
Made of more than one piece
Irenaeus (early 2nd century – AD 202) remarks that "the very form of the cross, too, has five extremities, two in length, two in breadth, and one in the middle, on which [last] the person rests who is fixed by the nails".Irenaeus, Against Heresies, II, xxiv, 4Latin text: "Ipse habitus crucis, fines et summitates habet quinque, duos in longitudine, duos in latitudine, et unum in medio, in quo requiescit qui clavis affigitur" (Adversus haereses, liber II, cap. XXIV, 4).
The same remark is made by Justin Martyr (100–165) when commenting on the Book of Deuteronomy 33:17: "No one could say or prove that the horns of a unicorn represent any other fact or figure than the type which portrays the cross. For the one beam is placed upright, from which the highest extremity is raised up into a horn, when the other beam is fitted on to it, and the ends appear on both sides as horns joined on to the one horn. And the part which is fixed in the centre, on which are suspended those who are crucified, also stands out like a horn; and it also looks like a horn conjoined and fixed with the other horns".Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, XCIOriginal text: κέρατα οὐδενὸς ἄλλου πράγματος ἢ σχήματος ἔχοι ἄν τις εἰπεῖν καὶ ἀποδεῖξαι, εἰ μὴ τοῦ τύπου ὃς τὸν σταυρὸν δείκνυσιν. ὄρθιον γὰρ τὸ ἕν ἐστι ξύλον, ἀφ' οὗ ἐστι τὸ ἀνώτατον μέρος εἰς κέρας ὑπερηρμένον, ὅταν τὸ ἄλλο ξύλον προσαρμοσθῇ, καὶ ἑκατέρωθεν ὡς κέρατα τῷ ἑνὶ κέρατι παρεζευγμένα τὰ ἄκρα φαίνηται· καὶ τὸ ἐν τῷ μέσῳ πηγνύμενον ὡς κέρας καὶ αὐτὸ ἐξέχον ἐστίν, ἐφ' ᾧ ἐποχοῦνται οἱ σταυρούμενοι, καὶ βλέπεται ὡς κέρας καὶ αὐτὸ σὺν τοῖς ἄλλοις κέρασι συνεσχηματισμένον καὶ πεπηγμένον (Τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰουστίνου πρὸς Τρύφωνα Ἰουδαῖον Διάλογος, XCI, 2).
To the pagan jibe about Christians being devotees of the cross, Tertullian (c. 155 – c. 240) responds by saying the pagans no less adored images of wood, with the difference that they worship what is only part of a cross, while the Christians are credited with "an entire cross complete with a transverse beam and a projecting seat". He then adds that "the very structure of our body suggests the essential and primal outline of a cross. The head ascends to the peak, the spine stands upright, the shoulders traverse the spine. If you position a man with his arms outstretched, you shall have created the image of a cross."Tertullian, Ad nationes, book I, chapter XXThe original text is: "Sed et qui crucis nos antistites affirmat, consacerdos erit noster. Crucis qualitas signum est de ligno: etiam de materia colitis penes uos cum effigie. Quamquam sicut uestrum humana figura est, ita et nostrum sua propria. Viderint nunc liniamenta, dum una sit qualitas; uiderit forma, dum ipsum sit dei corpus. Quodsi de hoc differentia intercedit, quanto distinguitur a crucis stipite Pallas Attica et Ceres Pharia, quae sine forma rudi palo et solo staticulo ligni informis repraesentatur? Pars crucis, et quidem maior, est omne robur quod derecta statione defigitur. Sed nobis tota crux imputatur, cum antemna scilicet sua et cum illo sedilis excessu. [...] ipsi quoque corpori nostro tacita et secreta linea crucis situs est, quod caput emicat, quod spina dirigitur, quod umerorum obliquatio; si statueris hominem manibus expansis, imaginem crucis feceris" (Tertullian, Ad nationes, I, xii).
Justin Martyr also states: "That [passover] lamb which was commanded to be wholly roasted was a symbol of the suffering of the cross which Christ would undergo. For the lamb, which is roasted, is roasted and dressed up in the form of the cross. For one spit is transfixed right through from the lower parts up to the head, and one across the back, to which are attached the legs of the lamb."Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, XL, 3Original text: καὶ τὸ κελευσθὲν πρόβατον ἐκεῖνο ὀπτὸν ὅλον γίνεσθαι τοῦ πάθους τοῦ σταυροῦ, δι' οὗ πάσχειν ἔμελλεν ὁ Χριστός, σύμβολον ἦν. τὸ γὰρ ὀπτώμενον πρόβατον σχηματιζόμενον ὁμοίως τῷ σχήματι τοῦ σταυροῦ ὀπτᾶται· εἷς γὰρ ὄρθιος ὀβελίσκος διαπερονᾶται ἀπὸ τῶν κατωτάτων μερῶν μέχρι τῆς κεφαλῆς, καὶ εἷς πάλιν κατὰ τὸ μετάφρενον, ᾧ προσαρτῶνται καὶ αἱ χεῖρες τοῦ προβάτου (Τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰουστίνου πρὸς Τρύφωνα Ἰουδαῖον Διάλογος, XL, 3).
