Crucifixion

Jesus was crucified in the year 33 AD on Golgotha, the ‘place of the skull,’ near Jerusalem. According to John the Evangelist, Jesus had to carry his own cross to this mount. Other evangelists report that a certain Simon of Cyrene was forced to help him. Three women close to Jesus went with him: his mother Mary, her half-sister Mary of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene. At the moment that Jesus died in the night, the curtain of the Temple in Jerusalem tore in two and the earth shook. After his death Jesus was called ‘Christ’ (the anointed one, the Redeemer), because he took on all of the sins of mankind. Christ hanging on the cross became the central, iconic image of Christianity. From the 13th century on the emphasis in crucifixion scenes came to lie on Christ’s suffering. They include narrative details, such as the crucified thieves to either side of him, the soldiers who cast lots to divide his clothing, the soldier who pierced him with a lance, and the soldier Stephaton who gave him a sponge soaked in vinegar. The carrying of the cross is a crucial motif of Christ’s martyrdom in series of the Passion and the Stations of the Cross.