Impalements in Antiquity (4D)

WARNING!: This post may be upsetting to some.

Part 14D of the series: "The Romans NEVER CRUCIFIED the Way We Think They Did!" (Cont'd)

Previous in this series:

Part 14C Impalements in Antiquity (4C).
Part 14B Impalements in Antiquity (4B).
Part 14A Impalements in Antiquity (4A).
Part 13B Impalements in Antiquity (3B).
Part 13A Impalements in Antiquity (3A).
Part 12 Impalements in Antiquity (2).
Part 11 Impalements in Antiquity (1).
Part 10 Humiliations.
Part 9 Utility Poles and Masts.
Part 8 Crown of Thorns.
Part 7 Crucifixion and Priapus.
Part 6 From Wax Image to Exposed Body.
Part 5 The First Crucifix.
Part 4 The Tropaeum and the Furca.
Part 3 Crux - Modern English Use and Ancient Quotidian Meanings.
Part 2 Crux.
Part 1.

Previous Series - Crucifixion – The Bodily Support:

Part 4 Physics of Crucifixion.
Part 3 Manuscript Evidence.
Part 2 Archaeological Evidence. UPDATED
Part 1.


Part 14D - Impalements in Antiquity (4D) - Media and Persia.

A. Recap.

In Part 14A I discussed the inscriptions on the Behistun inscription and concluded that when the writings mentioned an impalement, the actual verbiage meant "I raised [so-and-so] up on the wood". Some scholars interpreted that as crucified, in the limited modern sense, others interpreted that as impale, in the cruel and unusual sense that Vlad Tepes is infamous for. When we checked the ancient Greek and Roman writers Herodotus (484 - 425 BCE), Thucydides (460 - 395 BCE) and Plutarch (40 - 120 CE), we find that they are basically in agreement that the Medes and the Persians impaled people, either simply and directly, or by lifting someone up on a beam and parking them on the top point of the pale, or probably both. Now we will confirm whether this is true or not by tracking extant sources on the execution of Polycrates of Samos and see if they mention crucifixion, or impalement. So without further ado, let us examine the case of Polycrates.

B. Greek and Roman Writers.


B.5. Polycrates of Samos.


B.5.1. Herodotus. (484 - 425 BCE)

Our first source, which we already quoted in Part 14B, Herodotus describes the manner of Polycrates' Death. My conclusion was, he perished while he was being impaled upon the ground, and after that he was lifted up with the pale inside him, and the pale planted in the ground.

3. Having killed him in some way not fit to be told, Oroetes then crucified [impaled] him; as for those who had accompanied him, let the Samians go, telling them to thank them that they were free, those who were not Samians, or were servants of Polycrates' followers he kept for slaves. 4. And Polycrates hanging in the air fulfilled his daughter's vision in every detail, for he was washed by Zeus when it rained, and he was anointed by Helios as he exuded sweat from his body.

Herodotus Histories 3,125,3-4, A.D. Godley, tr.[1]

Now I have already told you that the LSJ and Middle Liddell lexica tells us that in the Classic Greek that the Greek ἀνασταυρόω and ἀνασκολοπίζω were identical in meaning: "fix on a pole, impale". [2]

Now let's look at how other Greek and Roman writers viewed it.

B.5.2. Cicero. (106 - 43 BCE)

The second one we shall look at is Cicero, since he is the next one to write about Polycrates' fate. Cicero's passage is a bit longwinded, so I'll boldface the pertinent subpassage. Here we go:

O Earth, believe me, the scale will weigh down the land and the seas. It is a universal rule that any whole takes its name from its most prominent and preponderant part. We say that a man is a cheerful fellow; but if he is once in rather low spirits, has he therefore lost his title to cheerfulness forever? Well the rule was not applied to Marcus Crassius, who according to Lucullus laughed but but once in his life; that one exception did not prevent his being called agelastos, as Lucullus has it. Polycrates of Samos was called 'the fortunate'. Not a single untoward circumstance had befallen him, except that he had overthrown his favourite ring at sea. Did that single annoyance make him unfortunate?. and did he become fortunate again when the very same ring was found in a fish's belly? But Polycrates, if he was foolish, (which he certainly was, since he was a tyrant) was never happy; if wise, he was not miserable even when he was crucified (in crucem actus est) by Oretes, the satrap of Darius. 'But,' you say, 'many evils befell him! Who denies it? but those evils were eclipsed by the magnitude of his virtue.

