Killing Jesus: A History

other victim, his hands are manacled to the metal ring atop the scourging post, rendering him unable to move. Two legionaries stand behind him, one on either side. Each grasps a wooden-handled flagrum , from which extend three leather tendrils. Each thong is roughly three feet long. Today, rather than bits of metal or sheep bone, the executioners have affixed to the tips small lead weights known as plumbatae . The choice is strategic. These dumbbell-shaped implements do not rip away flesh and muscle as quickly as the sharper scorpiones tips. It is not yet time for Jesus to die.
    A third legionary stands to one side. He holds an abacus so that he might keep track of the number of blows inflicted. The fourth member of the quaternio is the man responsible for tying and chaining Jesus to the scourging post. He now stands by to replace any member of the death squad who tires in his duties. Watching over all of them is the exactor mortis , the supervisor.
    Jesus feels the lash. There is no gap between the blows. The instant one executioner pulls back his whip, the other unfurls his lash across Jesus’s back. Even when the tendrils of leather and lead get tangled, the soldiers don’t stop. The most lashes a man can receive under the laws of Moses are “forty minus one,” but the Romans don’t always trifle with Jewish legalities. Pilate has told these men to lash Jesus, and now they do so until the Nazarene is physically broken but not yet dead.
    That is the order: scourge the Nazarene, but under no circumstances is he to be killed.
    After the whipping, Jesus is unchained and helped to his feet. He has cried out in pain during his scourging, but he has not vomited or had a seizure, as many do. Still, he is losing a lot of blood, due to his severely lacerated back. The lash marks extend down to the back of his calves. And in addition to the dehydration that has plagued him all night, Jesus is in the early stages of shock.
    The Roman death squad has clearly done its job. Striking at the Nazarene with surgical precision, they have beaten him almost to death. Pilate has made it clear that this will be the extent of their duties today. Yet they stand by for more, just in case.
    Jesus’s hands are still tied in front of him. He is slowly led back to the prison, where the Roman soldiers have their own brand of fun with this unique prisoner. Jesus does nothing as they drape that filthy purple cloak over his naked body, knowing it will soon stick to his wounds. The soldiers then make a faux scepter from a reed and thrust it into Jesus’s hands, again mocking his claim of being king. Rather than take pity on a man who has just endured a scourging, the soldiers spit on the Nazarene.
    If the soldiers stopped there, it would be a moment of low comedy by a group of barbaric men. But these brutes now turn their mockery into sadism. Up to this point it can be argued that they are merely soldiers, doing the job they were trained to do. Certainly, the Nazi death squads of World War II, who will pattern much of their behavior after the cold, heartless actions of the Roman quaternio , used that defense. The actions of Julius Caesar and so many other Roman warriors clearly show that unthinkably harsh punishment was a standard way to deal with enemies of Rome. There was even a certain pathological creativity to their methods.
    But now the soldiers guarding Jesus up the ante. This is not a single death squad but an entire company of Pilate’s handpicked legionaries. In an atrocious display, they begin to cut a tall white shrub. Rhamnus nabeca features rigid elliptical leaves and small green flowers, but its most dominant characteristic is the inch-long curving thorns that sprout closely together. The soldiers are more than willing to endure the prick of these sharp spikes as they weave several branches together to form a crown. When they are done, this wreath makes a perfect complement to the reed and the purple cloak. All hail the king!
    Jesus is too weak to protest when the crown of thorns is fitted onto his head, and the spikes pressed hard into his skin. They brush up against the many nerves surrounding the skull almost immediately and then crash into bone. Blood pours down his face. Jesus stands humiliated in the small prison as soldiers dance around him—some punching him, others spitting, and still others getting down on both knees to praise their “king.” Piling on, the soldiers rip the reed from Jesus’s hand and strike him