The Legal and Medical Aspects of the Trial and Death of
Christ : Part 2
by Robert Bucklin, M.D., J.D. Las Vegas, Nevada
Copyright 1970
II Medical
We now turn to a consideration of the medical aspects of the
passion and death of Christ. The events leading to this
period have been described and need not be repeated. A
somewhat different approach must be taken in reviewing the
medical facts than was taken in the review of the legal
matter. Since the basis for medical interpretations is made
upon physical evidence, as much as upon documentation, it is
most important that there be a careful separation of what is
fact from what is fancy or fiction. Many positive facts
about the crucifixion have been very well documented. The
date, for example, has been established beyond reasonable
doubt to have been April 7, A.D. 30, and the site of the
Crucifixion was the hill named Golgotha which was a short
distance from the north wall of the City of Jerusalem.
In order to place the events in focus it might be well to
trace the footsteps of Christ for the last few hours of His
life. After the establishment of the Holy Eucharist with the
disciples at the Cenacle on Thursday evening, Christ and
some of His disciples left the city and proceeded in a
northeasterly direction to the Garden of Gethsemane, passing
through the Old Fountain Gate in the south end of the city
and walking along the Valley of the Cedron. It was in the
Garden that the passion really began, and here it is that
Christ suffered the bloody sweat. This phenomenon, which is
know as hemohydrosis, is exceedingly rare and is explained
by hemorrhage into the sweat glands. The specific cause of
the hemorrhage is not known, but it probably related to
increased vascular permeability based on alteration in
vascular dynamics. There is a probability that the highly
emotional state in which Christ must have been at the time
could have influenced the autonomic nervous system to an
extent that capillaries became dilated and more permeable.
The amount of blood lost is unknown, but it can be assumed
on the basis of the events which followed that the amount
was small. No comment is made in the scripture about there
being saturation of garments.
Before the party left the Garden of Olives to proceed back
to Jerusalem, Christ was arrested by the soldiers of the
high priest and was taken to the courtyard of the home of
Caiaphas which was located in the southwest portion of
Jerusalem not far from the Cenacle. This was the site of the
Jewish trial. During the trial, it is recorded that Christ
was subjected to a number of indignities including blows
about His face. Later, after Christ was taken to the Court
Of Pontius Pilate He underwent the scourging and the
crowning with thorns.
After the death sentence had been confirmed, crucifixion was
ordered and Christ was given His cross to carry. The
distance actually traveled by Christ with the cross was
approximately six hundred yards. During that distance,
tradition tells us of several falls, and as a result bruises
and abrasions were sustained in various portions of the body
The time consumed by the trip to Golgotha must have been
fairly short, and since crucifixion was a common method of
carrying out the death penalty, it may be assumed that the
soldiers who performed the nailing and suspension of the
victim on the cross were experienced in their duties and
that this portion of the process was also done quickly.
Scripture tells us that Christ was suspended on the cross
for approximately three hours, and that He died at about
three o'clock in the afternoon. The statements of Pilate
when he was told that Christ was dead give us reason to
believe that death occurred more quickly than might have
been expected. Quite frequently suspended criminals on a
cross would live for a number of hours or days. Pilate was
asked for permission to remove the body and up until that
time little thought had been given to what would be done
with the body after its removal from the cross. A problem
was presented to the Jews as far as burial was concerned.
Since the day following the death was the Sabbath, and in
that particular year was also the Passover, it was a holy
day and according to Jewish law no work was permitted. The
burial of a body was considered labor and therefore had to
be completed prior to sundown on Friday, the day of death.
Because of the short period, it was not possible for the
disciples to perform the usual burial ritual which included
anointing the body carefully with warm scented water and
oils before placing it in the sepulchre. All that there was
time to do was to wrap the body quickly in a long linen
cloth which had been brought to the scene by Joseph of
Arimathea and to place within the folds of the cloth and on
the body a mixture of aloes and myrrh to serve as a
preservative. It has been estimated that about sixty-five
pounds of this preservative was used. The cloth was
approximately twice the length of the body so that when the
body was laid upon the cloth in a linear fashion the cloth
could be folded over to cover both the front and back
portions of the body. The arms were flexed over the chest,
rigor mortis having been broken in order to accomplish this.
