MYSTERIES FROM THE HOLY LAND | ||
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THE SHROUD OF TURIN:
STARTLING NEWS FROM A STRANGE SOURCE |  Ian Wilson continues: "The next group of wounds that call for our attention, although not blood flows as such, offer not the slightest cause for questioning the credibility built up so far. These consist of numerous small marks, clearly visible on the photographic negative, peppering both the back and front of the body from the shoulders downward, excluding only the head, forearms, and feet. Each is about 1-1/2 inches long, they are more numerous on the dorsal image, and their number, because some are so indistinct, has been variously estimated from 90 to 120. "It takes little deduction to identify what these marks are. Close inspection of both positive and negative reveals that they are distinctly dumbbelled in shape and are grouped generally in threes, spreading out from a horizontal axis across the loins, fanning upwards on the shoulders from either side, downwards from the right on the legs. We are clearly dealing with a whipping, the thongs of the instrument in question being evidently studded with twin balls of metal designed to cause the maximum pain. Doctors define the wounds caused as contusions and again have noted that they are physiologically accurate. As even the layman is able to appreciate, the very pattern of these marks carries conviction of authenticity. We are able to see that all blows were delivered from behind. The wounds on the front of the body seem to have been caused by the weapon having been aimed to whip round onto the upper chest and the front of the thighs. We are able to deduce the height at which the executioner's hand was raised. We have good grounds for the speculation that because the center from which the blows radiate on the right side is a little higher than the corresponding center on the left, there were two men carrying out the flogging, the one on the right being a little taller than his companion and having the somewhat sadistic tendency to lash his victim's legs as well as the back." (Note: The Roman flagrum being the device that caused these wounds was identified in the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, ed. William Smith (London 1851) and was frequently mentioned in the accounts of early Christian martyrdom - being dreaded for its plumbatae, pellets of lead or sometimes bone with which the thongs were tipped)  "Inexorably we find ourselves bound to follow the sequence of the Passion, as we study the next group of wounds visible on the Shroud, again described by Dr. Willis: 'If we examine the dorsal image and study the part between the large scorch marks and repairs just below the top of the shoulders, there is a quadrangular shading measuring four inches by three and a half inches over the right shoulder; further down on the left side there is another area of excessive shading in the scapular region. This is rounded with a diameter of about five inches. These two areas represent broad excoriated wounds superimposed on the wounds from the scourging, which can be seen through them and have been widened and altered in form and perhaps in some cases obliterated compared with the marks alongside. These wounds could well have originated from the friction of some heavy object rubbing on an already damaged area of skin.' "It needs little imagination for us to identify these wounds as from the carrying of a cross. We know that it was a prescribed part of the crucifixion ritual for the victim to carry his cross through the streets to the place of execution, suffering on the way the taunts and jeers of passers-by. In general, it would seem, the whole cross was not carried but only the crossbeam, the upright or "stipes" remaining permanently in position. An average crossbeam, weighing an estimated one hundred pounds, would alone have been enough of a burden for a man already severely weakened by the effects of the merciless scourging. The chafing of the shoulders observed by Dr. Willis in the case of the man of the Shroud, significantly appearing over the marks of the scourging, is entirely consistent with the carrying of such a heavy beam.  The sufferings of the victim were further exacerbated by what would seem to have been heavy falls. Professor Judica-Cordiglia has identified heavy damage to the knees of the man of the Shroud, there being a large contusion to the left knee together with excoriations with jagged edges in the region of the patella or kneecap, and further, smaller contusion wounds to the right knee. It hardly needs mentioning that Jesus' difficulty carrying the cross, specifically recorded in the Gospels, strongly imply repeated falls. | |