Cicero, de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum 5.92 (a.k.a. 5.30.92), H. Rackham, tr. [3]

Now the phrase translated by H. Rackham as crucified is in crucem actus est. It does not necessarily mean strictly crucified! The Latin trasliterates as "he was driven to / onto a cross / stake". [4] Since we have already seen that in the Classic Greek ἀνασταυρόω meant "impale", Cicero, more than likely in my opinion, is stating here that Polycretes was "driven onto a stake", i.e., impaled.

B.5.3. Valerius Maximus. (fl. 14 - 37 CE)

Next is Velerius Maximus, who wrote in the early to mid of the First Century CE. Here is what he has to say:. (Bear with me, this is my translation, I couldn't find an English translation online. Again, it is long.)

The conspicuous good fortune with the highest abundance of good things constantly inspired envy of the king of Samos, Polycrates, and not without cause: namely all his struggles were relieved by a peaceful journey, his hopes attained to a certain reward for a much longed-for circumstance in life, his vows were publicly proclaimed and likewise fulfilled, and it was ordained that to wish and to be able [were] on an equal footing. While others were assessing his expression one time, he changes it, from the roughness of shaking speech to extremely brief sadness, then while seeing that excessively pleasing (to him) ring of industry, not all men would disagree without knowing, he cast into the depths of the sea. Yet which he recovered forthwith from a catched fish, who had swallowed it. But that, of which Providence always satisfied with prosperity held a curse. Orontes [sic] the prefect of Darius the king fixed him on a cross / impaled him on a stake (cruci adfixit) on the highest of the Mycalenian range, from which his rotting arms and legs wet with the wasting away of his blood and that on his left side, to which Neptune had restored the ring from the hand of the fisherman, with the better situation [of] slavery he had oppressed exhausted Samos for some time, freed and with glad eyes they beheld the sight.

Valerius Maximus, Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilium 6,9, ext. 5 [5][6]

Now in Vaerius Maximus the type of tortuous execution is not as clear. The Latin phrase, cruci adfixit, "affixed to a cross or a stake" [7] is just as clear as mud. Now the Latin for "his rotting arms and legs wet with the wasting away of his blood" reads: e qua putres eius artus et tabido cruore manantia membra, which transliterates as: "out of - which - rotting - of him - arms - and - with wasting away - with blood - being wet lower limbs". Based on the structure of Latin, the conjunction et appears to separate two separate phrases so that it could translate as, instead: "from which his rotting arms and [his] legs being wet with the wasting away with blood". Which connotes an impalement here. But if not an impalement, Vaerius Maximum would then be projecting the full-blown Roman crucifixion, the cornu included, which sometimes transpierced the abdominal wall (Lucan, Pharsalia 6.543-553, Latin text). Otherwise, how would the blood get all over his legs?

B.5.4. Philo. (20-50 CE)

The next writer we have is Philo and he wrote of how the soul of Polycrates was impaled before his body was.

'For in the case of Polycrates, when for his dreadful deeds of injustice and impiety he met with a requital in the worse misery of his subsequent life----to which you must add how he was punished by the great king, and was impaled, in fulfilment of an oracle,----"I know," said he, "that not long ago I seemed to see myself being anointed by the sun and washed by Zeus."20 For these enigmatical utterances expressed in figurative language, though originally obscure, received the most manifest confirmation through the facts which followed.

'And not only at the end, but throughout his whole life from the beginning, he had been unconscious that his soul was impaled before his body was: for he was worried by perpetual fear and trembling at the multitude of those who were plotting against him, and well knew that he had not one friend, but only enemies implacable because of their misery.

20 Herodotus, Histories, 3,125,3-4

Philo, De Providentia, frg. 2.24f, E.H. Gifford, tr. [8]

Now here Philo uses an unusual verb for the first instance of "was impaled" in line 24: προσηλοῦτο, possibly a conjugate of both προσελαύνω "drive" and προσηλόω "nail, fix, rivet" with the latter much more likely. [9] The second instance of "was impaled" he uses, κρεμάμενος, derived from κρεμάννυμι and κρεμάω, "hang (by any means)". [10] So Philo depicts Polycrates as nailed and hanging. Now Philo has used the verb ἀνασκολοπίζω "impale, thorn up" elsewhere, as I have shown before here. In that Part 13A I have noted that Philo was projecting Roman crucifixion onto the impalements by the Egyptians. Now if he was projecting back to the very ancient Egypt of the Pharoahs, he's probably projecting the same kind of crucifixion back to Polycrates' death as well.

