93. The Crucifixion
Undeceptions with John Dickson
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The Crucifixion of Jesus
The English word excruciating, meaning severe, drawn out pain, has its roots in the Latin term crux. The primary cause of death was suffocation - it would just become impossible to breathe out. To speed up the process, soldiers sometimes break the legs of prisoners so they'd no longer be able to hoist themselves up in order to breathe. Marcus Tullius Cicero, the acclaimed Roman statesman and lawyer writing in the 1st century BC, had this to say about the practice.
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