Question about the two thieves at the Crucifixion. Here is the question:

[raccoon]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by REP (a host of the General Discussion forum).

Was it customary in first-century Roman provinces to crucify people for just being a thief?

[Kelvin Mace]

1. Yes

but typically, as today, it would depend on who you were, how much clout you had, and who you stole from and how much clout they had.

[MissMarple]

2. This is what I found on google.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14750495

"The Romans perfected crucifion for 500 years until it was abolished by Constantine I in the 4th century AD. Crucifixion in Roman times was applied mostly to slaves, disgraced soldiers, Christians and foreigners--only very rarely to Roman citizens."

[leftyohiolib]

3. they crucified jesus and he did nothing , xcept stir up trouble for the 1 percenters

[hughee99]

4. Jesus did nothing? I'm surprised he wasn't in jail far earlier!

According to the bible (if my distant memory serves, anyway), he was guilty of many things that are illegal now (I'll admit, I don't know the local laws at the time):

Bootlegging (turning water into wine)
Fishing without a license (see miraculous catch of fish)
Practicing medicine without a license (curing the sick, blind, etc...)

He also killed somebody's fig tree.
And I'm not sure if this is an actual crime anywhere, but "raising the dead".

[intaglio]

6. Killed off an entire herd of domesticated pigs n/t

[snooper2]

7. There was no "they", it was God's idea...

The Holy Spirit just went along with it...

This should explain it for folks----

[intaglio]

5. IIRC generally the Romans allowed local punishments

and the case of the "thieves" at the putative crucifixion is an odd one. Firstly the Greek word used is λεστες (lestes) which is better translated as "robber" which implies a more violent profession. Even so they would have been unlikely to have been executed in this manner unless they were escaped slaves or rebels.

There were a group who robbed and were also a rebels and that is the Sicarii but Sicarii were hated by all in the area so it might have been impolitic to associate Jesus with such a group. Interestingly it is sometimes proposed that the name Iscariot means "of the Sicarii"

BTW I would suggest World History or Religion forums as better able to handle this post rather than GD

[riqster]

8. They crucified people to make an example of them

"Don't fuck with Rome" was the message of crucifixion. A good example was what happened after the failure of the Spartacus rebellion. 6000 rebels crucified along a roadway.

Anybody who rocked the boat was fair game for the cross.

[REP]

9. Locking

This thread does not fit the SoP of this Forum.