Of course I agree with you, in ancient Rome there was the death penalty by flagellation, which must have been atrocious, and certainly only that involved the use of hooked whips in order to cause the maximum possible pain to the condemned person and practically flay him to whiplash. Often two torturers were used, so the lashes came from two different whips, on different points of the body. For the crucifixion the flagellation certainly had to be lighter (still causing wounds and lacerations but not as deep) because the aim was not death but only to cause an increase in the punishment. The real torture was being on the cross nailed to the wood, with your back, buttocks and legs whipped in contact with the wood, but the maximum suffering was caused by the crucifixion and not by the whippings. The whippings could not be too violent, otherwise the condemned would die too soon and this was inconceivable to the public: the crucifixion had to last many hours, if not days…