TORTURE USED BY ANCIENT ROMANS

Romans, like the Greeks, used torture during interrogations. Until the second century CE, torture was used only on slaves (with a few exceptions). After this period, torture also concerned the lower social strata. The slave’s testimony was considered true under Roman law only during torture. It was thought that they could not be trusted and that they had to be intentionally “tried”.

It is worth noting that, according to many scholars, torture was an ancient issue for ancient civilizations and was officially included in the legal system of states. Torture was considered necessary to stop bad and unacceptable social behaviour.

CRUCIFIXION

Crucifixion was a form of death penalty used in ancient times, including by Persians, Romans, Phoenicians and Carthaginians, as a form of shameful execution on slaves, rebels and other non-full citizens. Only a low-level citizen (humiliores) could be sentenced to such death – in the event of a serious crime, e.g. betrayal of his own country. The convict was then tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left there until his death. It was an unusually long and painful death.

The hypothesis that the custom of crucifixion in Rome developed from the primitive practise of arbori suspendere, i.e. hanging arbor infelix (“ominous tree”), dedicated to the gods of the underworld, is rejected by William A. Oldfather, which indicates that this form of execution involved suspending a suspect from a tree. Moreover, this punishment was not intended to kill the convict or even more to sacrifice him to the deities of the underworld.

Tertullian mentions in “Apologia” from the first century CE when the trees were used for crucifixion. However, Seneca the Younger had already used the phrase infelix lignum (“unfortunate wood”) for the horizontal beam (patibulum) of the cross. Plautus and Plutarch’s works are some Roman sources talking about criminals carrying their own patibulum.

The most famous crucifixion took place after the suppression of the Spartacus revolt in 71 BCE. Beware of Marcus Crassus ordered the crucifixion of 6,000 insurgents along the Appian road leading from Capua to Rome. Mass crucifixions also took place during the civil wars in the second and first centuries BCE and after the capture of Jerusalem in 70 CE, Josephus mentions that the Romans crossed the defenders along the walls.

Roman law used this torture not only to kill but also to dishonour and emphasize the low status of the convict. Joseph Flavius ​​mentions that high-class Jews used to be crucified only to take away their status. In addition, the Romans often broke their legs to speed up death and prohibit their burial.

Sometimes, before hanging, the victim was heavily scourged, which resulted in significant blood loss and the victim’s state of shock and dementia. Then the convict had to carry a horizontal beam (patibulum) to the place of execution. According to Roman source literature, sentenced to crucifixion, he never carried the entire cross, contrary to customary faith, and unlike many modern recreations of Jesus’ path to Golgotha. The vertical beam (stipes) was already firmly embedded in the ground at the place of execution. The convict was dressed in clothes. Then the victim was tied or nailed to the beams. For this purpose, iron, tapered nails from 13 to 18 cm long were used. It happened that after the execution, the nails were collected by onlookers and carried with them as healing amulets. The convict who was nailed to the beam was pulled and attached to a vertical pole. Then the whole gave the tool the best-known form, i.e. the cross. The cruelty of the executioners took various forms, and the torment could last from several hours to even several days. The convict was hung upside down or head down.