Can we actually know if Philo understands Roman crucifixion as a form of impalement, or "up-thorning"? Indeed we can! Here is what he has to say about the type of torture device the cross (crux, not tropaeum) was like back in his day:

After they were scourged, and tortured, and after every outrage they in their bodies could possibly endure, where the crux was their final and reserved / seated punishment.

Philo, Flaccus 72 [11]

Now the last phrase, "where the crux is their final and reserved / seated punishment", ή τελευταία καί έφεδρος τιμωρία σταυρός ην, uses for the adjective "reserved / seated", έφεδρος. [12] In the Modern Greek, it is a noun and means "reserve". But note that the word έφεδρος was used in the Koine Greek not just as an adjective but also as a noun and meant not just as "reserved" in the sense of an athlete sitting by to await his turn, but also as in sitting or seated upon, as a seat or a bench, and as the horse-tail plant. Now the horse-tail plant was called έφεδρον (accusative) "one being seated" in Pliny's Natural History. Therefore a crucified person could be an 'έφεδρον' also. And since that is the case shown in pictorial epigraphy, the cross would be equipped with its acuta crux, essentially a σκολοψ "thorn", for a seating device, so in essence the Greek phrase έφεδρος τιμωρία has a double meaning here: reserved penalty or seated penalty (i.e., equipped with a "seat").

And so we have evidence here that Philo understood Roman style crucifixion as with a cornu, where one was suspended, nailed, and "seated", that is, mini-impaled, and projected it back onto Polycrates' impalement. Yet the translator of the text into English, E.H. Gifford, was, I believe, quite right in translating the verbs Philo used as "was impaled".[9][10]

B.5.5. Dio Chrystostom. (40 - 120 CE)

This writer also has written about Polycrates and his death:

As a further illustration take Polycrates: They say that so long as he was ruler of Samos alone he enjoyed the greatest felicity of any man in the whole world; but that when he wished to meddle somewhat in the affairs of the people of the opposite mainland and sailed across for the purpose of getting money from Orestes, he met with no easy death, but was impaled by that barbarian prince and thus perished.

These instances, in order that they be warning examples to you, I have taken not only from exceedingly ancient, but also from subsequent times, and as related both in poetry and in narrative prose.

Dio Chrystostom, Discourses 17,15, Loeb Classical Library [13]

Now here the verb for "was impaled" is ἀνασκολοπισθέντα, recognizably a conjugate of ἀνασκολοπίζω, "fix on a pole, impale." [2] So here we see that dio Chrystostom likely saw Polycrates' death as a simple direct impalement.

B.5.6. Fronto. (100-170 CE)

The next writer we have is Fronto, who lived 100-170 CE. He uses recognisably crucifixion verbiage for what Oroetes did to Polycrates. Unfortunately, his anecdote is now fragmentary. But scholars were able to rebuild the English translation:

But the daughter of Polycrates had previously had a remarkable dream. She had seemed to see her father, raised aloft in an open and conspicuous place, being washed and annointed by the hands of Jupiter and the Sun. The diviners read the dream as fortelling a rich and happy future. But it turned out entirely otherwise. For Polycrates, beguiled by Oroetes the persian, was captured and crucified [or impaled]. And so his dream was fulfilled in his torture. For he was laved by Jove's hands when it rained, and anointed by the hands of the Sun, where the dew of agony came out upon his skin. Such prosperous beginnings as his have not seldom a disasterous ending. There should be no exultation over excessive and prolonged prosperity, no fainting away when a reverse has been sustained. You may soon hope for a victory, for Rome in her history experienced reversals of fortune.

M. Cornelius Fronto, "Epistulae de bello Parthico" 6 [14]

The Latin for "was crucified [or impaled]" is in crucem sublatus est, "was lifted up onto the crux", crux meaning a cross (a male one, of course) or stake. [15] Here Fronto could be projecting the Roman method back onto the Persian practice, but then again, like the other Greek and Latin writers, he probably was not unfamiliar with Barbarian practices, which both the Greeks and the Romans tended to play up whilst downplaying their own obscene and atrocious death penalty. [16]

And of course, as I have told you all before, there is a magical amulet that portrays Jesus Christ either crucified on a T-cross equipped with a cornu, or suspended by a horizontal beam and impaled on a stake.

This one.

Source: British Museum.

