Crossings - A Mystery Play

Описание: Of course, crucifixion too could serve as ‘popular entertainment’; It could happen in mime as in the representation of the execution of the robber chief Laureolus, at which a great deal of artificial blood flowed. The Roman poet Juvenal wished that the actor Lentulus were on a real cross in this fearsome piece; it was an abomination to the satirist that the actor, as a member of the upper class, should debase himself by such a performance. Later, a real criminal seems to have played the part of the robber chief: we read how he was hung on a cross and torn to pieces by a Scottish bear…”
–Martin Hengel, discussing a theatre piece performed in 30-40 AD, Crucifixion in the Ancient World and the Folly of the Message of the Cross