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Roman Resources
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Frank Petrexa
Tribune
It is a good thing Latin is a dead language--at least 31 years to go. From tne New York Times:
I'm happy to find this indispensible work of reference for Latin learners
is now available free online:
is now available free online:
Marcius
Tribune
Bordes S, Jenkins S, McBain L, Hanna A, Loukas M, Tubbs RS. The clinical anatomy of crucifixion. Clin Anat. 2020 Jan;33(1):12-21. doi: 10.1002/ca.23386.
Crucifixion was a widely used form of execution for capital crimes in antiquity. Civilizations and empires perfected the technique, leading to centuries of discussions, controversies, and questions, many of which concerned the death of Jesus Christ. To this day, much remains to be discovered in both religious and scientific realms. However, the aim of this study is to discuss such facts as are known from the medical perspectives of clinical anatomists. Nails/spikes were driven through the hands/wrists and feet of five adult cadavers, and the cadavers were then dissected to observe the anatomical structures that had been injured or placed at risk for injury. While many historical and archeological facts remain to be discovered, we hope that this cadaveric study will enhance our modern understanding of ancient practices from a medical and anatomical perspective.
Crucifixion was a widely used form of execution for capital crimes in antiquity. Civilizations and empires perfected the technique, leading to centuries of discussions, controversies, and questions, many of which concerned the death of Jesus Christ. To this day, much remains to be discovered in both religious and scientific realms. However, the aim of this study is to discuss such facts as are known from the medical perspectives of clinical anatomists. Nails/spikes were driven through the hands/wrists and feet of five adult cadavers, and the cadavers were then dissected to observe the anatomical structures that had been injured or placed at risk for injury. While many historical and archeological facts remain to be discovered, we hope that this cadaveric study will enhance our modern understanding of ancient practices from a medical and anatomical perspective.
Marcius
Tribune
With the Veil Removed: Women's Public Nudity in the Early Roman Empire [PDF]
Molly Pasco-Pranger. Classical Antiquity, Vol. 38 No. 2, October 2019; (pp. 217-249).
An interesting, if laced with rather heavy doses of cultural-studies-speak, treatment of the subject.
On a quick skim, it looks a very interesting article, with some insightful readings of Ovid, Catullus etc.
(though I wonder how typical their - especially Ovid's - insights into the complexities of human sexual feelings
really were, even of their own, very high-status, class) Compared to quite a lot of academic writing
in the humanities that comes my way, it's quite readable, at least the 'cultural studies' jargon
is kept under control and not simply paraded as a symbol of cleverness.
Marcius
Tribune
Speaking of Ovid -- he must've had some insights into the crux thing, having supervised executions and prisons while serving as triumvir capitalis. Pity putting them on paper wasn't a done thing in Augustan Rome!
Marcius
Tribune
Du châtiment dans la cité. Supplices corporels et peine de mort dans le monde antique. Table ronde de Rome (9-11 novembre 1982).
Proceedings of the 1982 colloquium on corporal punishment, mutilations and executions in ancient times, organized by the French School in Rome; most contributions are in French, naturally.
Proceedings of the 1982 colloquium on corporal punishment, mutilations and executions in ancient times, organized by the French School in Rome; most contributions are in French, naturally.
and some are in Italian - collectively, a very comprehensive, almost encyclopaedic,
set of scholarly investigations into the range of very painful punishments,
especially executions, and the kinds of crimes that earned them,
from early Rome (and a prelimary look at Greek city-states)
through to the Byzantine Empire. One that caught my attention
includes a discussion of the shift in the 4th century from 'crux' to 'furca' ('fork'),
it seems uncertain whether this was more or less the same thing -
being nailed up on a large wooden fork wouldn't be much different from on a cross!
RedOrc
Magistrate
This is a very interesting (and not too technical) study of the anatomy of crucifixion. I recommend it to writers and artists who want to get their crucifixions accurate.
mp5stab
Hair and Nails
I’m just going to block quote that CX PDF with a few small modifications. That’s why we have an answer to the inevitable noob question of “how does crucifixion kill?”