B.5.7. Lucian of Samosata. (120-180 CE)

Okay, this will be the last one. After Lucian, there are no more ancient historical writers that I know of who take up the history of Polycrates' sudden and most unfortunate death. Here is what Lucian has to say:

13fin Charon. What fun! Why, at this moment no one would presume to meet their eyes; from such a height do they look down on the rest of mankind. Who would believe that before long one of them will be a captive, and the other have his head in a bottle of blood?-- 14 But who is that in the purple robe, Hermes?--the one with the diadem? His cook has just been cleaning a fish, and is now handing him a ring,--'in yonder sea-girt isle'; '’tis, sure, some king.'

Hermes. Ha, ha! A parody, this time.-- That is Polycrates, tyrant of Samos. He is extremely well pleased with his lot: yet that slave who now stands at his side will betray him to the satrap Oroetes, and he will be crucified [impaled]. It will not take long to overturn his prosperity, poor man! This, too, I had from Clotho.

Lucian of Samosata, Charon 13fin, 14 [17]

Now what Lucian uses here for "he will be crucified" (and I added "impaled" in brackets) is the word ἀνασκολοπισθήσεται "he will be impaled", a conugate of ἀνασκολοπίζω, "impale". [2][18] Yet Lucian is perfectly familiar with the Roman method of crucifixion as demonstrated in In the Court of the Vowels (where he indicates tyrants built T-shaped contraptions called σταυροί - pl. of σταυρός - and impaled men upon them) and Prometheus on Caucasus (in the latter he uses an immense variety of verbs) and elsewhere. Even in The Death of Peregrine, in both passages where he mentions the crucifixion of the founder of the Christian cult (Jesus Christ, whose name Lucian did not know otherwise he would have mentioned it). [19][20] In those places, when he employs the verb ἀνασκολοπίζω, the translators translated it as "crucified" despite the fact that in the Classic and early Koine Greek and the Modern, and probably also the Byzantine, the verb means "impale." So what was going on in the mid and late Koine Greek era until Constantine abolished the practice? Obviously, the Romans developed their standard, or typical, crucifixion method so it included all the elements that the Greeks described with their various verbs that originally described different penal suspensions, including impalement or mini-impalement on something pointed and vertical. Yet the image of the magical amulet above indicates that Lucian may not have known whether the same founder was actually crucified or differently impaled while suspended from an overhead beam.

So it is entirely possible that Lucian knew that Polycrates was not crucified by the Persian Oroetes, but rather, impaled.

B.6. Conclusion.

After looking at the nine known Greek and Roman authors, an apparent divergence appears: the earlier the earlier authors, Herodotus, Thucydides, Cicero, probably Valerius Maximus, and Dio Chrystostom, use language that strongly indicates that the Persians suspended and executed Polycrates by impalement. Philo, Fronto and Lucian may have known that the Persians impaled Polycrates, but they use terminology that indicates that they were familiar with the typical Roman method of execution by crucifixion. Yet, one has to remember that the Romans themselves sometimes impaled people on simple pointed states, too, especially if they were rushed for time (Seneca, De Consolatione 20,3; De Ira 1,2,2; and Epistles 14,5) So we can conclude that the earlier authors were familiar, or retained in their memory, knowledge that the persions suspended by impalement. The later ones, particularly in the Common Era, we are not sure if they still had the knowledge, or if they were projecting the typical Roman crucifixion back to an earlier time. Even so, one author, Plutarch, was certainly knowledgeable about the penal bodily suspension of one Massabates.

Next will be the Jewish sources.

Footnotes.

[1] Perseus Digital Library,Herodotus Histories 3,125. The Greek text of lines 3 and 4 reads as follows:

3. ἀποκτείνας δέ μιν οὐκ ἀξίως ἀπηγήσιος Ὀροίτης ἀνεσταύρωσε: τῶν δέ οἱ ἑπομένων ὅσοι μὲν ἦσαν Σάμιοι, ἀπῆκε, κελεύων σφέας ἑωυτῷ χάριν εἰδέναι ἐόντας ἐλευθέρους, ὅσοι δὲ ἦσαν ξεῖνοί τε καὶ δοῦλοι τῶν ἑπομένων, ἐν ἀνδραπόδων λόγῳ ποιεύμενος εἶχε. 4. Πολυκράτης δὲ ἀνακρεμάμενος ἐπετέλεε πᾶσαν τὴν ὄψιν τῆς θυγατρός: ἐλοῦτο μὲν γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ Διὸς ὅκως ὕοι, ἐχρίετο δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου, ἀνιεὶς αὐτὸς ἐκ τοῦ σώματος ἰκμάδα. ’

[2] Perseus Word Study Tool, ἀνασταυρόω "affix to a cross, crucify," and ἀνασκολοπίζω "fix on a pole," according to the Perseus quick definition. But looking into the LSJ (Liddell, Scott and Jones) and Middle Liddell lexica (accessible via the menu tags) shows that in the Classical Greek ἀνασταυρόω was identical with ἀνασκολοπίζω, which is more completely defined as "fix on a pole or stake, impale". Indeed, ἀνασκολοπίζω still means "impale" in the modern Greek.

