Crucifixion is the execution of a criminal by nailing or binding to a cross. It was a common form of capital punishment from the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD, especially among the Persians, Egyptians, Carthaginians, and Romans.
The purpose of crucifixion was to provide a particularly painful, gruesome, and public death, using whatever means was most expedient for that goal. The Romans used crucifixion for slaves and criminals but never for their own citizens.
Roman law provided that the criminal be scourged before being put to death; the accused also had to carry either the entire cross or, more commonly, the crossbeam from the place of scourging to the place of execution.
The practice was abolished in 337 by Constantine the Great out of respect for Jesus Christ, who died on the cross.
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