What is the cause of death when crucified?

Question

I know a person can stay alive for a few days up there, but what actually kills him?

Answer 1

usually the collapse of the lungs or breathing systems.

Answer 2

The normal medical events leading to death from crucifixion are asphyxiation then suffocation. Yeat it really is determined by the condition of the person before crucification. In the case of Christ he died from a broken heart as is atested to be the water and blood that came out when he was periced by the sword. The mixed water and blood is caused by a heart that has exploded in the chest, then the lungs filled with water and blood. The lungs then were percied and the blood and water poured out. As he was beated a great deal to the point you could not tell who he was. It would be expected for him to die in a short time after being crucifixion. And in fact he was not on the cross very long.
The way crucifixion is designed it to make the person actually fight to stay alive with all there phyisical strength. As the musles begain to become useless the person can't lift himself up to get air. Asphyxiation then begains an he dies of suffocation. With Christ as he was unable to carry the cross near the end of the climb up the hill of calvery, The guard made a man in the crowd help carry the cross this atest the the fact the guard knew he was near death. As with most military personnel he knew his bussiness and did not want to make a mistake and be punished by not making sure Jesus was crucified. ( it would mean death for the guard if jesus was not Crucified ). So Jesus did not have the strenght to last long on the cross. Thus death came sooner for him.

Answer 3

Normal death from crucifixion is suffocation, but here is something I have read and hope this is more telling:

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 movement.

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 writs 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 the feet.

At this point, as the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, 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. The victim 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 exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen.

But this continued cycle cannot be kept up and finally the victim expires after an agonising death.

It was always taught that the crucified victims were nailed through the hands and all the paintings of old depicting Christ were nails through the hands. It's interesting that the Shroud of Turin showed nails through the wrists and was the ONLY display of such. Only when they did proper investigating and study, did they find this would have to have been the case in order to support the body.....

Answer 4

In most cases, strangely enough, asphyxiation. In many cases, the wrists (not the hands themselves) and feet are nailed to a cross, with subsequent blood loss and shock, which can outright kill the crucified person. However, there were many crucifixtions involving rope instead of nails, and in any case, it usually doesn't matter.

What happens is the arms and legs have to carry all the weight of the body. Eventually, the person's legs lose strength (or the person loses consciousness out of sheer pain), and then the arms take the full weight of the body. The arms pull on the chest. The chest muscles eventually (this can take hours, but usually days) collapse, and the person can no longer breathe.

If you read the Bible, you'll notice that Jesus lasted at least until the night of his crucifixtion, which is typical - unless the person quickly dies of shock, exposure, hypothermia, or blood loss, the dying can easily take days. It's a particularly graphic, painful, and cruel way to kill someone. But of course, that was the point.

It may seem strange that chest muscles can collapse, resulting in inability to breathe, but that's because in normal life we can't even imagine how much stress is involved when the entire weight of a human body is pulling on a chest continuously for hours and hours and hours.

Incidentally, on a similar (but strangely opposite) note, most people who die from hanging do not die from asphyxiation - they die because their necks are snapped broken from the initial fall. This is, in most cases, intentional, as it is considered more humane (you may have also seen bags pulled over the heads of hanging victims, because suffociation is a gruesome process to watch).

Enjoy.

Answer 5

Crucifixion was meant to be an agonizing death. After the torture of the pain from the attachment, exposure to the elements, and thirst and hunger, it was traditional to break the legs. If the legs would remain intact, a person who is given no water will die after 3 days. Sometimes they were given water to prolong suffering. It takes nearly two weeks to die of starvation if you stay hydrated. Once the legs are broken, then there is no support against gravity, and the position of the crucified body places an immense amount of pressure on the chest, which will result in asphyxiation due to the collapse of the lungs.

Answer 6

asphyxiation is correct, the Romans were really good at placing the nails in places for maximum pain and minimum blood. To breath better you had to push and pull on the nails to lift higher. that's also why if they were still alive after a while, the guards would break their legs so they could left up anymore. The spear was only used to make sure they weren't faking death.

Answer 7

The Medical View of the Crucifixion
by Gerald Bradly, MD

This was the most agonizing death man could face....He had to support Himself in order to breath...The flaming pain caused by the spikes hitting the median nerve in His wrists explodes up Him arms, into his brain and down His spine.

The spike burning through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of His feet jerks Him erect, then the leg muscles convulse, driving His body downward...beating Him against the cross .

Air is sucked in, but cannot be exhaled until the buildup of carbon dioxide in the lungs and blood stream stimulates breathing again to relive the cramps.

Exhaustion, shock, dehydration, and paralyasis destroy the victim.

The heart is barely able to pump the thick blood as each of His billions of cells die at one time.
Prior to His death and in all His agony, Jesus is in full control of His mind. He asks the heavenly Father to, “Forgive them; for they know not what they do.” And the dear Lamb of God was sacrificed for you.

Finally in death the blood coagulates into serum and clotted blood cells.



For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.John 3:16

Heb:9:22:...and without shedding of blood is no remission.

Answer 8

Strangulation or the collapse of the lungs or failure to breathe. In case of Jesus some medical doctors explained that the burden of guilt in His mind as He became the Redeemer caused the veins or arteries to burst. Other cause could be exposures or bleeding to death caused by the plucking of vultures on the body. And in the case of the two thieves, the breaking of their legs caused the blood circulation to stop.

Answer 9

Do you want to know what actually kills him ?
Sour vinegar or sour wine because it reacts as a stimulant that allows people to have fatser heart beat and eventually lead to death. In other words, it is some type of poison.

Answer 10

Asphyxiation.

The muscles in the arms and neck are pulled taught from gravity and the throat eventually gets squeezed shut.

Answer 11

Every thing requires water . Without it you die ..... It would also depend on the health of the person for the time line of death ...