A narrow band of cloth was placed around the chin and over
the top of the head in order to keep the jaw in place. In
this position the body was transported the short distance to
the sepulchre and placed in a crypt. Nothing definite is
know about the structure of the sepulchre and it may have
been a cave-like structure or a simple shallow grave. Most
evidence seems to point to the fact that the sepulchre was
in the form of a small chamber slightly more than six feet
in its greatest dimension.
The body lay in the sepulchre for an unknown period of time
and was gone from the place early on Sunday morning when the
burial party returned to complete the embalming procedures.
At that time only the wrapping cloths were found in the
sepulchre. The long linen cloth in which the body was
wrapped has been preserved through the centuries and it is
this cloth which is known today as the Shroud of Turin. It
has a most colorful history which has been traced in detail
by a number of European authors. Attempts have been made to
destroy or damage the cloth and the marks of this damage are
still visible. On at least one occasion the cloth was burnt
and a number of holes were repaired by paired patches made
of a different type of cloth. It is beyond the scope of this
paper to review the proof of authenticity of the Shroud but
it may be said that there is no serious question about its
authenticity. At the present time the Shroud of Turin is
preserved in the cathedral in Turin, Italy, and it is the
personal property of Umberto, the former King of Italy. The
cloth is remarkable because on it there is imprinted an
image of a human body showing frontal and dorsal views.
Present also on the cloth are blood stains, marks left by
fire, and some large water stains. The cloth was first
photographed in 1898 by Secondo Pia and again in 1931 by G.
Enrie. The photographs of Enrie are remarkable for their
clarity and it is the study of these photographs, including
life-size enlargements, which are the basis of my medical
interpretation of the events of the Crucifixion. At the
present time there is no certain proof as to the causation
of the imprint marks on the cloth. A number of theories have
been suggested including direct contact with stains on the
body, development of a type of "negative" photograph, or a
theory based on development of vapors or emanations which
rose from the body and stained the cloth. Which of these
theories is accurate can only be determined by future
examination of the imprints by scientific methods. It would
seem that the most plausible possibility at this time is
that some type of vapor was formed by an action between the
sweat and moisture on the body with the chemicals,
particularly the aloes, which was used as a preservative. By
an unknown process, a perfect imprint image of a human body,
both front and back, resulted. The imprints outline the body
of an adult make 71 inches in height and weighing an
estimated 175 pounds. The stiffness of the extremities in
the imprints is strongly suggestive that rigor mortis had
taken place. On the imprint image there is evidence of a
number of injuries, each of which produced a very
characteristic mark. Some of these reflect abrasions and
contusions and have left imprints characteristic of this
type of injury. Others reflect the flow of blood from large
cavities and have left equally characteristic imprint
images. One of the largest stains appears on the frontal
portion in the chest area and represent a large outflow of
blood from a body cavity. It is immediately apparent to the
investigator that the image on the Shroud is in effect a
mirror image with right and left reversed. This is easily
explained by the position of the cloth above and below the
body during its tenure in the sepulchre.
The injuries to the body can be best divided into five
groups: The marks of the scourge, the nail imprints in the
wrists, the nail marks in the feet, the wounds on the head,
and the wound in the chest. I propose to take each of these
groups and to explore them in medical detail, attempting to
explain their nature and their cause. The marks of the
scourge appear on the front and back of the body but are
most distinct over the back. Here they extend from the
shoulders down as far as the calves of the legs. On the
front of the body they also appear on the chest and legs,
but there is no evidence of marks of the scourge on the arms
or forearms. From this fact it may be assumed that the arms
were elevated over the head at the time of the scourging.
