Crucifixion - Famous Crucifixions

Famous Crucifixions

• The crucifixion of Jesus: Jesus of Nazareth's death by crucifixion by Pontius Pilate (most likely in AD 30 or 33), recounted in the four first-century canonical Gospels, is referred to repeatedly as something well known in the earlier letters of Saint Paul, for instance, five times in his First Letter to the Corinthians, written in AD 57 (1:13, 1:18, 1:23, 2:2, 2:8). Pilate was the Roman governor of Iudaea province at the time, and he is explicitly linked with the condemnation of Jesus not only by the Gospels but also by Tacitus, (see Responsibility for the death of Jesus for details). The civil charge was a claim to be King of the Jews.
• The rebel slaves of the Third Servile War: Between 73 BC and 71 BC a band of slaves, eventually numbering about 120,000, under the (at least partial) leadership of Spartacus were in open revolt against the Roman republic. The rebellion was eventually crushed, and while Spartacus himself most likely died in the final battle of the revolt, approximately 6,000 of his followers were crucified along the 200 km road between Capua and Rome, as a warning to any other would-be rebels.
• Saint Peter, Christian apostle: according to tradition, Peter was crucified upside-down at his own request (hence the Cross of St. Peter), as he did not feel worthy to die the same way as Jesus.
• Saint Andrew, Christian apostle and Saint Peter's brother: crucified, according to tradition, on an X-shaped cross, hence the name St. Andrew's Cross
• Simeon of Jerusalem, 2nd Bishop of Jerusalem, crucified either 106 or 107
• Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln was an English boy whose disappearance in 1255 prompted a blood libel against the local Jews. A Jewish man was tortured until he confessed to killing the child. The story of Little Saint Hugh became well known through medieval ballad poetry.
• Archbishop Joachim of Nizhny Novgorod: reportedly crucified upside down, on the Royal Doors of the Cathedral in Sevastopol, Russia in 1920
• Wilgefortis was venerated as a saint and represented as a crucified woman, however her legend comes from a misinterpretation of the full-clothed crucifix of Lucca.