Crucifixion the Bodily Support – The Acuta Crux in Anti-Christian Discourse (2).

Prometheus crucified on an
inverted 'U'-tropaeum.

(Part 6b of the series: Crucifixion the Bodily Support)

Part 1              Part 2              Part 3              Part 4 

Part 5a            Part 5b            Part 5c            Part 5d

Part 5e            Part 5f             Part 5g            Part 6a

Part 6b – The Acuta Crux in Anti-Christian Discourse (2) -- Lucian 1 of 2.

B. Introduction.

What sort of gear was the instrument of Jesus' execution? (I’m assuming an historical Jesus who actually got nailed up here.) We are not completely certain, but I have established that it had an acuta crux: either an impaling stake on which Jesus was suspended between two posts from which Jesus was suspended using a horizontally oriented pole, or an impaling stake or ‘thorn’ which was planted in front of or attached and secured to the front of the main post of a typical Roman suspension structure, which was cruciform in character.

We will look at the polemics of various critics of Christianity who saw the religion or superstition as at best, morally degenerate, and at worst, a dangerous cult (in the modern sense) much like most people view Scientology. We’ve already looked at Celsus.

B.1. Lucian.

The next critic of Christianity is Lucian, who mentioned the Christians in two of his works: Alexander the False Prophet, and On the Death of Peregrine. His view of these people was anything but positive, and in Peregrine he views Christians as a particularly gullible lot.

There two references to the death of Jesus (whose name in not mentioned in Peregrine) use verb ἀνασκόλοπίζω, meaning: impale, or otherwise suspend on something pointed. ₁

B.2. On the Death of Peregrine

Lucian first recounts the life of Peregrine from the time he was caught in sexual indiscretions, and later was forced to leave his home region under a cloud of suspicion of murdering his father. Eventually he finds himself in Palestine…

[11] It was now that he came across the priests and scribes of the Christians, in Palestine, and picked up their queer creed. I can tell you, he pretty soon convinced them of his superiority; prophet, elder, ruler of the Synagogue--he was everything at once; expounded their books, commented on them, wrote books himself. They took him for a God, accepted his laws, and declared him their president. The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day,--the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified (ἀνασκολοπισθέντα) on that account.

[12] Well, the end of it was that Proteus was arrested and thrown into prison. This was the very thing to lend an air to his favourite arts of clap-trap and wonder-working; he was now a made man. The Christians took it all very seriously: he was no sooner in prison, than they began trying every means to get him out again,--but without success. Everything else that could be done for him they most devoutly did. They thought of nothing else. Orphans and ancient widows might be seen hanging about the prison from break of day. Their officials bribed the gaolers to let them sleep inside with him. Elegant dinners were conveyed in; their sacred writings were read; and our old friend Peregrine (as he was still called in those days) became for them "the modern Socrates."

[13] In some of the Asiatic cities, too, the Christian communities put themselves to the expense of sending deputations, with offers of sympathy, assistance, and legal advice. The activity of these people, in dealing with any matter that affects their community, is something extraordinary; they spare no trouble, no expense. Peregrine, all this time, was making quite an income on the strength of his bondage; money came pouring in. You see, these misguided creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains the contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them; and then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified (ἀνεσκολοπισμένον) sage, and live after his laws. All this they take quite on trust, with the result that they despise all worldly goods alike, regarding them merely as common property. Now an adroit, unscrupulous fellow, who has seen the world, has only to get among these simple souls, and his fortune is pretty soon made; he plays with them.

Lucian, On the Death of Peregrine 11-13 _{2, 3}

Lucian used ἀνασκολοπισθέντα and ἀνασκολοπισθέντα for “was crucified” and “[having been] crucified.” This is seemingly problematic, because the basic verb ἀνασκολοπίζω means “impale, fix on a pole [or something pointed or thorn-like].” Yet here it is being used in regards to what has been traditionally called a crucifixion. But apparently the crucifixion involved some kind of suspension on a pointed object, like the acuta-crux of Seneca’s Epistle 101:12. ₄

And Lucian was thoroughly familiar with this verb, that he used it elsewhere. Even the ghost-writer, dubbed Pseudo-Lucian, used the verb in In the Court of the Vowels. In Proteus on Caucasus, he is familiar with several verbs for the suspension punishment.

B.3. Prometheus Bound.

Prometheus clearly impaled.

Here in this play meant for ancient theatrical productions, Lucian uses an immense variety of verbs that were commonly used to denote the sort of suspension punishments the Romans doled out on noxious criminals who committed crimes of the worst sort, usually against slaves and foreigners, and for high treason and other crimes against the state (crimen maiestatis).

HERMES: This, Hephaestus, is the Caucasus, to which it is our painful duty to nail (προσηλῶσαι) our companion. We have now to select a suitable crag, free from snow, on which the chains will have a good hold, and the prisoner will hang (κρεμάμενος) in all publicity.

HEPHAESTUS: It will not do to fix him (ἐσταυρῶσθαι) too low down, or these men of his might come to their maker's assistance; nor at the top, where he would be invisible from the earth. What do you say to a middle course? Let him hang (ἀνεσταυρώσθω) over this precipice, with his arms stretched across (ἐκπετασθείς) from crag to crag.

HERMES: The very thing. Steep rocks, slightly overhanging, inaccessible on every side; no foothold but a mere ledge, with scarcely room for the tips of one's toes; altogether a sweet spot for a crucifixion (καὶ ὅλως ἐπικαιρότατος ἂν ὁ σταυρὸς γένοιτο). Now, Prometheus, come and be nailed up (ἀνάβαινε καὶ πάρεχε σεαυτὸν καταπαγησόμενον) ; there is no time to lose.

Lucian, Prometheus 1 _5,6

This first section shows quite a variety of verbs used to describe Prometheus’ suspension punishment: προσηλῶσαι, “to be nailed against₇;” κρεμάμενος, “about to hang₈;” ἐσταυρῶσθαι, “fence with pales, pile drive, crucify₉;” ἀνεσταυρώσθω, “suspend on or with a pole, impale, crucify₁₀;” ἀνάβαινε, “come up [here], mount [this]₁₁;” καταπαγησόμενον, “about to be fastened down, planted firmly, stuck fast [on something] ₁₂.”

