Backglass wrote: Didn't I read that it isn't physically possible for a human body to be suspended by three nails and remain hanging there...and that the images you speak of are actually "artists conceptions" rather than factual?
Hi Backglass, how's it going?
I've heard that too, but there's an M.D. in Michigan who's done extensive study on this and states it's entirely possible. He'll even put you up on a cross if you want; he's got one in his garage. There are also people, (in the Phillipines?) who voluntarily reinact the crucifixtion each year. They don't actually kill them though. I've even heard of a British guy who let them nail him to the cross (and survived); he was credible enough to be feartured on a History Channel documentary, but I have no other info about him.
Like Vtmarik said, there's archaeological and historical data supporting crucifixtion by nailing. It didn't only happen to Christ.
Actually nailing was a little more humane in that you usually died from shock and blood loss within a few hours. Being tied to a cross could prolong death for three or four days. St. Andrew took four days to die being crucified that way.