Crucifixion was a method of execution developed by the Romans. Thousands of people were crucified under the reign of the Roman Government until Constantine abolished it when he came into power. Therefore it was no uncommon thing for Jesus to be killed in this manner.
Usually crucifixion had to be order by a Roman Official with high enough ranking to administer this kind of punishment. In the case of Jesus, it was a combination of the Roman Procurator Pontius Pilate and the decision of the Jewish people under the rousing of the High Priest. In ancient Roman times, the High Priest (The highest ranking religious leader) could bring up criminal charges against someone who was committing blasphemy (disrespect to God) which could be punishable by death. It sounds strange that a religious leader had that much power, but they took matters of faith and religion very serious in those days, thus they had power. Because the religious leaders of that time knew that Jesus was telling people He was God and did not believe him, they urged Pontius Pilate that Jesus be hung on a cross to die. Much discussion went back and forth among the people whether Jesus was guilty of a crime punishable by death but rather than having a riot break out Pilate granted their request.
They would usually strip naked the person being crucified to be publicly humiliated. Also, in Jesus' case He was spit upon, laughed at, and slapped around. Because Jesus willing let this happen to him and did not fight back, He got treated like an animal. The Roman Soldiers wanted him to slip up, just talk back for a second, or renounce his claim that He was God, but Jesus kept silent. It was as if He was supposed to die or something..
After they beat up on Jesus they would tie his hands to a post where he would be whipped into a bloody pulp. The Roman Soldiers would use something called a "cat of nine tails." Basically it was a leather whip with 9 strands that sometimes had bone and glass tied into it for more penetration. When a person would get whipped, the bone and glass would stick into your skin until they ripped it out leaving your flesh to tear off the body. They did this many many times, even so much that the Bible says Jesus was barely recognized as a man.
After they had beat him, the Roman Soldiers put a twisted crown of thorns on his head just to mock him and also placed a robe over his bloodied body. After the blood would start coagulating with the cloth robe, they ripped it off, exposing his wounds while it bled profusely.
Now Jesus would have to carry his own cross just like everyone being crucified did. Imagine being almost beaten to death and then having to carry a 200-300 pound cross to the place where they were going to nail you to it. Jesus was so weak at this point that someone had to help him take it to the crucifixion site. The Bible says Simon of Cyrene, a bystander, was assigned to help carry the cross of Jesus.
When Jesus finally reached the place He was told to go to, while onlookers stared and mocked him, his hands and feet were nailed to the cross with 8 inch spikes. Crucifixion victims would hang on the cross, bloodied and naked, until they bled to death or suffocated from asphyxiation.
If that wasn't enough, just to make sure you were dead, they would sometimes thrust a spear into your heart just to make sure you did not survive. Roman Soldiers were responsible to make sure every person being crucified died or else they would be killed themselves for their failure to complete the execution. Not hard to insure though as you can tell. Most victims died within 24-48 hours. The Bible said Jesus died in about 9 hours...
The only question remains then.. Did Jesus actually rise from the dead? Is there any evidence for it or is it just a made up story for Christians to follow? I will answer this in the last part of "Is Jesus God?"
For the Biblical account of Jesus' crucifixion you can read (Matthew 26:57- 7:61, Mark 14:43-15:47, Luke 22:47-23:56, John 18:28-19:42)
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