(December 12, 2015 at 2:24 pm)CapnAwesome Wrote:(December 12, 2015 at 8:42 am)Rhythm Wrote: The straps business was, primarily, an apologetic attempt to reconcile the fact that the whole palm nailing business was nonsense. There needed to be another way for the story to be true, in the minds of believers. You'll find it plastered all over The Bible Is Really True Dat Cams.
You know, I've long heard that you'd have to be crucified through the wrists, that nails through the hands wouldn't support the weight, however I've become skeptical of that. I think most of the weight would probably be supported by the nails through the feet, and any nails through hands or wrists would just be to keep the person upright. I'm pretty sure you could crucify someone through the hands just fine.
Even in the case of the single bone we have there is still evidence of a thin piece of wood being placed between the ankle and the nail so that the subject could not wiggle off the nail, sort of like a washer. This procedure would have been even more useful on the hands. There is also no reason to doubt that ropes could have been used to secure the arms to the crossbeam in addition to the nails. By the time the Romans inherited the practice from Carthage it had been in use for centuries and the kinks must have been worked out.