The scourging was done as a preliminary to the crucifixion,
and according to historians, it was a common event. The
implement used was a whip-like structure called a flagrum.
It consisted of two or three thongs, at the ends of which
were tied small bits of either bone or metal. The implement
was applied to the body in such a way as to produce bleeding
by the metal or bone tearing the skin. The marks, as they
appear on the Shroud image, clearly define the shape of the
tip of the flagrum. It is notable that the imprints of the
scourge appear in a sheaf-like fashion directed downward and
medially from the shoulders. Their appearance would serve to
indicate that there were either two persons doing the
scourging or that one person changed his position from the
right to the left side. The number of scourge marks is
particularly interesting. It was the Jewish law that the
scourging would be limited to forty blows, and, as a matter
of habit, the limit was practically set at thirty-nine.
Scourging under the Roman law, as occurred in the case of
Christ, was unlimited in its extent and those who have
counted the scourge-mark images on the Shroud have variously
estimated them to be as many as one hundred.
From an examination of the imprint of the back, it is
possible to draw some conclusions as to the structure and
manner of carrying the cross. Most of the religious
paintings and pictures show Christ carrying His entire
cross, supported over one shoulder. It is highly improbable
that such was the actual situation. In the first place, if
the cross was made according to what we are told was the
manner of the times, it would have been an extremely heavy
structure, variously estimated to have weighed nearly 300
pounds. It is doubtful that anyone could have carried this
weight even for six hundred yards. As a matter of fact,
since crucifixion was a common method of putting victims to
death, the upright portion of the cross, known as the
stipes, was permanently in place at the point of execution.
It was a long beam firmly embedded in the ground and
extending up for about eight feet. The crossbar or patibulum
was the portion carried by the victim. The weight of the
crosspiece is unknown but has been estimated to weigh as
much as eighty pounds. The manner in which the patibulum was
supported on the body appears definite by examination of the
imprints of the back on the Shroud. Had the crossbar been
carried over one shoulder, it could reasonably be expected
that it would have produced a large bruise on the shoulder.
Since all the other bruises suffered by Christ during His
passion have appeared so distinctly on the Shroud image, one
wonders why there is no evidence of a bruise on the
shoulder. However, examination of the back in the region of
the scapulae shows two large areas of bruising. These might
have been produced by the crossbar being supported over the
upper portion of the back rather than being balanced on one
shoulder. A weight thus supported is actually easier to
carry, since it is divided over a large area. Another
explanation for these bruises might be the writhing of the
victim while suspended on the cross.
Examination of imprints left by the hands and arms of Christ
provides a great deal of information, and here again it
becomes immediately apparent that the position of the nails
as ordinarily depicted is subject to some question. The
hands as they appear on the imprint, show the marks of four
fingers well. There is, however, no evidence of imprints
left by the thumbs. The hands are crossed, with the left
hand appearing on top of the right and covering the right
wrist. In the region of the left wrist, there is a
bloodstain which represents the mark left by the nail. That
this mark is not in the palm is easily ascertained by simple
measurements taken from the site of the mark to the tips of
the fingers, proving that the mark is not in the center of
the palm, but in the wrist. The mark left by the nail in the
right wrist is covered by the left hand.
Experiments on suspended cadavers have served to prove that
a nail passed directly through the palm could not support a
body weighing 175 pounds. There is insufficient tissue
between the metacarpal bones of the palm to adequately
support a nail, and the nail quickly tears through the soft
tissues and skin and fails to support the body. A nail,
however, placed through the carpal bones and supported by
the bones and by the ligaments of the wrist was proved
adequate to sustain the weight of a body satisfactorily.
