John Connellan
Valued Senior Member
.....What exactly did Jesus die of and how long did it take???
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Haven't seen The Passion yet but.....
- Thread starter John Connellan
- Start date
Apparently it took between three and six hours. Jesus was dead by the time the soldiers came to apply crucifracture (breaking the legs so that the victim would suffocate).
Here is an exhaustive medical explanation, with references, of how a person dies when crucified. I couldn't understand half the terms they use.
The English word excruciating comes from Latin excruciatus, "out of the cross".
A quotation by the Roman Lucius Seneca (3 BC-65 AD) in Epistle 101 to Lucilius:
Here is an exhaustive medical explanation, with references, of how a person dies when crucified. I couldn't understand half the terms they use.
The actual cause of death by crucifixion was multifactorial and varied somewhat with each ease, but the two most prominent causes probably were hypovolemic shock and exhaustion asphyxia. Other possible contributing factors included dehydration, stress-induced arrhythmias, and congestive heart failure with the rapid accumulation of pericardial and perhaps pleural effusions. Crucifracture (breaking the legs below the knees), if performed, led to an asphyxic death within minutes.
The English word excruciating comes from Latin excruciatus, "out of the cross".
A quotation by the Roman Lucius Seneca (3 BC-65 AD) in Epistle 101 to Lucilius:
"Can anyone be found who would prefer wasting away in pain dying limb by limb, or letting out his life drop by drop, rather than expiring once for all? Can any man by found willing to be fastened to the accursed tree, long sickly, already deformed, swelling with ugly wounds on shoulders and chest, and drawing the breath of life amid long drawn-out agony? He would have many excuses for dying even before mounting the cross
(Dialogue 3:2.2).
(Dialogue 3:2.2).
Jenyar said:... is an exhaustive medical explanation, with references, of how a person dies when crucified. I couldn't understand half the terms they use.
The actual cause of death by crucifixion was multifactorial and varied somewhat with each ease, but the two most prominent causes probably were hypovolemic shock and exhaustion asphyxia. Other possible contributing factors included dehydration, stress-induced arrhythmias, and congestive heart failure with the rapid accumulation of pericardial and perhaps pleural effusions.
The quote given essentially states that the two main causes of death were organ shut-down due to insufficient perfusion, and asphyxia, the combination of CO2 excess and O2 deficiency in the blood.
Personally, I might consider those two the same basic cause... but whatever.
In this case, hypovolemic shock should probably be generalized "hemorrhagic shock," since, as we're talking about crucifixion here, all organ failure would be triggered by an acute external bleeding episode.
It goes on to name other causes as dehydration, irregularity of the sinus node (heart beat problem), and heart failure as characterized by the over-abundance of fluid (edema) in the cavities surrounding the heart and lungs.
I honestly don't see how any one of those three could have killed somebody before the first two factors listed did.
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Couldn't they cause heart-failure?honestly don't see how any one of those three could have killed somebody before the first two factors listed did