Respiratory and cardiovascular failure were two of the most likely causes of death in crucified women. The first proposed cause of death, now widely accepted as the main cause, was asphyxiation (LeBec, 1925; Davis, 1965; Maslen and Mitchell, 2006). Over time, breathing required increased effort as muscles became exhausted. The resting position of the woman’s body was such that the arms were outstretched, the knees bent, and the breasts sagged forward. Collectively, these aspects placed the entire weight on her wrists. The tension applied to the pectoral muscles pulled the chest wall and the breasts upward and outward, which decreased the work of inspiration and drastically increased the work of expiration (Furlong, 1952; Eduard et al., 2017).
As vital capacity and expiratory reserve volumes decreased, the woman would have developed functional respiratory acidosis. In order to exhale sufficiently, she would have needed to straighten her knees, flex her elbows, adduct the shoulders, and push her tortured body upward on the nail-impaled upper limbs (Lumpkin, 1978). Over the course of hours to days, large-scale organ failure would have set in, muscles would have weakened, and lactic acid would have accumulated, expediting systemic decompensation (Retief and Cilliers, 2003). The crucified woman would ultimately have been unable to lift her body enough to breathe sufficiently, leading to death by asphyxiation.
Experiments conducted by Mödder (1948), in which healthy medical students were hung by the wrists, revealed signs of decompensation within 12 min as the blood pressure halved, tidal volume decreased by 70%, and pulse pressure doubled. Breathing at this stage, with arms fully extended, was purely diaphrag- matic. When the subjects were allowed to use their legs to lift the torso against gravity, the cardiovascular symptoms improved until the muscles fatigued and the vicious cycle continued.
Some sources mention death due to extraneous fac- tors such as hypovolemia, cardiac arrest, and cardiac tamponade (Retief and Cilliers, 2003; Bergeron, 2012). Extreme dehydration leads to depletion of intracellular and extracellular volume, which decreases cardiac out- put and leads to hypovolemic shock and subsequent organ failure (Gordon and Shapiro, 1975). The same occurs in the event of exsanguination due to major vascular injury or bone fracture. In order to expedite death, executioners could use a hammer to fracture the tibia and fibula, resulting in death due to internal bleeding and hastened respiratory depression (Barbet, 1953; Eduard et al., 2017). Haas (1970) claimed to have found evidence of tibial fracture in the crucified remains found in Israel; however, those findings were deemed inconclusive by Zias and Sekeles (1985).
Cardiac arrest can present with exaggerated vaso- vagal reflexes due to excruciating pain or pleural disruption from a fractured rib (Retief and Cilliers, 2003). Cardiac tamponade, in which serous fluid accumulates within the pericardial sac, is possible following blunt trauma to the chest, which could have been caused by the abovementioned precrucifixion rituals (Retief and Cilliers, 2003). Finally, it is noted that guards would occasionally set a smoldering fire at the base of the woman’s cross to expedite death by suffocation (Schulte, 1983; Edwards et al., 1986).
Respiratory and cardiovascular failure were two of the most likely causes of death in crucified women. The first proposed cause of death, now widely accepted as the main cause, was asphyxiation (LeBec, 1925; Davis, 1965; Maslen and Mitchell, 2006). Over time, breathing required increased effort as muscles became exhausted. The resting position of the woman’s body was such that the arms were outstretched, the knees bent, and the breasts sagged forward. Collectively, these aspects placed the entire weight on her wrists. The tension applied to the pectoral muscles pulled the chest wall and the breasts upward and outward, which decreased the work of inspiration and drastically increased the work of expiration (Furlong, 1952; Eduard et al., 2017).
As vital capacity and expiratory reserve volumes decreased, the woman would have developed functional respiratory acidosis. In order to exhale sufficiently, she would have needed to straighten her knees, flex her elbows, adduct the shoulders, and push her tortured body upward on the nail-impaled upper limbs (Lumpkin, 1978). Over the course of hours to days, large-scale organ failure would have set in, muscles would have weakened, and lactic acid would have accumulated, expediting systemic decompensation (Retief and Cilliers, 2003). The crucified woman would ultimately have been unable to lift her body enough to breathe sufficiently, leading to death by asphyxiation.