There are some who feel that the nail was placed higher that
the wrist, between the radius and ulna. It is true that such
a placing would be done easily, but it also appears that
there is sufficient space between the radius and ulna near
the wrist to allow a nail to enter. The position of the nail
still remains a point of minor controversy, although the
great weight of evidence indicates that it was placed
through the carpal bones, which it separated but did not
fracture. The bloodstain on the left wrist is composed of
two projecting stains which are separated from one another
by approximately a ten-degree angle. This angulation is an
evidence of the fact that the body while suspended on the
cross assumed two different positions in such a way that the
blood running from the nail hole in the wrist ran downward
from the wrist in two slightly divergent streams. This fact
is further supported by examination and measurement of the
angles of flow of the blood streams on the forearms. Each of
these blood streams on the image extends almost
horizontally. If one were able to extend the arms laterally
until the blood streams were vertical, it would be found
that they are extended in a position approximately
sixty-five degrees from the horizontal.
From the positions of the streams of blood both on the wrist
and on the forearm, it is obvious that there must have been
some other support for the body than the nails in the
wrists. The author was privileged to observe the suspension
of a human on a cross and also to suspend himself for a
brief period of time, using leather wristlets as supports.
The pain suffered by a suspension by the wrists alone is all
but unbearable, with the tensions and strains being directed
to the deltoid and pectoral muscles. These muscles promptly
assume a state of spasm, and the victim so suspended is
physically unable to make use of his thoracic muscles of
respiration. However, as soon as a support is provided for
the feet, the suspended victim is able to relieve the strain
on his wrists and to direct his weight toward his feet. By
so doing, he elevates his body to a slight degree by
extension of his legs. This change in position is of
approximately ten degrees and readily accounts for the
divergence in the streams of blood as they pass down the
wrists and forearms on the Shroud image. The fact that on
the imprint of the hands no thumb is visible is explained by
the fact that the nail passing through the bones of the
wrist either penetrated or stimulated the median nerve. The
motor function of the median nerve is flexion of the thumb,
and the flexed thumb over the palm remained in that position
after rigor mortis was established and for that reason does
not appear on the hand imprint. Some suggestion of the pain
suffered by a suspended victim with a nail through or near
his median nerve is possible when one realizes that the
median nerve is a sensory as well as a motor nerve.
A study of the imprints of the feet is somewhat less
complicated than the study of those of the arms and hands.
On the Shroud there are two prints representing the marks
left by blood-covered feet. One of these, the mark of the
right foot, is a nearly complete footprint on which the
imprint of the heel and the toes can be seen clearly. In the
center of this is a square image surrounded by a pale halo
and representing the position of the nail in the foot. The
imprint made by the left foot is considerably less clear and
does not in any way resemble a footprint. Examination of the
calves of the legs on the dorsal view shows that the right
calf has left a well-defined imprint on which the marks of
the scourge can be well seen. The imprint of the left calf
is considerably less distinct, and this, coupled with the
fact that the left heel is elevated above the right heel,
leads to the conclusion that there is some degree of flexion
of the left leg at the knee, and that the development of
rigor mortis has left the leg in this position. It appears
that the right foot was directly against the wood of the
cross, and that the left leg was flexed slightly at the knee
and the foot rotated so that the left foot rested on the
instep of the right foot. By this position, the blood on the
soles is accounted for readily. A single nail was then used
to fix both feet in position. Whether or not there was any
other support for the feet than the wood of the cross has
been a matter of some conjecture, and up to the present time
the point cannot be settled. The reason for the nailing of
the feet was twofold: the simplest reason was to prevent the
victim from flaying his legs about, but the second reason
was more basic and depended upon the fact that a victim
supported only by his wrists was unable to survive for more
than a very short time. By having some kind of foot support,
he was able to alternate his position, resulting in the
prolongation of his agony. This fact becomes obvious when
one positions himself on a cross suspended by his wrists
alone. By breaking the legs of the crucified person, the
foot support is removed and death occurs more rapidly.
