he body. It was the normal procedure of the Romans to flog the victim until his blood began to flow.11 "Roman scourging was so severe that victims often died under it. For one charged as Jesus was, with sedition, it would have been merciless." 12CrucifixionThe Romans designed the act of crucifixion to slowly execute a person through torture while humiliating him. The Romans used crucifixion as a punishment and a warning to other potential lawbreakers.13 After scourging, the condemned person had to carry his stake, or the crossbeam along public roads to the place of execution; this was usually in a public area.14 The following quotation from The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia describes the final process of a crucifixion:As the next step in the process [after scourging] the victim carried his own crossbeam (if this form of cross was used) to the place of execution, where the upright stake had already been erected. Then on the ground he was fastened to the beam with arms outspread, usually by ropes, less commonly by nails. The beam and body were then lifted into place on the upright. A small wooden block (sedicula) or a wooden peg positioned midway on the upright supported the body weight from tearing open the wounds. Once the condemned was thus immobilized he was left alone, unable to attend to bodily functions, unprotected from inclement weather or flies, and, because the place of execution was usually some public street or prominent place, subjected to abusive words and mockery from passersby. Often the body was left to putrefy on the cross and become the prey of carrion birds to complete the utter humiliation. . . . It was not unusual for a tablet identifying the crime to be hung on the condemned as he went to execution site, then attached to his cross for all to see. 15Another source says that this small sign"was usually placed on a staff, carried at the front of the procession from the prison, and later nailed to the cross...
