During the early days, crucifixion is one of the commonest methods of execution for those who were sentence to death. The Cross represents Jesus Christ’s martyrdom and is the best known religious symbol of Christianity. The following are the most popular crucifixions in history.

Crucifixion of 6,000 Rebel Slaves

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The crucifixion of rebel slaves during the so-called Third Servile War is one of the most notable cases of crucifixion in history of mankind. Triggered by abuses and maltreatments, between 73 BC and 71 BC a band of slaves, numbering about 120,000, under the leadership of Spartacus (a slave and gladiator) were in open revolt against the Roman republic. For two years the terrorized Rome but due to lack of unity and squabbles among leaders, the rebellion was eventually crushed. 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.

Crucifixion of the Ten Thousand Martyrs of Mount Ararat

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This is by far the largest number of crucifixion in history. The ten thousand martyrs of Mount Ararat were Roman soldiers who, led by Saint Acacius, converted to Christianity and were crucified on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey by order of the Roman emperor. The story is attributed to the ninth century scholar Anastasius Bibliothecarius. The martyrs are commemorated by the Roman Catholic Church but not by the Eastern Orthodox Church or the Armenian Apostolic Church. Despite its questionable veracity, the event was extremely popular in Italian Renaissance art, as seen for example in the painting 10,000 Martyrs of Mount Ararat by the Venetian artist Vittore Carpaccio.

Crucifixion of the Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan

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In the orient, one of the most notable crucifixions was the execution of The Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan. This refers to a group of Christians who were executed on February 5, 1597 in Nagasaki, Japan. On August 15, 1549, St. Francis Xavier, Fr. Cosme de Torres, S.J. and Fr. John Fernandez arrived in Kagoshima, Japan from Spain with hopes of bringing Catholicism to Japan. On September 29, St. Francis Xavier visited Shimazu Takahisa, the daimyo of Kagoshima, asking for permission to build the first Catholic mission in Japan. A promising beginning to those missions-perhaps as many as 300,000 Christians by the end of the sixteenth century-met complications from competition between the missionary groups, political difficulty between Spain and Portugal, and factions within the government of Japan. Christianity was suppressed. By 1630, Christianity was driven underground.

The first Martyrs of Japan are commemorated on February 5 when, on that date in 1597, twenty-six missionaries and converts were killed by crucifixion. Two hundred and fifty years later, when Christian missionaries returned to Japan, they found a community of Japanese Christians that had survived underground.

Saint Peter’s Crucifixion

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Saint Peter is one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ and traditionally regarded as the first pope of the Roman Catholic Church. According to tradition, he 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. Note that upside-down crucifixion would not result in death from asphyxiation (condition of severely deficient supply of oxygen to the body that arises from being unable to breathe normally).

Crucifixion of Saint Andrew

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Saint Andrew is one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ and was the brother of Saint Peter. According to tradition, St. Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross, hence the name St. Andrew’s Cross. It is generally agreed that he was crucified by order of the Roman Governor, Aegeas, at Patrae in Achaia, and that he was bound, not nailed, to the cross, in order to prolong his sufferings. The cross on which he suffered is commonly held to have been the decussate cross, now known as St. Andrew’s. His martyrdom took place during the reign of Nero, on 30 November, A.D. 60.

Saint Bartholomew’s Crucifixion

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Another apostle of Jesus who suffered much and died by crucifixion was Saint Bartholomew. Along with his fellow Apostle Jude, Bartholomew is reputed to have brought Christianity to Armenia in the 1st century. Thus both saints are considered the patron saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He was not crucified the usual way but was flayed alive and then crucified head down.