The marks on the head constituted the third group of
injuries. On the front of the face, in the forehead, there
are several blood prints. One of these has the shape of a
figure 3. On the back of the head, circling the scalp, is
another row of blood prints. These were left by the crown of
thorns. High on the scalp are similar blood stains which can
be explained if one assumes that the crown of thorns,
instead of a circlet, was shaped more like a cap and that
there were branches and thorns laced over the top of the
cap. The thorns were of the Zizyphus spina species and were
approximately one inch in length. Passing through the skin
and subcutaneous tissues of the scalp, they lacerated
vessels and, as is well known of scalp injuries, there was a
considerable amount of bleeding because of the retraction of
the torn vessels. On the face, corresponding to the right
cheek, there is a swelling of the malar region which has
resulted in partial closure of the right eye. Presumably
this injury occurred during the time of the trial in the
courtyard of Caiaphas, when it is recorded that Christ was
struck in the face by one of the soldiers. There is a very
slight deviation of the nose, possibly reflecting a fracture
of the nasal cartilage. At the tip of the nose there is a
bruise which may have occurred during one of the falls while
carrying the cross. A small mustache is readily visible on
the upper lip, and covering the chin is a short beard which
is divided into two portions. The straightness of the sides
of the face and the separation of the locks of hair from the
face are accounted for by a chin band which was placed
around the jaw and over the top of the head.
The last of the major wounds on the body of Christ is that
in the right side. This wound was made by the lance after
death, and although it is partly obliterated by one of the
several patches on the cloth, its imprint is still clear.
This imprint of blood shows the effects of gravity and
actual drips and droplets of blood are clearly seen. There
is also evidence of separation of clot from serum. At this
point, and also more clearly seen on the dorsal imprint near
the lower portion of the back, there is sign of another
fluid which has been mingled with blood. In the writing of
John, it is stated after the lance pierced the side of
Christ, there was an outflow of blood and water. The source
of the blood cannot be seriously questioned since it must
have come from the heart, and from the position of the blood
imprint as well as its structure it can be assumed that this
blood came from the right side of the heart. This chamber
was dilated after death and when pierced by the lance, the
blood readily flowed from it. A considerable portion of the
blood must have dripped onto the ground, but enough was left
to form a large stain on the chest and to be later
transferred to the Shroud. The source of the water described
by John presents more controversy. One possibility is that
the fluid represented pericardial fluid. However, the amount
of pericardial fluid normally present is in the nature of 20
to 30 cubic centimeters, too small an amount to be seen by
the naked eye as it came out of the wound in the side with
the blood from the heart.
Another theory is that there was a hydrohemothorax caused by
the trauma to the chest by the scourging and increased by
the position of the body on the cross prior to death. By
gravity the heavier blood could have separated, leaving two
layers, and when the lance pierced the side it released
first the blood and then the clear fluid. A combination of
the two theories might well explain the situation. An
accumulation of fluid in the pleural space without
hemorrhage is a logical conclusion as the result of
congestive heart failure related to the position of the
victim on the cross. It is quite possible that there was a
considerable amount of fluid so accumulated, enough that
when the lance pierced the side, that fluid would be clearly
seen. Then by an actual puncture of the heart there would be
an outflow of blood. If the theory of pleural effusion plus
puncture of the right side of the heart were sustained, it
would be expected that the water would have been visible
from the side before the blood and that John's words would
have appeared as "water and blood' rather than "blood and
water." As a matter of interest, the words appear in the
former sequence in several of the early Greek translations
of the New Testament.
When the body was removed from the cross and placed in a
horizontal position, there was a second large outflow of
blood from the wound in the side. Much of this must have
fallen onto the ground, but some stayed on the body and
flowed around the right side, leaving a large imprint of
clot and serum in the lumbar area. It is in this imprint
where the mixture of the blood and the watery fluid is best
seen and its presence on the back lends further support to
the theory that there was a pleural effusion rather than the
water having come from the pericardial sac.
In summary, the legal facts as related to the trial of
Christ have been examined and the various illegalities of
procedural and substantive law have been reviewed. This has
been followed by a resume of the medical aspects of the
Passion and Death as revealed by a study of the Shroud at
Turin. Taken in combination, the legal and the medical
studies add a great deal to the store of knowledge available
about the facts of Christ's last days.
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