My bad.maybe you could start with the first posting # 1 hopefully you will see where I said his legs were not broken.
Yes, to ensure the victim was dead before removal. Breaking legs with an iron bar was one way, there were others apparently – stabbing, smashing the sternum, even lighting a fire at the foot of the cross to speed up Asphyxiation! Maybe that was deployed to keep warm at the same time.now I am wondering if you know why the Romans would break the legs ?
In Judea, there was the religious issue and bodies were not to be left overnight – although the crucified, depending on the method, could last for days. Hence the request to get the bodies down, and the breaking of legs.
According to the writings of Seneca, it seems there were as many ways of crucifying someone as there were pople to be crucified, and then you have the question of whether it's three people, or 300 or 3,000 ...
As Josehus says in The Jewish War:
"So the soldiers, out of the wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed those they caught, one after one way, and another after another, to the crosses, by way of jest, when their multitude was so great, that room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies." (Josephus, The Jewish War, 5.11.1)
Quite. Artistic license. An inch off the ground would suffice. In fact, if you really want to torture the victim, hanging by the wrists with the toes just touching the ground – but not enough to support the weight – is even 'sweeter', if you're that way inclined.which means the one hungup could not be up as high as many of the pictures suggest .