As I understand it - and I freely confess my ignorance in this area - that was pretty much the fate of convicted criminals, in an age when such criminals would have been put to the sword without trial. Crucifixion, being such a public thing, was restricted mainly to political insurgents as a warning to the populace: "This could be you!" Which sort of puts the lie to the two thieves or whatever they were that were nailed up next to our hero.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'