Crucifixion facts for kids

Crucifixion was a very old and harsh way to execute (kill) someone, usually because they had committed a serious crime. It was used as a punishment by the powerful government of Rome. A prisoner was often beaten with whips first. Then, they were made to carry their own cross to the place where they would be killed. They were either tied or nailed to the cross. The Romans used different types of crosses, like T-shaped or X-shaped ones. Sometimes, they even used just a tree. People died from bleeding, shock, and finding it very hard to breathe, eventually dying from suffocation. Some people could live for several days before dying. Roman soldiers, who were like the police of that time, would sometimes break the legs of the person to make them die faster.

A Famous Example: Jesus Christ

The most famous person to have been crucified was Jesus Christ. According to the Christian religion, he is the Son of God. He was crucified along with two people who had committed crimes. The cross later became a very important symbol of Christianity.

The Cross as a Symbol

Six of the twelve main followers of Jesus were also crucified later on. However, most of them asked to be crucified in a different way from Jesus. For example, Andrew, who later became the patron saint of Scotland, was crucified on an X-shaped cross.

When Did Crucifixion Stop?

In the year 337 AD, a Roman ruler named Emperor Constantine I made a big change. He stopped the practice of crucifixion in the entire Roman Empire.

Images for kids

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  A 15th century depiction of Jesus crucified between the two thieves

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  Gabriel von Max's 1866 painting Martyress depicts a crucified young woman and a young man laying flowers at her feet

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  Crucifixion window by Henry E. Sharp, 1872, in St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church, Charleston, South Carolina

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  A nineteenth-century depiction of the crucifixion of rebel leaders by the Carthaginians in 238 BC.
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  The Twenty Six Martyrs of Japan

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  Poster showing a German soldier nailing a man to a tree, as American soldiers come to his rescue. Published in Manila by Bureau of Printing (1917).

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  Prisoner kneeling on chains, thumbs supporting arms, photographic print on stereo card, Mukden, China (c. 1906)

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  Devotional crucifixion in San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines, Easter 2006

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  Sculpture construction: Crucifixion, homage to Mondrian, by Barbara Hepworth, United Kingdom (2007)

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  Allegory of Poland (1914–1918), postcard by Sergey Solomko

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  Car-float at the feast of the Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos, Colonia Doctores, Mexico City (2011)

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  Christ crucified, by Diego Velázquez (1632)

See also

In Spanish: Crucifixión para niños