The Acts of Peter, of the second half of the second century, expressly distinguishes between the upright beam of the cross and its crossbeam: in this early example of New Testament Apocrypha, Saint Peter, on being crucified, says: "It is right to mount upon the cross of Christ, who is the word stretched out, the one and only, of whom the spirit saith: For what else is Christ, but the word, the sound of God So that the word is the upright beam whereon I am crucified. And the sound is that which crosseth it, the nature of man. And the nail which holdeth the cross-tree unto the upright in the midst thereof is the conversion and repentance of man."Acts of Peter, XXXVIIIOriginal text: προσῆκεν γὰρ ἐπιβαίνειν τῷ τοῦ Χριστοῦ σταυρῷ, ὅστις ἐστὶν ὁ τεταμένος λόγος, εἷς καὶ μόνος. περὶ οὗ τὸ πνεῦμα λέγει· Τί γάρ ἐστιν Χριστὸς ἀλλ' ὁ λόγος, ἦχος τοῦ θεοῦ; ἵνα λόγος ᾖ τοῦτο τὸ ὀρθὸν ξύλον, ἐφ' ᾧ ἐσταύρωμαι· ἦχος δὲ τὸ πλάγιόν ἐστιν, ἀνθρώπου φύσις· ὁ δὲ ἧλος ὁ συνέχων ἐπὶ τῷ ὀρθῷ ξύλῳ τὸ πλάγιον κατὰ μέσου, ἡ ἐπιστροφὴ καὶ ἡ μετάνοια τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (Constantinus Tischendorf, Ricardus Adalbertus Lipsius, Maximilianus Bonnet, Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha (Leipzig 1891), p. 96).
These statements by Early Christians echo those of contemporary non-Christians. Second-century Artemidorus indicated that the execution cross was made from more than one piece of wood, when he said it was good luck for someone about to undertake a sea voyage to dream of being crucified, because "a cross is made from posts and nails like a ship, and its mast is like a cross".John Granger Cook, Crucifixion in the Mediterranean World (Mohr Siebeck 2014), pp. 7–8Original text: σταυροῦσθαι πᾶσι μὲν τοῖς ναυτίλλεσθαι προῃρημένοις ἀγαθόν; καὶ γὰρ ἐκ ξύλων καὶ ἥλων τὸ πλοῖον καὶ ἡ καταρτιὰ αὐτοῦ ὁμοία ἐστὶ σταυρῷ (Artemidorus, Oneirocritica, 1.76 (Siegfried Lebrecht Crusius, Leipzig 1805), p. 234). Thus Artemidorus explicitly says that an execution cross is made from more than one wooden beam and from nails (ἐκ ξύλων καὶ ἥλων).John Granger Cook, Crucifixion in the Mediterranean World (Mohr Siebeck 2014), p. 32
Dionysius of Halicarnassus (c. 60 BC – after 7 BC) mentions that, on a certain occasion, "a Roman citizen of no obscure station, having ordered one of his slaves to be put to death, delivered him to his fellow-slaves to be led away, and in order that his punishment might be witnessed by all, directed them to drag him through the Forum and every other conspicuous part of the city as they whipped him, and that he should go ahead of the procession which the Romans were at that time conducting in honour of the god. The men ordered to lead the slave to his punishment, having stretched out both his arms and fastened them to a piece of wood which extended across his breast and shoulders as far as his wrists, followed him, tearing his naked body with whips. The culprit, overcome by such cruelty, not only uttered ill-omened cries, forced from him by the pain, but also made indecent movements under the blows. This man, accordingly, they all thought to be the unacceptable dancer signified by the god."Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, VII, 69Original text: Dionysii Halicarnassei scripta quae exstant, omnia, et historica, et rhetorica (Frankfurt 1586), pp. 473–474 Dionysius does not specify the form of execution to which the slave was being led nor whether the piece of wood he carried on his shoulders was for the transom of an execution cross, but some scholars have interpreted it in that way.
For outstretched arms of victim
The Early Christians interpreted their practice of praying with arms outstretched as a representation of the form of Christ's cross. Judith Couchman, The Mystery of the Cross: Bringing Ancient Christian Images to Life (InterVarsity Press 2010), p. 85
Tertullian saw this prayer posture reflected in nature: "The birds now arising are lifting themselves up to heaven and instead of hands are spreading out the cross of their wings, while saying something which may be supposed to be a prayer" (et aves nunc exsurgentes eriguntur ad caelum, et alarum crucem pro manibus expandunt et dicunt aliquid quod oratio videatur). Of the Christians he said that they not only lift up their hands in prayer, "but also spread them out, and, modulating them by the Lord's passion, in our prayers also express our faith in Christ" (nos vero non attollimus tantum sed etiam expandimus, et dominica passione modulantes, et orantes confitemur Christo).Tertullian On PrayerQuinti Florentis Tertulliani De OrationeErnest Evans, Tertullian's Tract on Prayer (Wipf and Stock, 2016)
According to Naphthali Wieder, it was because Christians interpreted prayer with outspread hands as referring to the crucifixion of their Messiah that Jews abandoned this prayer posture, which had previously been Jewish tradition.Uri Ehrlich, The Nonverbal Language of Prayer: A New Approach to Jewish Liturgy (Mohr Siebeck 2004), p. 117