Experiments conducted by Mödder (1948), in which healthy medical students were hung by the wrists, revealed signs of decompensation within 12 min as the blood pressure halved, tidal volume decreased by 70%, and pulse pressure doubled. Breathing at this stage, with arms fully extended, was purely diaphrag- matic. When the subjects were allowed to use their legs to lift the torso against gravity, the cardiovascular symptoms improved until the muscles fatigued and the vicious cycle continued.
Some sources mention death due to extraneous fac- tors such as hypovolemia, cardiac arrest, and cardiac tamponade (Retief and Cilliers, 2003; Bergeron, 2012). Extreme dehydration leads to depletion of intracellular and extracellular volume, which decreases cardiac out- put and leads to hypovolemic shock and subsequent organ failure (Gordon and Shapiro, 1975). The same occurs in the event of exsanguination due to major vascular injury or bone fracture. In order to expedite death, executioners could use a hammer to fracture the tibia and fibula, resulting in death due to internal bleeding and hastened respiratory depression (Barbet, 1953; Eduard et al., 2017). Haas (1970) claimed to have found evidence of tibial fracture in the crucified remains found in Israel; however, those findings were deemed inconclusive by Zias and Sekeles (1985).
Cardiac arrest can present with exaggerated vaso- vagal reflexes due to excruciating pain or pleural disruption from a fractured rib (Retief and Cilliers, 2003). Cardiac tamponade, in which serous fluid accumulates within the pericardial sac, is possible following blunt trauma to the chest, which could have been caused by the abovementioned precrucifixion rituals (Retief and Cilliers, 2003). Finally, it is noted that guards would occasionally set a smoldering fire at the base of the woman’s cross to expedite death by suffocation (Schulte, 1983; Edwards et al., 1986).
Frank Petrexa
Tribune
Then there's infection. Some bacteria can multiply very rapidly. These studies are interesting, but in the end they sound inconclusive to me because there are probably a lot of problems and just one can't be pinpointed. How does cancer kill? It depends.
I have read something (not by a medical researcher) that "used with judicious skill by an experienced torturer" crucifixion could be dragged out for days.
jacksjg89
PROCRASTINATOR
Tough question that maybe some of you guys could help with. Obviously, there were a lot of Barbarian tribes during the Roman republic, and they did not do a lot of writing, but does anyone know how the Celts or Gauls named their offspring? In Roman it’s given name and Clan name, but did all the Barbarians only go by one name?
No it was usually two, like 'hey, fucker'!
jacksjg89
PROCRASTINATOR
So they do have a clan name, after the values important to them.
Marcius
Tribune
'A daughter of B' or 'C wife of D' would be OK, I suppose.
By the late Republic the Romans had their tria nomina system (which was by no means universal, e.g. Mark Antony was just Marcus Antonius), and any barbarian granted Roman citizenship was supposed to add the praenomen and nomen of his benefactor to his single name.
Yes, the best evidence for formal, 'full', names in the Celtic languages is from monumental inscriptions,
where 'P son of Q' (maqi > Brythonic map, Goidelic maq), etc. is usual.
But in the early literary texts, once it's established who a character is son/ daughter/ spouse etc. of,
they're always referred to by just a single name. Sometimes nicknames,
honorative or pejorative, were used instead of the given name.
It's a bit late at night for me to search for examples,
but this is the standard database for Roman-British personal names:
where 'P son of Q' (maqi > Brythonic map, Goidelic maq), etc. is usual.
But in the early literary texts, once it's established who a character is son/ daughter/ spouse etc. of,
they're always referred to by just a single name. Sometimes nicknames,
honorative or pejorative, were used instead of the given name.
It's a bit late at night for me to search for examples,
but this is the standard database for Roman-British personal names:
Eva Inanna
Governor
The Forum has become a veritable academic House of High Learning, an Universitates Voluntas Doloris... 
jacksjg89
PROCRASTINATOR
Thanks for the help! And thanks for the resource Eul!