Chapter 01
The Crucifixion
16.01.00.A. THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS. Artwork by William Hole of the Royal Scottish Academy of Art, 1876. Historically, prisoners were nailed first to the cross-beam because the post was already secured in the ground. Four soldiers then lifted the cross-beam and set it on the top of the post, after which the prisoner’s feet were nailed to the sides of the post. Therefore, the typical artistic rendering of Jesus nailed to the crossbeam and post, as shown above, is inaccurate. The dying process was so severely painful, that the English word “excruciating,” meaning “out of the cross,” originated from it.