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Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment and torture in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam, or stake, and usually left to hang until eventual death, which could take minutes to days. Although this process typically takes many days while coupled with starvation, the executioner may deliberately or inadvertently sever an artery of the crucified subject while nailing them to the cross, killing them within a matter of minutes due to rapid and large-scale blood loss. Crucifixion was extremely common in the ancient world—Persia, Carthage, and Rome are among several civilizations that are known to have widely used this method to execute condemned individuals. In the 21st century, it remains a legally sanctioned punishment in some Muslim-majority countries and is also frequently recorded in other parts of the world in connection with cases of murder, war crimes, and genocide.

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