From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Crucifixion
is a way to
execute
(kill) someone, usually because they have committed a
crime
. It was used as a
capital punishment
by the
government
of
Rome
. A
prisoner
was beaten with whips, and made to carry their own
cross
. They were either tied or nailed to the cross. The Romans used different types of crosses: T-shaped, X-shaped, and sometimes just trees. It killed people by making them bleed, go into shock, and making it hard for them to breathe, eventually dying of
suffocation
. Some of the people would live for several days before dying. The Roman
soldiers
(which were like the
police
of that time) would often break the legs of the
criminal
to speed it up.
The most
famous
person to have been crucified was
Jesus Christ
, the
Son of God
according to the
Christian
religion. He was crucified along with two thieves.
[1]
[2]
The cross later became a symbol of Christianity. Six of the
twelve apostles
of Jesus were also crucified later on, but most of them asked to be crucified in a different way from Jesus. For example,
Andrew
(who later became the
patron saint
of
Scotland
) was crucified on an X-shaped cross. In the year 337 AD, Emperor
Constantine I
abolished crucifixion in the
Roman Empire
.