And then there are two key phrases. The first: καὶ ὅλως ἐπικαιρότατος ἂν ὁ σταυρὸς γένοιτο, “and as a whole it’s become a most perfect spot for his σταυρὸς-punishment₁₃.” The punishment is not necessarily what is traditionally considered a crucifixion (nail to a tropaeum), but close. The second key phrase is: ἀνάβαινε καὶ πάρεχε σεαυτὸν καταπαγησόμενον, “come up [here] / mount [this] and hold yourself to be fastened down / planted firmly / stuck fast.” The use of the verbs σταυρόω, ἀνασταυρόω, ἀναβαίνω, and καταπήγνυμι indicates that there seems to be something else going on in a Roman σταυρὸς/crux-punishment than just nailing up to a simple two-beam cross.

Priapus who
looks like Jesus.

Now the modern knowledgeable in Koine Greek would read καταπαγησόμενον in this specific case as “about to be fastened (i.e., nailed) down,” but in late Antiquity the meaning of the verb did not necessarily always mean that. The actual meaning in this play would depend on the ear of the ancient Greco-Roman hearer in the audience and the imagination of the director.

And Prometheus is to be hanged at a location where his tip-toes would barely able to gain a toehold. This is an indicator that the condemned convicts the Romans suspended did not necessarily stand on an attached footrest. No, they hanged.

Multi-Phallused Mercury, with a huge
'crux' from his groin.

And the gods who are responsible for suspending Prometheus? One of them is Hermes, the patron of trade, commerce, and the home garden, who under the Romans became two gods: Mercury and Priapus. Both are known for having rather large, projecting endowments (Mercury sometimes). Priapus was known to threaten thieves with his own equipment as a crux. Hermes, also: the Greek speaking world had Herms: ithyphallic pillars with images of Hermes. Hephaestus, on the other hand, was the patron god of metal workers – hence the clamps, chains and nails that will be used to nail Prometheus to the mountainside. So the two gods selected to carry out the punishment are appropriate: Hephaestus, to nail up and enchain; Hermes, to… impale.

Now we go on to section 2:

PromETHEUS: Nay, hear me; Hephaestus! Hermes! I suffer injustice: have compassion on my woes!

HERMES: In other words, disobey orders, and promptly be gibbeted (ἀνασκολοπισθῆναι) in your stead! Do you suppose there is not room on the Caucasus to peg out (προσπατταλευθέντας) a couple of us? Come, your right hand! Clamp it down, Hephaestus, and in with the nails; bring down the hammer with a will. Now the left; make sure work of that too.--So!--The eagle will shortly be here, to trim your liver; so ingenious an artist is entitled to every attention.

Lucian, Prometheus 2 _5,14

Now here where it becomes interesting. Lucian has for gibbeted, ἀνασκολοπισθῆναι, “to be impaled, fixed on a pole, etc.₁;” and for peg out, προσπατταλευθέντας, “to be nailed fast to₁₅,” which is interesting, because it’s etymologically based on πάσσαλος, “a peg on which to hang clothes, arms, etc., a gag, a stake, a pale, the membrum virile (penis), etc₁₆.” Now in Herodotus Histories 9.120.4, where the verb in its pre-Attic pronunciation and spelling is used to describe the Athenian General Xanthippus’ nailing the Persian Satrap Artayctes to boards. There is nothing in Herodotus that argues that Xanthippus did not use tree-nails, although there is no indication save the etymology of the verb that he used anything but metal nails or crimps. Still, we have an additional indication that miscreants can be, and probably usually were, affixed to Roman cruces / σταυροί not just with iron nails but also with a thorn-like tree-nail, a ‘membrum virile’ so to speak, of the execution instrument.

On to Section 4.

PromETHEUS: Ah, Hermes; you are as bad as Hector; you 'blame the blameless.' For such crimes as these, I deserve a round pension, if justice were done. And by the way, I should like, if you can spare the time, to answer to these charges, and satisfy you of the injustice of my sentence. You can employ your practised eloquence on behalf of Zeus, and justify his conduct in nailing me up (ἀνεσταυρῶσθαί) here at the Gates of the Caspian, [a most pitiable display] (οἴκτιστον θέαμα) for all Scythia to behold and pity.

Lucian, Prometheus 4 _5,17

Another depiction of Prometheus who is quite literally stuck on a pole.
Dated ca. 625-575 BCE.

We see a repeat of the verb ἀνασταυρόω, in its form ἀνεσταυρῶσθαί, “suspend on or with a pole, impale, crucify₁₀;” And the phrase, οἴκτιστον θέαμα, “a most pitiable display”_18,19 not only recalls Josephus’ (Jewish War 7.6.1 [202]) account of Eleazar’s expected destruction by being hanged on a σταυρός as “the most wretched of deaths (θανάτων τόν οἴκτιστον) but foreshadows Achilles Tatius’ (Leucippe and Clitophon 2.27.3) description that Gandymede, taken aloft by Zeus in the form of an eagle, “even resembled one crucified [or ‘pile driven’] (καί ἔοικεν ἐσταυρωμένῳ)” in “even that utterly shameful spectacle, a young man suspended by [an eagle’s] talons (καί τό θέαμα αἴσχιστον, μειράκιον ἐξ ὀνύχων κρεμάμενον)” Now it’s anybody’s guess whether Ganymede was, according to the myth, penetrated in mid-air, but there are epigraphy that show Ganymede as ‘feminine’ or ‘effeminate’ and entirely naked while under the eagle’s wing. 

Now Section 7,

PromETHEUS: Perhaps there has been some nonsense talked already; that remains to be seen. But as you say your case is now complete, I will see what I can do in the way of refutation. And first about that meat. Though, upon my word, I blush for Zeus when I name it: to think that he should be so touchy about trifles, as to send off a God of my quality to crucifixion (ἀνασκολοπισθησόμενον), just because he found a little bit of bone in his share! Does he forget the services I have rendered him? And does he think what it is that he is so angry about, and how childish it is to show temper about a little thing like that?

Lucian, Prometheus 7 _5,20

Prometheus tied to a post.
Dated ca. 550 BCE.
(Source: theoi.com)

Again, for “to crucifixion” Lucian uses a conjugate of ἀνασκόλοπίζω, ἀνασκολοπισθησόμενον, “about to be impaled, fixed on a pole, thorn, etc.”₁ Lucian’s frequency of using these verbs connoting impalement (and not just with nails) and in tandem with a hanging congruent with the Roman σταυρὸς/crux-punishment is to ma an indication that there is something more than just a nailing up to a cross (or tropaeum) typically included in such a punishment.

Section 9:

PromETHEUS: Would that have been a case for putting heaven and earth in commotion, for deep designs of chain and cross (σταυρούς) and Caucasus, dispatchings of eagles, rendings of livers?

