DISSECTION OF THE CRUCIFICTION
Dr. C. Truman Davis - PERCEPTIVE EXAMINATION

About a decade ago, reading Jim Bishop's book The Day Christ Died, I
realized that I had for years taken the Crucifixion more or less for
granted -- that I had grown callous to its horror by a too easy familiarity
with the grim details and too distant friendship with our Lord. It finally
occurred to me that, though a physician, I didn't even know the actual
immediate cause of death. The gospel writers don't help us much on this
point, because crucifixion and scourging were so common during their
lifetime that they apparently considered a detailed description unnecessary.
So we have only the concise words of the Evangelists: "Pilate, having
scourged Jesus, delivered Him to them to be crucified -- and they crucified
Him."

I have no competence to discuss the infinite psychic and spiritual
suffering of the Incarnate God atoning for the sins of fallen man. But it
seemed to me that as a physician I might pursue the physiological and
anatomical aspects of our Lord's passionate some detail. What did the body
of Jesus of Nazareth actually endure during those hours of torture?

This led me first to a study of the practice of crucifixion itself; that is,
torture and execution by fixation to a cross. I am indebted to many who
have studied this subject in the past, and especially to a contemporary
colleague, Dr. Pierre Barbet, a French surgeon who has done exhaustive
historical and experimental research and has written extensively on the
subject.

Apparently, the first known practice of crucifixion was by the Persians.
Alexander and his generals brought it back to the Mediterranean world--to
Egypt and to Carthage. The Romans apparently learned the practice from the
Carthaginians and (as with most everything the Romans did) rapidly
developed a very high degree of efficiency and skill at it. A number of
Roman authors (Livy, Cicer, Tacitus) comment on crucifixion, and several
innovations, modifications, and variations are in the ancient literature.

For instance, the upright portion of the cross (of stipes) could have the
cross-arm (or patibulum) attached two or three feet below its top in what
we commonly think of as the Latin cross. The most common form used in our
Lord's day, however, was the Tau  cross, shaped like our T. In this cross
the patibulum was placed in a notch at the top of the stipes. There is
archeological evidence that it was on this type of cross that Jesus was
crucified.

Without any historical or biblical proof, Medieval and Renaissance painters
have given us our picture of Christ carrying the entire cross. But the
upright post, or stipes, was generally fixed permanently in the ground at
the site of execution and the condemned man was forced to carry the
patibulum, weighing about 110 pounds, from the prison to the place of
execution.

Many of the painters and most sculptors of crucifixion, also show the nails
through the palms. Historical Roman accounts and experimental work have
established that the nails were driven between the small bones of the
wrists (radical and ulna) and not through the palms. Nails driven through
the palms will strip out between the fingers when made to support the
weight of the human body. The misconception may have come about through a
misunderstanding of Jesus' words to Thomas, "Observe my hands." Anatomists,
both modern and ancient, have always considered the wrist as part of the
hand.

A titulus, or small sign, stating the victim's crime was usually placed on
a staff, carried at the front of the procession from the prison, and later
nailed to the cross so that it extended above the head. This sign with its
staff nailed to the top of the e cross would have given it somewhat the
characteristic form of the Latin cross.

But, of course, the physical passion of the Christ began in Gethsemane. Of
the many aspects of this initial suffering, the one greatest physiological
interest is the body sweat. It is interesting that St. Luke, the physician,
is the only one to mention this. He says, "And being in Agony, He prayed
the longer. And His sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the
ground."

Every ruse (trick) imaginable has been used by modern scholars to explain
away this description, apparently under the mistaken impression that this
just doesn't happen. A great deal of effort could have been had the
doubters consulted the medical literature. Though very rare, the phenomenon
of Hematidrosis, or bloody sweat, is well documented. Under great emotional
stress of the kind our Lord suffered, tiny capillaries in the sweat glands
can break, thus mixing blood with sweat. This process might well have
produced marked weakness and possible shock.

After the arrest in the middle of the night, Jesus was next brought before
the Sanhedrin and Caiphus. The palace guards then blind-folded Him and
mockingly taunted Him to identify them as they passed by, spat upon Him,
and struck Him in the face.

In the early morning, battered and bruised, dehydrated, and exhausted from
the sleepless night, Jesus is taken across the Praetorium of the Fortress
Antonia, the seat of government of the Procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate.
You are, of course, familiar with Pilate's action in attempting to pass
responsibility to Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Judea. Jesus apparently
suffered no physical mistreatment at the hands of Herod and was returned to
Pilate. It was the in response to the cries of the mob, that Pilate ordered
Bar-Abbas released and condemned Jesus to scourging and crucifixion.

There is much disagreement among authorities about the unusual scourging as
a prelude to crucifixion. Most Roman writers from this period do not
associate the two. Many scholars believe that Pilate originally ordered
Jesus scourged as his full punishment and that the death sentence by
crucifixion came only in response to the taunt by the mob that the
Procurator was not properly defending Caesar against this pretender who
allegedly claimed to be the King of the Jews.

Preparations for the scourging were carried out when the Prisoner was
stripped of His clothing and His hands tied to a post above His head. It is
doubtful the Romans would have made any attempt to follow the Jewish law in
this matter, but the Jews had an ancient law prohibiting more than forty
lashes.

The Roman legionnaire steps forward with the flagrum (or flagellum) in his
hand. This is a short whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with
two small balls of lead attached near the ends of each. The heavy whip is
brought down with full force again and again across Jesus' shoulders, back,
and legs. At first the throngs cut through the skin only. Then, as the
blows continue, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, producing
first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and
finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles.

The small balls of lead first produce large, deep bruises which are broken
open by subsequent blows. Finally the skin of the back is hanging in long
ribbons and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding
tissue. When it is determined by the centurion in charge that the prisoner
is near death, the beating is finally stopped.

