Tricia
Governor
Maybe not, but there are plenty of indications - from Ovid to Augustine - that audiences watching spectacles of cruelty and death in the arena were.
I don't see why a Roman (m or f) who watched an attractive criminal being nailed and hauled up, or simply paused to watch one already hanging, shouldn't have been similarly excited.
I agree. To this day, I always love looking at crucifixions in art, pictures, as many of us do. To see an attractive criminal stretched out, naked on display would have excited a few in the crowd.