Lucian, Prometheus 9 _5,21

It’s problematic to translate σταυρούς₁₃ as “cross” except for the “cross” of Prometheus’ own body! And σταυρούς is in the plural, so in the mythos, or this play, it is assumed that there were other gods ordered to be hanged up in the form of a T many times before!

Section 10:

PromETHEUS: A mortal would never want his cook crucified (σταύρου τιμήσαιτο) for dipping a finger into the stew-pan, or filching a mouthful from the roast; they overlook these things. At the worst their resentment is satisfied with a box on the ears or a rap on the head. I find no precedent among them for crucifixion (ἀνεσκολοπίσθη) in such cases.

Lucian, Prometheus 10 _5,22

The first is is the phrase σταύρου τιμήσαιτο, “would deem him worthy of the σταυρὸς-punishment_{13, 23}.” The second, ἀνεσκολοπίσθη, “impale, fix on a pole, thorn, etc₁.”

Section 15:

PromETHEUS: Yet instead of honouring me for my political insight, you crucify me (ἀνεσταυρώκατε); such are the wages of wisdom!

Lucian, Prometheus 15 _5,24

Here the verb is ἀνεσταυρώκατε, “[you both] have suspend [me] on or with a pole, impaled [me], crucified [me]₁₀” or in this case, hanged into a T.

Section 17.

PromETHEUS: When the hecatombs are made ready, you think nothing of a journey to the ends of the Earth to see the ‘blameless Ethiopians’; and my reward for procuring you this advantage is… crucifixion (ἀνεσταυρώκατε)! But on this subject I have said enough.

Lucian, Prometheus 17 _5,25

We have the same exact verb as in the Greek of section 15₂₄.

B.4 through conclusion: continues next article.

Notes:

1. Perseus Greek Word Study Tool, ἀνασκολοπίζω: “impale, fix on a pole”   

_2. Lucian, On the Death of Peregrine 11-13:

_3. Perseus Digital Library, Lucian, De Morte Peregrini 11-13:

‘ [11] ὅτεπερ καὶ τὴν θαυμαστὴν σοφίαν τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἐξέμαθεν, περὶ τὴν Παλαιστίνην τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν καὶ γραμματεῦσιν αὐτῶν ξυγγενόμενος. καὶ τί γάρ; ἐν βραχεῖ παῖδας αὐτοὺς ἀπέφηνε, προφήτης καὶ ^ θιασάρχης καὶ ξυναγωγεὺς καὶ πάντα μόνος αὐτὸς ὤν, καὶ τῶν βίβλων τὰς μὲν ἐξηγεῖτο καὶ διεσάφει, πολλὰς δὲ αὐτὸς καὶ συνέγραφεν, καὶ ὡς θεὸν αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνοι ᾐδοῦντο ^ καὶ νομοθέτῃ ἐχρῶντο καὶ προστάτην ἐπεγράφοντο, μετὰ ^ γοῦν ἐκεῖνον ὃν ἔτι σέβουσι, τὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν ἐν τῇ Παλαιστίνῃ ἀνασκολοπισθέντα, ὅτι καινὴν ταύτην ^ τελετὴν εἰσῆγεν ἐς ^ τὸν βίον. ’ (Link)

‘ [12] τότε δὴ καὶ συλληφθεὶς ἐπὶ τούτῳ ὁ Πρωτεὺς ἐνέπεσεν εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον, ὅπερ καὶ αὐτὸ οὐ μικρὸν αὐτῷ ἀξίωμα περιεποίησεν πρὸς τὸν ἑξῆς βίον καὶ τὴν τερατείαν καὶ δοξοκοπίαν ὧν ἐρῶν ἐτύγχανεν. ἐπεὶ δ᾽ οὖν ἐδέδετο, οἱ Χριστιανοὶ συμφορὰν ποιούμενοι τὸ πρᾶγμα πάντα ἐκίνουν ἐξαρπάσαι πειρώμενοι αὐτόν. εἶτ᾽, ἐπεὶ τοῦτο ἦν ἀδύνατον, ἥ γε ἄλλη θεραπεία πᾶσα οὐ παρέργως ἀλλὰ σὺν σπουδῇ ἐγίγνετο: καὶ ἕωθεν μὲν εὐθὺς ἦν ὁρᾶν παρὰ τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ περιμένοντα γρᾴδια χήρας τινὰς καὶ παιδία ὀρφανά, οἱ δὲ ἐν τέλει αὐτῶν καὶ συνεκάθευδον ἔνδον μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ διαφθείραντες τοὺς δεσμοφύλακας. εἶτα δεῖπνα ποικίλα εἰσεκομίζετο καὶ λόγοι ἱεροὶ αὐτῶν ἐλέγοντο, καὶ ὁ βέλτιστος Περεγρῖνος — ἔτι γὰρ τοῦτο ἐκαλεῖτο — καινὸς Σωκράτης ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν ὠνομάζετο.’ (Link)

‘ [13] καὶ μὴν κἀκ τῶν ἐν Ἀσίᾳ πόλεων ἔστιν ὧν ἧκόν τινες, τῶν Χριστιανῶν στελλόντων ἀπὸ τοῦ κοινοῦ, βοηθήσοντες καὶ συναγορεύσοντες καὶ παραμυθησόμενοι τὸν ἄνδρα. ἀμήχανον δέ τι τὸ τάχος ἐπιδείκνυνται, ἐπειδάν τι τοιοῦτον γένηται δημόσιον ἐν βραχεῖ γὰρ ἀφειδοῦσι πάντων. καὶ δὴ καὶ τῷ Περεγρίνῳ πολλὰ τότε ἧκεν χρήματα παρ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐπὶ προφάσει τῶν δεσμῶν, καὶ πρόσοδον οὐ μικρὰν ταύτην ἐποιήσατο. ^ πεπείκασι γὰρ αὑτοὺς οἱ κακοδαίμονες τὸ μὲν ὅλον ἀθάνατοι ἔσεσθαι καὶ βιώσεσθαι τὸν ἀεὶ χρόνον, παρ᾽ ὃ καὶ καταφρονοῦσιν τοῦ θανάτου καὶ ἑκόντες αὑτοὺς ἐπιδιδόασιν οἱ πολλοί. ἔπειτα δὲ ὁ νομοθέτης ὁ πρῶτος ἔπεισεν αὐτοὺς ὡς ἀδελφοὶ πάντες εἶεν ἀλλήλων, ἐπειδὰν ἅπαξ παραβάντες θεοὺς μὲν τοὺς Ἑλληνικοὺς ἀπαρνήσωνται, τὸν δὲ ἀνεσκολοπισμένον ἐκεῖνον σοφιστὴν αὐτὸν ^ προσκυνῶσιν καὶ κατὰ τοὺς ἐκείνου νόμους βιῶσιν. καταφρονοῦσιν οὖν ἁπάντων ἐξ ἴσης καὶ κοινὰ ἡγοῦνται, ἄνευ τινὸς ἀκριβοῦς πίστεως τὰ τοιαῦτα παραδεξάμενοι. ἢν τοίνυν παρέλθῃ τις εἰς αὐτοὺς γόης καὶ τεχνίτης ἄνθρωπος καὶ πράγμασιν χρῆσθαι δυνάμενος, αὐτίκα μάλα πλούσιος ἐν βραχεῖ ἐγένετο ἰδιώταις ἀνθρώποις ἐγχανών. ’ (Link)