Saint Philip’s Crucifixion

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Still, another apostle of Jesus who died by crucifixion was Saint Philip. He is traditionally described Philip as the apostle who proselytized in Greece, Syria and Phrygia. He was martyred by crucifixion in the city of Hierapolis. According to this account, through a miraculous healing and his preaching Philip converted the wife of the proconsul of the city. This enraged the proconsul, and he had Philip, Bartholomew, and Mariamme all tortured. Philip and Bartholomew were then crucified upside down, and Philip preached from his cross. As a result of Philip’s preaching the crowd released Bartholomew from his cross, but Philip insisted that they not release him, and Philip died on the cross.

Crucifixion of Saint Rajden the First-Martyr

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Saint Rajden the First-Martyr also known as Saint Razdhen of Tsromi was a Persia-born Christian saint and martyr in Georgia, who died during the oppression of Christian Iberia (E. Georgia) by the Persian Empire. In 456, king Peroz I of Persia demanded that the Iberians joined his expedition against the Byzantine Empire. King Vakhtang refused to comply and a Persian army attacked the country. The forces were uneven and the Iberians suffered defeat. Rajden, who headed a defense of the Armazi fortress at the capital Mtskheta, was captured alive and sent to the Persian court. After a brief imprisonment, he was handed over to the Persian governor of Tsromi, Georgia. He was ordered to renounce Christianity, but Rajden refused. Subjected to extensive tortures, he was finally crucified and struck by several arrows.

Crucifixion of Johanan ben Ha-galgol

Johanan ben Ha-galgol is the name of a man whose remains in an ossuary were discovered by archaeologists in 1968 near Jerusalem. The remains show clearly that the man had been crucified. One of the notable facts about the discovery of this man’s remains is that it proves crucifixion victims were nailed through their wrists, as opposed to the palms. Both the grave and the remains have been dated to between 7 A.D. and 70 A.D. One nail had also been driven through both of the man’s feet, as described in the Bible in relation to the crucifixion of Jesus.

Crucifixion of Saint Simeon

Simeon of Jerusalem was the son of Clopas was a Jewish Christian leader and is traditionally considered the second Bishop of Jerusalem. He was crucified either 106 or 107.

Crucifixion of Joseph ibn Naghrela

Joseph ibn Naghrela or Joseph ha-Nagid (1035-1066) was a vizier (governor) to the Berber king Badis al-Muzaffar of Granada, during the Moorish rule of Andalusia, and the leader of the Jewish community there. On December 30, 1066 (9 Tevet 4827), Muslim mobs stormed the royal palace where Joseph had sought refuge, then crucified him. In the ensuing massacre of the Jewish population, most of the Jews of Granada were murdered. “More than 1,500 Jewish families, numbering 4,000 persons, fell in one day.”

Crucifixion of Archbishop Joachim of Nizhny Novgorod

Archbishop Joachim of Nizhny Novgorod was reportedly crucified upside down, on the Royal Doors of the Cathedral in Sevastopol, Russia in 1920.

Crucifixion of Wilgefortis

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Wilgefortis was venerated as a saint and represented as a crucified woman. Her name is thought by some to derive from the Old German “heilige Vartez” (holy face), a translation of the Italian “Volto Santo”; others believe it to derive from the Latin “virgo fortis” (strong woman). In England her name was Uncumber, and in Dutch Ontkommer (where her name means escaper). In German lands she was known as Kümmernis (where her name means “grief” or “anxiety”). She was known as Liberata in Italy and France, and Librada in Spain, again as “liberator” from tribulations or husbands.

Crucifixion of Jesus Christ

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The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the best-known case. Jesus of Nazareth was condemned to crucifixion (most likely in AD 30 or 33) by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Iudaea province. According to the New Testament, this was at the instigation of the Jewish leaders, who were scandalized at his claim to be the Messiah. The civil charge was a claim to be King of the Jews.

Crucifixion was in use by the Persians, Seleucids, Carthaginians, and Romans from about the 6th century BC up to the 4th century AD. In the year 337 AD, Emperor Constantine I abolished it in his empire, out of veneration for Jesus Christ, the most famous victim of crucifixion. It has sometimes been used even in modern times.

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