Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied ornailed to a large wooden cross (of various shapes) and left to hang until dead. The term comes from the Latin crucifixio ("fixing to a cross", from the prefix cruci-, from crux ("cross"), + verb figere, "fix or bind fast").[1]
Crucifixion was in use particularly among the Seleucids, Carthaginians, and Romans from about the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD. In the year 337, Emperor Constantine I abolished it in the Roman Empire, out of veneration for Jesus Christ, the most famous victim of crucifixion.[2][3] It was also used as a form of execution in Japan for criminals, inflicted also on some Christians.
A crucifix (an image of Christ crucified on a cross) is the main religious symbol for Catholics,Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox, but most Protestant Christians prefer to use a crosswithout the figure (the "corpus": Latin for "body") of Christ. Most crucifixes portray Jesus on a Latin cross, rather than any other shape, such as a Tau cross or a Greek cross.[4] The term crucifix derives from the Latin crucifixus or cruci fixus, past participle passive of crucifigere or cruci figere, meaning "to crucify" or "to fix to a cross"