_4. Seneca, Epistulae Morales ad Lucullum 101.12: Quod miserrimum erat si incidisset optatur, et tamquam vita petitur supplici mora. (What would be most miserable, if it were to happen to him, is chosen by him, and just as for life, a delay of punishment is beseeched.) Contemptissimum putarem si vivere vellet usque ad crucem: (Most contemptible I would deem him if he would live all the way up to the point of the crux.) 'tu vero' inquit 'me debilites licet, dum spiritus in corpore fracto et inutili maneat; depraves licet, dum monstroso et distorto temporis aliquid accedat; suffigas licet et acutam sessuro crucem subdas': (“You, in fact,” he says, “may weaken me, while in my monstrous and misshapen [body] you may grant me a little more time. You may nail me up and set for my seat a sharpened spike.”) est tanti vulnus suum premere et patibulo pendere districtum, dum differat id quod est in malis optimum, supplici finem? (Is it so great to press down on one’s own ‘wound’, and hang racked out on the patibulum??? While it puts off that which is the choicest of evils, the end of punishment?) est tanti habere animam ut agam? (Is it so great to hold on to life, only to let it go?)

_5. Sacred text Archives, Lucian, Prometheus on Caucasus

_6. Perseus Digital Library, Lucian, Prometheus 1

Ἑρμῆς

[1] ὁ μὲν Καύκασος, ὦ Ἥφαιστε, οὗτος, ω τὸν ἄθλιον τουτονὶ Τιτᾶνα προσηλῶσθαι δεήσει: περισκοπῶμεν δὲ ἤδη κρημνόν τινα ἐπιτήδειον, εἴ που τῆς χιόνος τι γυμνόν ἐστιν, ὡς βεβαιότερον καταπαγείη τὰ δεσμὰ καὶ οὗτος ἅπασι περιφανὴς εἴη κρεμάμενος.

Ἥφαιστος

περισκοπῶμεν, ὦ Ἑρμῆ: οὔτε γὰρ ταπεινὸν καὶ πρόσγειον ἐσταυρῶσθαι χρή, ὡς μὴ ἐπαμύνοιεν αὐτῷ τὰ πλάσματα αὐτοῦ οἱ ἄνθρωποι, οὔτε μὴν κατὰ τὸ ἄκρον, — ἀφανὴς γὰρ ἂν εἴη τοῖς κάτω — ἀλλ᾽ εἰ δοκεῖ κατὰ μέσον ἐνταῦθά που ὑπὲρ τῆς φάραγγος ἀνεσταυρώσθω ἐκπετασθεὶς τὼ χεῖρε ἀπὸ τουτουὶ τοῦ κρημνοῦ πρὸς τὸν ἐναντίον.

Ἑρμῆς

εὖ λέγεις: ἀπόξυροί τε γὰρ αἱ πέτραι καὶ ἀπρόσβατοι πανταχόθεν, ἠρέμα ἐπινενευκυῖαι, καὶ τῷ ποδὶ στενὴν ταύτην ὁ κρημνὸς ἔχει τὴν ἐπίβασιν, ὡς ἀκροποδητὶ μόλις ἑστάναι, καὶ ὅλως ἐπικαιρότατος ἂν ὁ σταυρὸς γένοιτο. μὴ μέλλε οὖν, ὦ Προμηθεῦ, ἀλλ᾽ ἀνάβαινε καὶ πάρεχε σεαυτὸν καταπαγησόμενον πρὸς τὸ ὄρος.

_7. Perseus Greek Word Study Tool, προσηλόω: “nail, rivet, fix to.”

_8. Perseus Greek Word Study Tool, κρεμάννυμι: “hang, hang up, suspend.”

_9. Perseus Greek Word Study Tool, σταυρόω, “fence with pales, crucify;” Cf. blog article Σταυρόω, also “pile drive, impale.”

_10. Perseus Greek Word Study Tool, ἀνασταυρόω, “[suspend on or with a pole], impale, crucify.”

_11. Perseus Greek Word Study Tool, ἀναβαίνω, “go up, mount.”

_12. Perseus Greek Word Study Tool, καταπήγνυμι, “stick fast, plant firmly.” “fasten down” by Lucian’s time?

_13. Perseus Greek Word Study Tool, σταυρὸς, “upright pale, stake, [crux], cross.” Cf. blog article The Acuta Crux in Anti-Christian Discourse (1).

_14. Perseus Digital Library, Lucian, Prometheus2

Προμηθεύς

[2] ἀλλὰ κἂν ὑμεῖς γε, ὦ Ἥφαιστε καὶ Ἑρμῆ, κατελεησατέ με παρὰ τὴν ἀξίαν δυστυχοῦντα.

Ἑρμῆς

τοῦτο φής, ὦ Προμηθεῦ, ἀντὶ σοῦ ἀνασκολοπισθῆναι ^ αὐτίκα μάλα παρακούσαντας τοῦ ἐπιτάγματος: ἢ οὐχ ἱκανὸς εἶναί σοι δοκεῖ ὁ Καύκασος καὶ ἄλλους χωρῆσαι δύο προσπατταλευθέντας; ἀλλ᾽ ὄρεγε τὴν δεξιάν: σὺ δέ, ὦ Ἥφαιστε, κατάκλειε καὶ προσήλου καὶ τὴν σφῦραν ἐρρωμένως κατάφερε. δὸς καὶ τὴν ἑτέραν κατειλήφθω εὖ μάλα καὶ αὕτη εὖ ἔχει. καταπτήσεται δὲ ἤδη καὶ ὁ ἀετὸς ἀποκερῶν τὸ ἧπαρ, ὡς πάντα ἔχοις ἀντὶ τῆς καλῆς καὶ εὐμηχάνου πλαστικῆς.