The half-fainting Jesus is then untied and allowed to slump to the stone
pavement, wet with His own blood. The Roman soldiers see a great joke in
this provincial Jew claiming to be king. They throw a robe across His
shoulders and place a stick in His hand fir a scepter. They still need a
crown to make their travesty complete. Flexible branches covered with long
thorns (commonly used in bundles for firewood) are plaited into the shape
of a crown and this is pressed into His scalp. Again there is copious
bleeding, the scalp being one of the most vascular areas of the body.

After mocking Him and striking Him across the face, the soldiers take the
stick from His hand and strike Him across the head, driving the thorns
deeper into His scalp. Finally, they tire of their sadistic sport and the
robe is torn from His back. Already having adhered to the clots of blood
and serum in the wounds, its removal causes excruciating pain just as in
the careless removal of a surgical bandage, and almost as though He were
again being whipped the wounds once more begin to bleed.

In deference to Jewish custom, the Romans return His garments. The heavy
patibulum of the cross is tied across His shoulders, and the procession of
the condemned Christ, two thieves, and the execution detail of Roman
soldiers by a centurion begins its slow journey along the Via Dolorosa. In
spite of His efforts to walk erect, the weight of the heavy wooden beam,
together with the shock produced by copious blood loss, is too much. He
stumbles and falls. The rough wood of the beam gouges into the lacerated
skin and muscles of his shoulders. He tries to rise, but human muscles have
been pushed beyond their endurance.

The centurion anxious to get on with the crucifixion, selects a stalwart
North African onlooker, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the cross. Jesus follows,
still bleeding and sweating the cold, clammy sweat of shock, until the 650
yard journey from the fortress Antonia to Golgotha is finally completed.

Jesus is offered wine mixed with myrrh, a mild analgesic mixture. He
refuses to drink. Simon is ordered to place the patibulum on the ground and
Jesus quickly thrown backward with His shoulders against the wood. The
legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a
heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood.
Quickly, he moves to the other side and repeats the action being careful
not to pull the arms to tightly, but to allow some flexion and movemeent.
The patibulum is then lifted in place at the top of the stipes and the
titulus reading "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" is nailed in placed.

The left foot is now pressed backward against the right foot, and with both
feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each,
leaving the knees moderately flexed. The Victim is now crucified. As He
slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists excruciating
pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain --
the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As He
pushes Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He places His full
weight on the nail through His feet. Again there is the searing agony of
the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of his
feet.

At this point, as the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over
themuscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these
cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by his arms, the
pectoral muscles are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are unable to
act. Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights
to raise Himself in order to get even one short breath. Finally, carbon
dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps
partially subside. Spasmodically, he is able to push Himself upward to
exhalle and bring in the life-giving oxygen. It was undoubtedly during
these periods that He uttered the seven short sentences recorded.

The first, looking down at the Roman soldiers throwing dice for His
seamless garment, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

The second, to the penitent thief, "Today thou shalt be with me in
Paradise."

The third, looking down at the terrified, grief-stricken adolescent John --
the beloved Apostle -- He said, "Behold thy mother." Then, looking to His
mother Mary, "Woman behold they son."

The fourth cry is from the beginning of the 22nd Psalm, "My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me?"

Hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps,
intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain where tissue is torn from
His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber. Then
another agony begins.A terrible crushingg pain in the chest as the
pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.

One remembers again the 22nd Psalm, the 14th verse: "I am poured out like
water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is
melted in the midst of my bowels."

It is now almost over. The loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical
level; the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish
blood into the tissue; the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to
grasp in small gulps of air. The mark kedly dehydrated tissues send their
flood of stimuli to the brain.

Jesus gasps His fifth cry. " thirst."

One remembers another verse from the prophetic 22nd Psalm:" My strength is
dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou has
brought me into the dust of death."

A sponge soaked in posca, the cheap, sour wine which is the staple drink of
the Roman legionaries, is lifted to His lips. He apparently doesn't take
any of the liquid. The body of Jesus is now in extremes, and He can feel
the chill of death creeping throuugh His tissues. This realization brings
out His sixth words, possibly little mote than a tortured whisper, "It is
finished."

His mission of atonement has completed. Finally He can allow his body to
die.

With one last surge of strength, He once again presses His torn feet
against the nail, straightens His legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters
His seventh and last cry, "Father! Into thy hands I commit my spirit."

The rest you know. In order that the Sabbath not be profaned, the Jews
asked that the condemned men be dispatched and removed from the crosses.
The common method of ending a crucifixion was by crurifracture4, the
breaking of the bones of the legs. This prrevented the victim from pushing
himself upward, thus the tension could not be relieved from the muscles of
the chest and rapid suffocation occurred. The legs of the two thieves were
broken, but when the soldiers came to Jesus they saw that this was
unneccessary.

Apparently to make doubly sure of death, the legionnaire drove his lance
through the fifth interspace between the ribs, upward through the
pericardium and into the heart. The 34th verse of the 19th chapter of the
Gospel according to St. John reports. "And immediately there came out blood
and water." That is, there was an escape of water fluid from the sac
surrounding the heart, giving postmortem evidence that Our Lord died not
the usual crucifixion death by suffocation, but of heart failure (a broken
heaart) due to shock and constriction of the heart by fluid in the
pericardium.

Thus we have our glimpse -- including the medical evidence -- of that
epitome of evil which man has exhibited toward man and toward God. It has
been a terrible sight, and more than enough to leave us despondent and
depressed. How grateful we can be that we have the great sequel in the
infinite mercy of God toward man -- at once the miracle of the atonement
and the expectation of the triumphant Resurrection morning.