[3] Perseus Digital Library Cicero, de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum 5.92. H. Rackham's translation at this Google Books Preview, p. 497. The Latin reads as follows:

terram, mihi crede, ea lanx et maria deprimet. semper enim ex eo, quod maximas partes continet latissimeque funditur, tota res appellatur. dicimus aliquem hilare vivere; ergo, si semel tristior effectus est, hilara vita amissa est? at1 hoc in eo M. Crasso, quem semel ait in vita  risisse  Lucilius, non contigit, ut ea re minus ἀγέλαστος, ut ait idem, vocaretur. Polycratem Samium felicem appellabant. nihil acciderat ei, quod nollet, nisi quod anulum, quo delectabatur, in mari abiecerat. ergo infelix una molestia, felix rursus, cum is ipse anulus in praecordiis piscis inventus est? ille vero, si insipiens—quod certe, quoniam tyrannus—, numquam beatus; si sapiens, ne tum quidem miser, cum ab Oroete, praetore Darei, in crucem actus est. At multis malis affectus. Quis negat? sed ea mala virtutis magnitudine obruebantur.

[4] Whittaker's Words, in crucem actus est. Also Perseus Latin Word Study Tool, in "to, into", crucem "cross, stake", actus "driven", and est "is".

in - preposition, const. with the accusative, means: to, toward; into, onto, up to, down to, over to (with final entry or contact implied).

crucem - singular noun, accusative (direct object) case for crux, means: cross, stake. I have already shown in Part 3 that outside of execution devices, executions and torture, a literal crux was typically long and cylindrical, and that even Priapus' schlong was considered one which rude writers said impaled (buggered) common garden and farm-field thieves.

actus - verb-participle singular perfect passive masculine nominative of ago, means: drive, put in motion, lead, conduct, impel press onwards; move, impel, push forwards, advance, carry to/toward, drive.

est - verb 3rd person singular present indicative active, means "is". When constructed with the verb participle actus, the phrase actus est is a verb-phrase 3rd person singular perfect indicative passive meaning: was driven (etc).

[5] The Latin Library, Valerius Maximus, Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilium 6,9, ext. 5. The Latin text reads as follows:

6.9.ext.5 Ad inuidiam usque Polycratis Samiorum tyranni abundantissimis bonis conspicuus uitae fulgor excessit, nec sine causa: omnes enim conatus eius placido excipiebantur itinere, spes certum cupitae rei fructum adprehendebant, uota nuncupabantur simul et soluebantur, uelle ac posse in aequo positum erat. semel dumtaxat uultum mutauit, perquam breui tristitiae salebra succussum, tunc cum admodum gratum sibi anulum de industria in profundum, ne omnis incommodi expers esset, abiecit. quem tamen continuo recuperauit capto pisce, qui eum deuorauerat. sed hunc, cuius felicitas semper plenis uelis prosperum cursum tenuit, Orontes Darii regis praefectus in excelsissimo Mycalensis montis uertice cruci adfixit, e qua putres eius artus et tabido cruore manantia membra atque illam laeuam, cui Neptunus anulum piscatoris manu restituerat, situ marcidam Samos, amara seruitute aliquamdiu pressa, liberis ac laetis oculis aspexit.

[6] My translation can be compared with this one: Valerius Maximus, Memorable Deeds and Sayings, One Thousand Tales from Ancient Rome, John Henry Walker, tr. Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Co., Inc., (2004), 6.9.ext.5 (pp. 233-4)

Polycrates the tyrant of Samos was renowned for his excessive wealth and the brilliance of his lifestyle inspired envy but not without reason. Polycrates was able to achieve all his goals in an effortless manner.; if he hoped for something, he had exactly what his heart desired, as soon as he made a prayer for something, he had to thank the gods for fulfilling it. for Polycrates, wanting something and being able to get it were identical. His expression changed only once, when he was jolted by a small bump of sorrow. This when he deliberately threw hi favourite ring into the sea so that he wuold not be completely inexperienced in misfortune. But he goy it back at once because someone had caught a fish that had swallowed the ring. His happiness kept on its straight course of prosperity with all its sails spread out to the wind.

But Orontes, the governor of king Darius, crucified darius on the highest peak of Mt. Mycale, and there the people of Samos could see his rotting limbs, his body covered with festering blood, and his decaying left hand, which had worn the ring that Neptune sent back to him through the fisherman. The people of Samos had been oppressed by the tyranny of Polycrates for a long time and they gazed at the sight with free and happy eyes.

[7] Whittaker's Words, cruci adfixit. Also Perseus Latin Word Study Tool, cruci "on a cross or stake", adfixit "affix as a brand [or addition]"

cruci - noun singular dative (indirect object) case of crux, meaning "a cross or stake"

adfixit - verb 3rd person singular perfect indicative active of adfigo, meaning: (Lewis and Short) "fix or fasten to or upon, affix, annex, attach to, imprint or impress on, join to, situate close to (with ad or dative)"; (Whittaker's Words) fasten, fix, pin or attach to (with dative), annex, impress, pierce [on], chain [to], confine [in]"

[8] Philo, De Providentia, frg. 2.24f ; quoted in Eusebius, Praeparatio evangelica, VIII, 14, 386 – 399. (Christian Classics Ethereal Library) The Greek text (at Documenta Catholica Omnia) is as follows:

24. Ἐπεὶ Πολυκράτει γε, ἐφ’ οἷς δεινοῖς ἠδίκησε καὶ ἠσέβησε, χορηγὸς ἀπήντησε, χείρων μὲν ἡ τοῦ βίου βαρυδαιμονία· πρόσθες δ’ ὡς ὑπὸ μεγάλου βασιλέως ἐκολάζετο, καὶ προσηλοῦτο, χρησμὸν ἐκπιπλάς. Οἶδα, ἔφη, κἀμαυτὸν οὐ πρὸ πολλοῦ θεωρῆσαι δόξαντα ὑπὸ μὲν ἡλίου ἀλείφεσθαι, λούεσθαι δ’ ὑπὸ Διός. αἱ γὰρ διὰ συμβόλων αἰνιγματώδεις αὗται φάσεις, ἀδηλούμεναι τὸ πάλαι, τὴν διὰ τῶν ἔργων ἀριδηλοτάτην ἐλάμβανον πίστιν.

25. οὐκ ἐπὶ τελευτῇ δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ παρὰ πάντα τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς βίον, ἐλελήθει πρὸ τοῦ σώματος τὴν ψυχὴν κρεμάμενος. αἰεὶ γὰρ φοβούμενος καὶ τρέμων τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐπιτιθεμένων ἐπτόητο, σαφῶς ἐξεπιστάμενος ὅτι εὔνους μὲν ἦν οὐδείς, ἐχθροὶ δὲ πάντες δυσπραξίᾳ ἀμείλικτοι.

[9] Perseus Word Study Tool, προσηλόω. The word Philo uses, προσηλοῦτο, is the3rd person singular imperfect indicative middle-passive conjugate. Verb conjugations can be found at the Institute of Biblical Greek website, here.

The detailed LSJ and Middle Liddel listings for προσελαύνω "drive" indicates that the sort of driving meant is driving or chasing animals, driving a chariot, riding towards or up to somewhere, riding the cavalry, marching up, arriving.

The respective detailed listings for προσηλόω "nail, rivet, fix" is strongly dominated by various permutations of nailing: crucifying, fastening with nails, the metaphorical fixing of the soul, nailing up, boarding up. Although in the Latin, clavus "nail" could have been an euphemism for the phallus, such as clavus cupidinis "Cupid's rudder / nail, spike of love" (Plautus Asinaria 1,3,4; Sacred Texts Internet Archive, Alphabetical list of additional terms used by Latin Writers, Keith Preston, Studies in the Diction of the Sermo Amatorius in Roman Comedy, Menasha, Wisc., George Banta Publishing Company 1956, p.48).  For the Roman crux, the word clavus could have referred to the cornu of the structure as well as each of the metallic nails -- a kind of tree-nail, so to speak. After all, the Ethiopian Coptic Christians were found to have had a tradition of the five nails of the cross that are named with the words of the Sator Square (Duncan Fishwick, "An Early Christian Cryptogram?" CCHA, Report, 26 (1956), 29-41). Posted here, scroll about 1/6th of the way down). Ditto a kinsword to ἧλος, "a nail, wart, callus, stud", which would be the Greek κέντρον "any sharp point". It, of course, was another euphemism for the phallus.(Keith Preston, p. 47). It was also used in in a reference to criminals being crucified, where the end result of crucifixion was considered the fate of the impaled. (Pseudo-Manetho, Apotelesmatica 4,198, quoted in Martin Hengel, John Bowden, tr., Crucifixion, Philadelphia, Fortress press (1977), p.9) Doubtless, the word κέντρον (in plural dative case κέντροισι) referred to the cornu.

[10] Perseus Word Study Tool, κρεμάμενος, "hanging". This word is the verb-participle singular present middle-passive masculine nominative conjugate of both κρεμάννυμι and κρεμάω, both of which mean "hang". Any method of hanging is appropriate, including crucifixion and impalement (for which last we have at the very least Herodotus Histories 3,124-5 and 7,194,1-2; and Didorus Siculus Library of History, 16,35,6, cf. 16,61,2).

[11] Philo, In Flaccum 72. The Greek Text reads as follows:

έμαστιγουντο, έτροχίζοντο, καί μετά πάσας τάς αίκίας, όσας έδύνατο χωρησαι τά σώματα αύτοις, ή τελευταία καί έφεδρος τιμωρία σταυρός ην.

[12] Perseus Word Study Tool, έφεδρος "sitting". Adjective singular masculine nominative. The Middle Liddell has the following information:

I. sitting or seated upon, c. gen. έφεδρου, e.g. on horseback; II sitting by or at, 2 posted in support or reserve, 3 lying by or sitting by, 4 successor.

The Slater has this:

the third menber in a competition who waits to fight the winner among two others.

The LSJ has the same but in more detail:

A sitting or seated upon, c. gen.; 2 firm seat or bench, acc. έφεδρον; 3 horse-tail plant, acc. έφεδρον (Pliny Elder NH 26,83,133 says the equistaeum is called ίππουρις "horsetail", έφεδρον "one being seated" and άναβασις "mounting on horseback" by the Greeks ); II sitting at, by, near; 2 posted in support or reserve, 3 lying by and watching, waiting on, upon, or for, 4 who sits by to fight the conquerer [i.e., victor in a fight], μόνος ών έφεδρος, one being seated against two with no-one to take his place if beaten, 5 one who waits to take another's place, a successor.

[13] Lacus-Curtius, Dio Chrystostom, Discourses 17.15; Perseus Digital Library, Dio Chrystostom, Orationes, 67.15. The Greek text reads as follows:

καὶ μὴν Πολυκράτην φασίν, ἕως μὲν Σάμου μόνης ἦρχεν, εὐδαιμονέστατον ἁπάντων γενέσθαι: βουλόμενον δέ τι καὶ τῶν πέραν πολυπραγμονεῖν, διαπλεύσαντα πρὸς Ὀροίτην, ὡς χρήματα λάβοι, μηδὲ ῥᾳδίου γε θανάτου τυχεῖν, ἀλλὰ ἀνασκολοπισθέντα ὑπὸ τοῦ βαρβάρου διαφθαρῆναι. ταῦτα μέν, ἵν' ᾖ παραδείγματα ὑμῖν, ἔκ τε τῶν σφόδρα παλαιῶνκαὶ τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ τῶν ἐν ποιήμασι καὶ τῶν ἄλλως ίστορουμένων παρήνεγκα

[14] Openlibrary.org, C.R. Haines, "Epistulae de bello parthico" 6, The Correspondence of M. Cornelius Fronto, Cambridge, Mass., Loeb Classical Library (1920, 1988) pp. 26-7; Epostol.glossa.dk, George Hinge, ed., M. Cornelius Fronto, Epistulae de bello Parthico 7. The fragmented and reconstructed Latin text at each respective site reads as follows (non-italics are reconstructions by the respective editors):

[Haines:] Sed somnium filiae Polycrati jam ante insigne obtigerat: Patrem suum videre sibi visa erat aperto atque edito loco sublimem ungui et lavi Iovis et Solis manibus. Harioli autem laetam et pinguem fortunam portendi eo somnio interpretati. Sed omne contra evenit. Nam deceptus ab Oroete Perse Polycrates captusque in crucem sublatus est. Ita ei crucianti somnium expeditum. Manibus enim Iovis quom Plueret lavabatur, unguebatur Solis, dum ipse e corpore humorem emitteret. Huiuscemodi exorsus felices habent exitum interdum infaustum. Non est exultandum nimia et diutina prosperitate, nec si quid malae pugnae acciderit defetiscendum. Sed victoriam brevi spera, namque semper in rebus gestis Romanis crebrae fortunarum commutationes exstiterunt.

[Hinge:] Sed somnium filiae Polycrati jam ante insigne obtigerat: Patrem suum videre sibi visa erat aperto atque edito loco sublimem ungui et lavi Jovis et Solis manibus. Harioli autem laetam et pinguem fortunam portendier somnio interpretati. Sed omne contra evenit. Nam deceptus ab Oroete Perse Polycrates captusque in crucem sublatus est. Ita ei crucianti somnium expeditum a . . . . . . . . . . . . et . . . . . . . . . . . autur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . s . . . . . bos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . hujus fabulae exorsus habent . . . . . . net interdum . . . . . . somin . . us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nimia et diutina prosperitate nec, si quid malae pugnae acciderit, defetiscendum, sed victoriam brevi spera, namque semper in rebus gestis Romanis crebrae fortunarum commutationes exstiterunt.

[15] Whittaker's Words, in crucem sublatus est. Also Perseus Latin Word Study Tool, in "to, into", crucem "cross, stake", sublatus "driven", and est "is". Three of these words, we have provided detailed definitions in note [4]. So all we need is sublatus.

sublatus - verb-participle singular perfect masculine nominative of suffero, "hold up, bear, support, sustain", and sustollo, "lift, lift up, take up, raise, raise up, elevate, exalt, weigh anchor, etc." To which, regarding impalement of Roman crucifixion, we can boil it all down to "push up or hoist up". sublatus + est would yield the verb 3rd person singular perfect indicative passive, "was pushed up or hoisted up".

[16] Hengel, p. 23.

[17] Luciani Samosatensis, Opera. Lipsiae, Sumtibus et typis Caroli Tauchnitii (1829), Vol. I, "Ἑρμῆς καὶ Χάρων / Contemplantes", pp 261-284, p. 275.  The Greek text is as follows:

13fin. ΧΑΡ ῏Ω πολλοῦ γέλωτος ἀλλά νῦν τίς ἄν αὐτούς προςβλέψειεν οὕτως ὑπερφρονοῦντας τῶν ἄλλων ἤ τίς ἄν πιστεύσειεν ὡς μετ’ ὀλίγον οὗτος αἰχμάλωτος ἔσται, οὗτος δέ τήν κεφαλήν ἕξει ἐν ἀσκῷ αἵματος; 14. Έκεῖνος δέ τίς ἐστιν ὦ Ἑρμῆ, ὁ τήν πορφυρᾶν ἐφεστρίδα ἐμπεπορπημένος ὁ τό διάδημα ᾧ τόν δακτύλιον ὁ μάγειρος ἀναδίδωσι, τόν ἰχθῦν ἀνατεμών “Νήσῳ ἐν ἀμφιρύτῃ. βασιλεύς δέ τίς εὔχεται εἶναι.”

ΕΡΜ Εὖγε παρῳδεῖς ὦ Χάρων. ἀλλά Πολνχράτην ὁρᾷς τόν Σαμίων τύραννον πανευδαίμονα οἰόμενον εἶναι. ἀτάρ καί οὗτος αὐτός ὑπό τοῦ παρεστῶτος οἰκέτου Μαιανδρίου προδοθείς ᾿Οροίστῃ τῷ σατράπῃ ἀνασκολοπισθήσεται, ἄθλιος ἐκπεσών τῆς εὐδαιμονίας ἐν ἀκαρεῖ τοῦ χρόνου. καί ταῦτα γάρ τῆς Κλωθοῦς ἐπήκουσα.

[18] Perseus Word Study Tool, ἀνασκολοπισθήσεται, "he will be impaled". 3rd person singular future indicative passive of the verb ἀνασκολοπίζω, "impale".

[19] The extant Greek texts of the three works can be found at the Perseus Digital Library, here and here and here.

[20] Tektonics.org, Secular References to Jesus: Lucian. Website creator and Christian apologist J.P. Holding finds it notable, and so did fellow apologist Craig A. Evans whom he references, that Lucian used "an unusual word to describe crucifixion ('to impale') as evidence of derivation from a non-Christian source."