_15. Perseus Greek Word Study Tool, προσπασσαλεύω, “nail fast to, nail up or hang on a peg.”

_16. Perseus Greek Word Study Tool, πάσσαλος, “peg, gag, stake, pale, membrum virile.”

_17. Perseus Digital Library, Lucian, Prometheus 4

Προμηθεύς

[4] ἔοικας, ὦ Ἑρμῆ, καὶ σὺ κατὰ τὸν ποιητὴν ‘ἀναίτιον αἰτιάασθαι’ ὃς τὰ τοιαῦτά μοι προφέρεις, ἐφ᾽ οἷς ἔγωγε τῆς ἐν πρυτανείῳ σιτήσεως, εἰ τὰ δίκαια ἐγίγνετο, ἐτιμησάμην ἂν ἐμαυτῷ. εἰ γοῦν σχολή σοι, ἡδέως ἂν καὶ δικαιολογησαίμην ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐγκλημάτων, ὡς δείξαιμι ἄδικα ἐγνωκότα περὶ ἡμῶν τὸν Δία: σὺ δὲ — στωμύλος γὰρ εἶ καὶ δικανικὸς — ἀπολόγησαι ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ ὡς δικαίαν τὴν ψῆφον ἔθετο, ἀνεσταυρῶσθαί με πλησίον τῶν Κασπίων τούτων πυλῶν ἐπὶ τοῦ Καυκάσου, οἴκτιστον θέαμα πᾶσι Σκύθαις.

_18. Perseus Greek Word Study Tool, οἴκτιστος, “most pitiable, lamentable.”

_19. Perseus Greek Word Study Tool, θέαμα, “sight, spectacle.”

_20. Perseus Digital Library, Lucian, Prometheus 7

Προμηθεύς

[7] εἰ μὲν καὶ ταῦτα λῆρός ἐστιν ἃ εἴρηκας, εἰσόμεθα μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐγὼ δέ, ἐπείπερ ἱκανὰ φὴς εἶναι τὰ κατηγορημένα, πειράσομαι ὡς ἂν οἷός τε ὦ διαλύσασθαι τὰ ἐγκλήματα. καὶ πρῶτόν γε ἄκουσον τὰ περὶ τῶν κρεῶν. καίτοι, νὴ τὸν Οὐρανόν, καὶ νῦν λέγων αὐτὰ αἰσχύνομαι ὑπὲρ τοῦ Διός, εἰ οὕτω μικρολόγος καὶ μεμψίμοιρός ἐστιν, ὡς διότι μικρὸν.ὀστοῦν ἐν τῇ μερίδι εὗρε, ἀνασκολοπισθησόμενον πέμπειν παλαιὸν οὕτω θεόν, μήτε τῆς συμμαχίας μνημονεύσαντα μήτε αὖ τὸ τῆς ὀργῆς κεφάλαιον ἡλίκον ἐστὶν ἐννοήσαντα καὶ ὡς μειρακίον τὸ τοιοῦτον, ὀργίζεσθαι καὶ ἀγανακτεῖν εἰ μὴ τὸ μεῖζον αὐτὸς λήψεται.

_21. Perseus Digital Library, Lucian, Prometheus 9

Προμηθεύς

[9] … τί οὖν; διὰ τοῦτο ἐχρῆν, τὸ τοῦ λόγου, τῇ γῇ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναμεμῖχθαι καὶ δεσμὰ καὶ σταυροὺς καὶ Καύκασον ὅλον ἐπινοεῖν καὶ ἀετοὺς καταπέμπειν καὶ τὸ ἧπαρ ἐκκολάπτειν;…

_22. Perseus Digital Library, Lucian, Prometheus 10

Προμηθεύς

[10] … ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως ἐκείνων οὐκ ἔστιν ὅστις τῷ μαγείρῳ σταυροῦ ἂν τιμήσαιτο, εἰ τὰ κρέα ἕψων καθεὶς τὸν δάκτυλον τοῦ ζωμοῦ τι περιελιχμήσατο ἢ ὀπτωμένων ἀποσπάσας τι κατεβρόχθισεν, ἀλλὰ συγγνώμην ἀπονέμουσιν αὐτοῖς: εἰ δὲ καὶ πάνυ ὀργισθεῖεν, ἢ κονδύλους ἐνέτριψαν ἢ κατὰ κόρρης ἐπάταξαν, ἀνεσκολοπίσθη δὲ οὐδεὶς παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς τῶν τηλικούτων ἕνεκα….

_23. Perseus Greek Word Study Tool, τιμάω, “revere, honor, reverence, deem worthy.”

_24. Perseus Digital Library, Lucian, Prometheus 15

Προμηθεύς

[15] … ὑμεῖς δέ, τιμᾶν ἐπὶ τῷ πολιτεύματι τούτῳ δέον, ἀνεσταυρώκατέ με καὶ ταύτην μοι τὴν ἀμοιβὴν ἀποδεδώκατε τοῦ βουλεύματος.

_25. Perseus Digital Library, Lucian, Prometheus 17

Προμηθεύς

[17] … ἀλλὰ ὑμεῖς, ὅταν μὲν ὑμῖν τὰς ἑκατόμβας προσάγωσιν, οὐκ ὀκνεῖτε, κἂν ἐπὶ τὸν Ὠκεανὸν ἐλθεῖν δέῃ ‘ μετ᾽ ἀμύμονας Αἰθιοπῆας:’ τὸν δὲ τῶν τιμῶν ὑμῖν καὶ τῶν θυσιῶν αἴτιον ἀνεσταυρώκατε. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ ταῦτα ἱκανά.

Some Updates.

I have made some changes to the following articles:

Crucifixion the Bodily Support - The Acuta Crux in Anti-Christian Discourse (1)

Added links and resources to the article, and made some slight tweaks.

Crucifixion the Bodily Support - "Biblical Evidence" - Installment 6. (Harmonisation)

Added more discussion toward the end of section F.14 and added new sections F.15 that attempts to determine what sort of suspension tool the gospels are talking about by taking each Gospels and Acts as a complete, separate story and comparing the various possible types and eliminate ones that don't conform to the other stories' possible types.

It turns out the Gospels and Acts are unclear on what sort of executionary torture-suspension method is described therein! Was it a hanging on some sort of cruciform structure with a thorn that one sat on or 'rode'; or was it on a set of three poles and a beam, wherein the central pole was an impaling stake? Similar to a portrayal of the 'crucifixion' of Jesus here on this bloodstone?

