1. CRUCIFIXION IN GENERAL

A. The public shame
1. Partly as a warning to other potential offenders, the condemned man was made to carry his cross along the public roads and to the execution ground, which itself was nearly always in a public place.
2. There he was stripped of all his clothing.
3. Affixed to the cross, he could not care for his bodily needs, and was the object of taunts and indignities from passers-by.
4. On the way to execution a tablet was hung around the offender stating the crime, and this was affixed to the cross after execution so that all could see.

B. The torture
1. Crucifiction was notorious for being the worst form of punishment. Cicero called it the supreme penalty; the most painful, dreadful, and ugly.
2. The cruelty of this form of capital punishment lay not only in the public shame but also in its slow physical torture.
3. It damaged no vital part of the body.
4. The victim was fastened to the cross by nails through the hands or wrists, and through the feet or above the heels.
5. On the ground he was bound with outstretched arms, with the body fastened to the upright post. There was no footrest.
p 100 6. Ropes bound the shoulders or torso to the wooden frame.
(a) The victim was then held immovable, unable to cope with heat or cold or insects.
(b) Death came slowly—often after many days—as the result of fatigue, cramped muscles, hunger and thirst.
(c) Sometimes the victim was offered a drug to deaden the pain.
7. Rome reserved this form of punishment for slaves and foreigners.
(a) Hence Jesus could be crucified.
(b) Paul, who had Roman citizenship, could not have been.
8. In Palestine, crucifixion was used to punish robbery, tumult, and sedition (rebellion against the State).
(a) This served as a public reminder of the Jews’ servitude to the foreign power.
(b) Crosses were a familiar sight in Galilee and provided a metaphor for Christian discipleship (Matthew 16:24).
9. Scourging often preceded the crucifixion.
10. Usually the body was left to rot on the cross.

C. The cross
1. Literally, it was an upright stake, pale or pole.
2. As an instrument of execution it was sunk vertically into the ground.
3. Usually a horizontal piece was attached to the vertical post, sometimes at the top to give the shape of a T, sometimes just below the top.
4. The height of the cross varied.
(a) It was usually rather more than a man’s height.
(b) It might be even higher when the offender was to be held up for public display at a distance.

Kendall, R. T. (1996). Understanding Theology, Volume One (pp. 99–100). Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus.