Are they, and welcome to Emperors of Rome, a Roman history podcast from Latrobe University.

I'm your host, Matt Smith, and with me today is Dr. Gillian Sheppard, Director of the

Trandell Centre at Latrobe University.

This is episode C-L-X-X-I, Crucifixion.

Crucifixion was a Roman practice of torture and execution that proved a popular punishment

for slaves and enemies of Rome.

When Crucified, a person was now to a cross or a piece of wood and left in the elements

to a fixier.

Now a warning before we start, this is interesting, but obviously not a happy topic for a podcast.

Here's Gillian Sheppard.

Crucifixion is a most gruesome, slow, agonising form of death.

We tend to think of it as fairly specifically somebody nailed to a cross, and that perhaps

comes out of the Christian image of Crucifixion.

But in fact, in antiquity, it's a more general term, and it could be applied to a human being

nailed or perhaps just tied or bound in some way to a crushed piece of wood or a stake

or an X-shaped piece of wood or a plank.

Anything that would result in death ultimately from suspension and exposure and possibly

some accompanying torture as well.

It's quite a broader term, perhaps, than we tend to think of it today, although certainly

that image of the actual cross is still a very important prominent part of Crucifixion

in antiquity.

There's a strong association with that now.

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