Source: British Museum.

Crucifixion the Bodily Support – The Acuta Crux in Anti-Christian Discourse (1).

Bust of Celsus at the Louvre, Paris.
Source: Wikipedia.ru.

(Part 6a of the series: Crucifixion the Bodily Support)

Part 1              Part 2             Part 3              Part4 

Part 5a            Part 5b           Part 5c            Part5d

Part 5e            Part 5f            Part 5g

Part 6a – The Acuta Crux in Anti-Christian Discourse (1).

A. Introduction.

What sort of gear was the instrument of Jesus' execution? We are not completely certain, but I have established that it had an acuta crux: either an impaling stake on which Jesus was suspended between two posts from which Jesus was suspended using a horizontally oriented pole, or an impaling stake or ‘thorn’ which was planted in front of or attached and secured to the front of the main post of a typical Roman suspension structure, which was cruciform in character.

We will look at the polemics of various critics of Christianity who saw the religion or superstition as at best, morally degenerate, and at worst, a dangerous cult (in the modern sense) much like most people view Scientology.

A.1. Celsus.

The first major critic of Christianity is Celsus, who wrote On the True Discourse sometime around 178 CE. He made such a scathing indictment of Christianity that the early Church Father and apologist, Origen of Alexandria, was compelled to write an eight-book work titled Contra Celsum in order to equip his disciples with a defense and buttress their faith against the inroads this document was making against the Christian religion (or superstition) in 248 CE.

There are numerous references in On the True Discourse to the suspension device of Jesus as a ‘thorn’ (σκόλοψ), a post (σταυρός) and a plank (τύμπανον), the last by using the verb ἀποτυμπανίζω (nail to a plank).

A.2. Σκόλοφ: a Thorn

When Celsus first recounts Jesus’ crucifixion and his sufferings on the cross (or rather, a Roman torture-stake), he first, through his Jewish sock-puppet, to recount other myths and even some scams! And to these he compares to Jesus’ death on his pole:

But the question is, whether anyone who was really dead ever rose with a veritable body. Or do you imagine the statements of others not only to be myths, but to have the appearance of such, while you have discovered a becoming and credible termination to your drama in the voice from the cross (σκόλοπος), when he breathed his last, and in the earthquake and the darkness?

Origen, Contra Celsum 2.55 ₁

There are two takeaways from this. First, Celsus doesn’t believe a word of the gospels (that goes without saying). And second, Celsus calls the gear of Jesus’ execution, which a believer would call a σταυρός, a σκόλοψ: a thorn!

And later his Jewish sock-puppet asserts an immediate disappearance from the Cross was far more appropriate action for a diety:

But let us observe how this Jew of Celsus asserts that, “if this at least would have helped to manifest his divinity, he ought accordingly to have at once disappeared from the cross (σκόλοπος).”

Origen, Contra Celsum 2.68 ₂

And notice he uses the same term – σκόλοψ – thorn – again! Celsus is quite aware that part of the Roman punishment was some sort of impaling stake. For according to the LSJ and the Autenrieth Lexica, among others, for in an execution of a person, suspension on a σκόλοψ meant suspension on a stake for impaling.

And indeed Origen in the same book shows that indeed Celsus was absolutely right in calling the well-known Roman torture-stake a σκόλοψ:

The literal narrative, however, one might thus explain, viz., that it was appropriate for Him who had resolved to endure suspension upon the cross (ἐπί σκόλοπος κρεμασθῆναι), to maintain all the accompaniments of the character He had assumed, in order that He who as a man had been put to death, and who as a man had died, might also as a man be buried.

Origen, Contra Celsum 2.69 ₃

And yes Origen does come out and say it, that suspension from the cross was, in his words, ἐπί σκόλοψ κρεμασθῆναι (to have been hanged upon the thorn), i.e., impaled by it. 

Yet many Christians have argued, argue, and will argue, that from the Septuagint Numbers 33:55 (σκόλοπες ἐν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ὑμῶν “thorns in your eyes”) and 2 Cor 12:7 (σκόλοψ τῇ σαρκί “a thorn in the flesh”) that σκόλοψ doesn’t necessarily mean impaling stake or impaling thorn, it means… something else. Something small, like the nails of the cross. Except what Origen says destroys the Christians’ arguments utterly when he acknowledges that what Celsus calls a σκόλοψ – thorn, singular -- is the σταυρός – pole -- when he puts words into Celsus’ mouth:

But even if it had been related in the Gospels, according to the view of Celsus, that Jesus had immediately disappeared from the cross (σκόλοπος), he and other unbelievers would have found fault with the narrative, and would have brought against it some such objection as this: “Why, pray, did he disappear after he had been put upon the cross (τί δήποτε μετά τόν σταυρόν), and not disappear before he suffered?”

Origen, Contra Celsum 2.69 ₄

Of course, here, Origen acknowledges that σκόλοψ is a commonly used word for σταυρός, which here he uses to define a Roman crucifixion, specifically one in particular. Note bene: “after he was put on the cross” is rendered simply as: τί δήποτε μετά τόν σταυρόν (lit.: why at some time after the σταυρός-punishment). This is verbiage not unknown to the Greek-speaking ancients. ₅

Indeed, Origen (Contra Celsum 3.32) and Celsus (Contra Celsum 3.36) both use the verb ἀνασκολοπίζω "impale, fix on a pole" and as I have shown above, they both understand it as to be suspended on a thorn (ἐπί σκόλοπος κρεμασθῆναι): Origen by directly saying it, and Celsus by his constant word of the noun σκόλοψ "impaling stake, thorn."

He laid it [his life] down when he said, "Father, why have you forsaken me? And when he had cried with a loud voice, he gave up the ghost," anticipating the public executioners of the crucified (ἀνεσκολοπισμένον), who break the legs of the victims (σταυρούμενον) and who do so in order that their punishment might not be prolonged.

Origen, Contra Celsum 3:32 ₁₁

Celsus next says, "What is the nature of the ichor in the body of the crucified (ἀνασκολοπιζομένον) Jesus? is it 'such as flows in the bodies of the Immortal Gods?'"

Origen, Contra Celsum 3.36 ₁₂

In both of these, the verb particples ἀνεσκολοπισμένον , ἀνασκολοπιζομένον are in the perfect tense middle-passive voice "having already been impaled;" but σταυρούμενον is in the middle-passive present, "being crucified." In other words, at the time Jesus gave up the breath, he was then being actively crucified: pile driven. And it was the σκόλοψ that was doing the pile driving.

