Roman crucifixion - where did the nails go?

Question

This question is historical not religious.
Please provide reference if you know the answer.

Many say it had to be within the wrist structure because there was not enough supporting ligaments and bones within the hands - the flesh would simply tear.

However in "passion of the Christ" we see the nails within the hands and ropes used to support the arms creating a cantilever effect that would produce downward pressure on the hands.

Which is correct?

Answer 1

http://www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/jdtabor/crucifixion.html

This site has an excellence reference to crucifixion. Even shows an old skeleton of a person executed by crufixition.
One thing in it i was impressed with is this paragraph;
Crucifixion amongst the Jews was rare and except for a few instances, the subject was stoned to death first and then hung on a tree in accordance with the Biblical passage in Deuteronomy 21:22-23:

"When someone is convicted of a crime punishable by death and executed, and you hang him on a tree, his corpse must not remain all night upon the tree; you shall bury him that same day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God's curse."








5 Josephus,
Antiquities 12.256.












6 V. Tzaferis, "Jewish Tombs at and Near Giv'at ha-Mivtar," Israel Exploration Journal 20:31, 1971. There was one notable exception to this passage in which the victims were first killed via crucifixion rather that being hung on a tree after death. This was the case with the high priest, Alexander Janneus in which 800 Pharisees were crucified in Jerusalem in 267 BC before their wives and children. While on the cross, according to Josephus5 the women and children were then slaughtered. Despite this plethora of literary evidence for crucifixion over the centuries in the ancient world, the direct anthropological evidence amounts to but one case from Jerusalem discovered in 1968.
The media would have us all beleive crufixition was used nearly extensively against theives, and Jews while actully few jews were cruified. Instead they were given a lower death.


This site details how the cruifiction is done or how the nails are driven.
http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/roman-crucifixion-faq.htm

Answer 2

If you're not talking about one specific crucifixion, then you are referring to thousands of thousands of them. And like anything done thousands of times, there is a fair amount of variation involved.

As you pointed out, driving nails straight through the palms of the hand is not going to support the weight of the body. So there are at least two solutions to this problem:

One commonly used solution is a foot-rest. Some crosses were built with a small bar beneath the feet to support the weight of the crucified person. When this is done, it doesn't matter so much where you put the rest of the nails - they're there to affix the person to the cross, not hold them up. So in this variation you can put nails through the palms, because they're not load-bearing.

Another solution is to not drive the nails straight through the palms. The nails might be driven at an angle, to go in through the palms but exit through the back of the wrists. Or they might simply be driven into the base of the hand or the wrist where it is much easier for them to support weight.

Curiously enough, I've never seen a reference to just using a lot MORE nails, which would seem a practical solution as well... I would guess that either those Romans were perfectionists or that driving nails through people is just not really very fun for anyone involved. It is also thought that in Roman times nails were actually pretty expensive... there is some suggestion that soldiers went back to retrieve the nails after the crucified person died to cut costs (by re-use or by selling them as health amulets).

Of course there is also the possibility of securing the person with ropes, where again you can drive nails anywhere you please. And sometimes the victim wasn't even nailed to a cross, but just impaled on it, which arguably isn't a much nicer way to die either.

If you ARE curious about that one specific crucifixion that many are curious about, there is some mixed evidence. The Shroud of Turin suggests that nails were driven through the wrists of whoever the shroud covered, for example. And the word used in the Bible to describe where the nails were driven is often associated with the wrists in other verses. Archeologically speaking, there has only ever been found ONE crucified body (they usually were left above-ground to rot, after all), and though nails were driven sideways through the heels (some people had their feet nailed to the sides of the cross, instead of the front, which supported weight better too), it cannot be determined how the arms were affixed.

Hope that helps! (I don't want to hear about YOU running off and crucifying people now, okay?)

Answer 3

In the wrists. I can't site any references offhand but I do that archaeological evidence has proven that victims of crucifixion had the nails driven into their wrists between the bones. Perhaps they were tied up with rope as well... I don't know.

It's best to not use a Hollywood movie (in this case, "The Passion of Christ") as being historically accurate. They rarely are.

The myth of crucifixion through the hands comes from the story of Doubting Thomas and his needing to see the holes in Jesus's hands as proof of His resurrection. The Biblical story became truth.

Answer 4

My understanding is that usually the nails would be in the hands with the ropes around the wrist. In special instances (usually people they really wanted to suffer) there was an extra set of nails driven through the wrist (to substitute for the rope since the weight of the body would tear the first set of nails out).

Hollywood has a tendency to skimp on their homework. So don't assume anything they do is historically accurate.

Answer 5

Jesus was nailed through the center of the hands which allows light to pass through. Many different methods were used in the day; however, this was the method used on Jesus. Oh - Ropes on the arms tied to the cross were used as the support mechanism to prevent any movement on the cross or tearing away of the flesh.

Answer 6

there are 2 types, the right side up and the upside down. It can be both, basically all you do is nail, or tie, a person up and pretty much let them hang there til they died. They probably had to pick a spot where there is a lot of support for the body because the bones will snap and the body will slump down, which will defeat the purpose in the first place.

Look on wikipedia, it is shockingly detailed

Answer 7

According to Roman tradition nails went in the palms of the hands, and between the radius and ulna bones in the writs, then the feet were laid one upon another and nails were driven through the metatarsals in the feet.

Answer 8

In the hands and feet. The Bible is not only a religious book; it is also a historical book. Just because we answer from the Bible doesn't mean we are only giving a religious answer. Many of the historical claims in the Bible have been proved by secular historians, secular archeology, and secular science.

Answer 9

In the hands. The arms were supported by ropes, so your hands wouldn't tear, but you would still be suspended painfully.

Answer 10

I would say both. Rope to hold the body up and nails to cause the pain.