A.3. Executed Most Shamefully.

Now according to Celsus, Jesus was bound ignominiously and disgracefully executed. But the English translation only begin to do the Greek justice, because Celsus uses superlatives in this passage:

Believe that he whom I introduce to you is the Son of God, although he was shamefully bound (δεδομένος ατιμότατα), and disgracefully punished (κεκολασμένος αίσχιστα),…

Origen, Contra Celsum 6.10 ₆

Now what Celsus was saying here when he describes Jesus to have been “shamefully bound and disgracefully punished” is δεδομένος ατιμότατα ή κεκολασμένος αίσχιστα (delivered up most ignominiously, as [one] finally punished most shameful[ly]).

A.4. Σσταυρός: a Pole.

Celsus further down describes a continuous stream of literary effluent from an earthly church, and touches on one of their beliefs, in which the Christians of the time referred to as the “tree of life:”

And in all their writings (is mention made) of the ‘tree of life’ (τό της ζωης ξύλον), and a resurrection of the flesh by means of the 'tree' (από ξύλου), because, I imagine, their teacher was nailed to a cross (σταυρω ένηλώθη), and was a carpenter by craft (τέκτων τήν τεχνην)…

Origen, Contra Celsum 6:34 ₇

Celsus connects a so-called “tree of life,” and a bodily resurrection by means of the “tree,“ to Jesus’ execution: that he was σταυρω ένηλώθη (nailed to an execution pole) and his trade: τέκτων (of a carpenter, joiner). The relevant point Celsus is making here is that Jesus was suspended on a σταυρός, some kind of pole, and secured to it with nails (ἧλοι).

A.5. Tύμπανον: A Board.

When Celsus mocks the Christians’ holding forth the Word, he indicates that Roman crucifixion involved a suspension from a board:

Quotes Celsus: “When we declare the Logos to be the Son of God we do not present to view a pure and holy Logos, but a most degraded man, who was punished by scourging and crucifixion (ἀποτυμπανισθέντα).”

Origen, Contra Celsum 2.31 ₈

The word Celsus uses for crucifixion is ἀποτυμπανισθέντα (suspended from a board). The Greek punishment is defined in various lexica as “crucify on a plank” and “cudgeling”. The former meaning would apply here, unless Celsus had a gospel we know nothing about, where Jesus was bashed with a club, like the two robbers.

And he also makes mention of Jesus as “a most degraded man.” Just a recap: in the ethos of the ancient Mediterranean world, for a man to be penetrated was considered to be shameful, and for some men it was considered to be more shameful than for others. For example, Seneca the Elder had this to say: “Gross indecency [‘bottoming’] is a crime for the freeborn, for the slave an inevitability and for the freedman a duty.” ₉ Not that the social milieu or even the legal code impeded males to pursue their sexual and romantic interests. But to be forcibly penetrated in public while suspended as a condemned criminal, by the very gear of your own suspension----!

So the execution delivered to Jesus was a most shameful one, which in my opinion involved some kind of impalement (in addition to micro-impalement with nails) wherein the person was bodily penetrated. And which is more shameful: simple direct impalement with a sharpened ordinary pole, or controlled impalement on a tall stake while suspended between two poles, or a full-blown Roman crucifixion involving a cross-armed pole with a wooden phallus? A simple imagining of how the suspended would look when he slid down on his impaling device would give you the answer.

A.6. Racked by Gravity.

Celsus recounts that…

“You,” says he, “mock and revile the statues of our Gods, but if you had reviled Dionysius or Herakles in person, you would not perhaps done so with impunity. But those who crucified (κατατείνοντες καί κολάζοντες) your god, when present among men, suffered nothing for it, either at the time or during the whole of their lives.”

Origen, Contra Celsum 8.41 ₁₀

What Celsus uses here for “crucified” is the present passive participles κατατείνοντες (being stretched tight, racked, tightly bound) and κολάζοντες (being docked, punished) describing the actions of the executioners that were inflicted upon Jesus. So the execution meted out involved a stretching tight, a racking, a tight binding which would adequately describe the results of a suspension by the extremities on or from a cruciform structure.

A.7. Conclusions on Celsus’ view of Crucifixion.

So looking above we can see that Celsus considered the gear of Jesus’ execution to be a thorn (σκόλοψ), a pole (σταυρός) to which he was nailed (ένηλώθη) and a board (τύμπανον). He also said the gear had put Jesus to the full stretch, i.e., racked him (κατατείνοντες), which is what the Romans intended that the Earth’s gravity do to their worst criminals with their own body mass when they suspended them to be executed. He also considered the effects of such a penalty to be most shameful (αίσχιστα) and a person undergoing such a penalty to be most degraded. (ατίμοτατον). It appears Celsus is familiar with the full-blown Roman crux, complete with stipes, patibulum and acuta-crux a.k.a. sedilis excessu (projection / transgression of a seat). And of course, nails. It is also apparent that the use of the acuta crux was widespread enough that Celsus could safely assume that it was applied to the living person of Jesus when he was suspended by the Romans (an historical Jesus crucified by Romans is assumed). In other words, in Celsus’ day it was typical.

   

Notes:

1. Origen, Contra Celsum 2.55: Αλλ' εκεινο σκεπτέον, εί τις ως αληθως αποθανών, ανέστη ποτέ αυτω σώματι' ή οίεσθε τά μεν των άλλων μύθους ειναί τε καί δοκειν, υμιν δέ τήν καταστροφήν του δράματος ευσχημόνς ή πιθανως εφευρησθαι, τήν επί του σκόλοπος αυτου φωνήν ότ απεπνει, καί τόν σεισμόν, καί τόν σκότον; (But the subject examined, whether anyone was truly dead, rose up at some time with his body, or do you suppose indeed those [narratives] of those others to be fictions and even to seem [as such], but to you all that catastrophe of the drama to be found decent and credible, that voice upon his thorn when he breathed out his last, and the earthquake, and the darkness?)

_2. Origen, Contra Celsum 2.68: Ιδωμεν δέ τίνα τρόπον φησιν ό παρά τω Κέλσω Ιουδαιος, ότι "ει δ' ουν τόγε τοσουτον ώφειλεν εις επίδειξιν θεότηος, από του σκόλοπος γουν εύθύς αφανης γενέσθαι (Let us observe what manner that Jew besides Celsus says, that “But if this then would have augmented into a making known of his divinity, at least then straightaway from the thorn he would have disappeared.”

_3. Origen, Contra Celsum 2.69: Τά δέ της λεξεως ούτως άν τις άποδωη, ότι κατά τόν κρίνατα υπομειναι τό επί σκόλοπς κρεμασθηναι, ην καί τά εξης τη υποθεσαι τηρησαι, ίν' ώς άνθροπος καθαιρεθείς, τω ώς άνθρωπος αποτεθνηκέναι, ώς άνθροπος καί ταφη. (But this of the narrative, if haply, one might thus explain, that [it was] in accordance for him, having chosen to endure it, having been hanged upon the thorn, and was to have watched over the habits of the [inner] essence, for him as a man to have been put down, for whom as a man to have died and as a man to be buried.)

_4. Origen, Contra Celsum 2.69: Ἀλλά καί εἰ καθ᾽ ὑπόθεσιν ἐγεραπτο ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις, ὅτι ἀπό τοῦ σκόλοπος ἀφανής εὐθύς ἔγεντο ἐκάκιζεν ἄν τό γεγραμμένον ὁ Kελσος καί οἱ ἄπιστοι, καί κατηγόρησαν ἄν καί οὕτω λέγοντες "τί δήποτε μετά τόν σταυρόν γέγουεν ἀφανής, οὐ πρό τοῦ παθεῖν δὲ τοῦτ᾽ ἐπραγματεύσατο (But even if according to the hypothesis it had been written in the gospels, that he straightaway disappeared from the thorn, if that was written Celsus and others [would] disbelieve it, and perhaps would have brought an objection even such as this: “Why at some time after the σταυρός-punishment he disappeared, and had not taken the trouble before this suffering?”)

5. This is similar to where Didorus Siculus (90-21 BCE), (Library of History 20.54.4) said that when the captured citizens of Utica, suspended on a siege-machine, were pierced when the defenders of the city “nailed [them] down against the machine with sharp-pointed items (τοῖς ὀξυβελέσι πρὸς τῇ μηχανῇ προσκαθήλωσαν), the violence and vengeance was almost tantamount to a σταυρός (ὥστε σταυρῷ παραπλησίανεἶναι τὴν ὕβριν ἅμα καὶ τὴν τιμωρίαν), that is, an executionary suspension on a Roman execution pole, fastened with nails. This is also the verbiage Philo of Alexandria (20 BCE – 50 CE), (In Flaccum 72) uses when he said that certain Jews mourning their murdered comrades during a pogrom were seized forthwith and put through an immense amount of torture, where the final and seated (reserved or physically seated, probably both) penalty was the σταυρός (ἡ τελευταία καὶ ἔφεδρος τιμωρία σταυρὸς ἦν.), i.e., the suspension on the same kind of Roman pole.

6. Origen, Contra Celsum 6.10: πίστευσον ον εισηγουμαί σοί τουτου ειναι υιόν θεου, κάν η δεδομένος ατιμότατα ή κεκολασμένος αίσχιστα,… (you must have believed that he who I introduce to you to be this son of a god, although he may be delivered up most ignominiously, as [one] finally punished most shameful[ly].)

7. Origen, Contra Celsum 6.34: ...πανταχου δέ έκει τό της ζωης ξύλον καί ανάστασιν σαρκός από ξύλου, διότι οιμι ό διδάσκαλος αυτων σταυρω ένηλώθη καί ην τέκτων τήν τεχνην. (…and everywhere in that place that tree of life and a raising up of the body by the tree, for that reason I suppose that teacher of them was nailed to a pole and [his] skill was of that a carpenter.)

8. Origen, Contra Celsum 2.31: ἐπεί “λόγον ἐπαγγελλόμενοι υἱόν εἷναι τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀποδείκνυμεν οὐ λόγον καθαρόν καί ἅγιον, ἀλλά ἄνθρωπον ἀτιμότατον* ἀπαχθέντα καί ἀποτυμπανισθέντα. (He says: “Declaring the Logos to be the son or the God, we do not make known a pure and holy Logos, but a most dishonoured man, who was punished by scourging and suspension from a board.)

 * Quator Codd. MSS. Regius, Basileensis, et duo Anglicani: ἀτιμότατα.

9. Seneca the Elder Controversiae 4. Praef. 10: impudicitia in ingenuo crimen est, in servo necessitas, in liberto officium. (Passive male homosexual promiscuity [a male letting himself be topped by another male] is a crime in the freeborn man, an inevitability in the slave, and a duty in the freedman.)

10. Origen, Contra Celsum 8.41: Τόν δέ σόν θεόν παρόντα κατατείνοντες καί κολάζοντες ουδέν οι ταυτα δράσαντες πεπόνθασιν, αλλ' ουδε μετά ταυτα εν τοσούτο βίω. (But that one your god while present being racked and punished, not one of them who did this work suffered, and in no wise among these [the rest], [or] otherwise in the meantime during his life.) 

11. Origen, Contra Celsum 3.32: Επει γάρ εξουσίαν ειχε θειναι αυτήν έθηκε μέν, ηνίκα ειπε "πατερ, ινατί με εγκατέλιτες; και κραξας φωνη μεγάλη, άφηκε τό πνευμα" προλαβών τούς επί των ανεσκολοπίσμένων δημίους, υποτέμνοντας τά σκέλη των σταυρουμένον, καί διά ύποτέμνοντας, ίνα μή επιπλέον τιμωρίαν τισωσιν. (For when he had the authority to bring it to pass, indeed he laid down his life, at the time he spoke "'Father, why have you left me in the lurch?' And having cried out in a mighty voice, he gave up the breath," having anticipated the executioners of the impaled, who break the upper legs of the pile-driven, and who do so lest they serve all the sentence they would have paid.)

12. Origen, Contra Celsum 3:36: Ειτά φησιν ο Κέλσος. "τί καί ανασκολοπιζομένον του σώματς ποιος ιχώρ, -- οιός πέρ τε ρεει μακάεσσι Θεοισιν." (Then declares that Celsus, "And what is the nature of the ichor in the body of the impaled one? -- And at least as of the sort that flows in the Blessed Gods.")

Resources:

New Advent, Church Fathers, Origen, Contra Celsus.
Origenis, Contra Celsum, libri I, II, III, IV, William Selwyn, S.T.P., ed., Cambridge, Dighton, Bell & Co. (1874)  (Preview available at Google books)

Perseus Tufts.edu: Greek and Latin Word Study Tools.

The Latin Lexicon: Latin Word Study Tool.

Notre dame ND.edu: Whittaker's Words.

Update

Slight changes to Impalements in Antiquity (4E), section B.2.5., The King Finds Out and Guess What happens to Haman!