T-Poles

The following graphic short story about hanging off clothesline poles appeared in alternative newsweeklies in various cities across the country in 1988.

 

 



Source and copyright owned by: Lynda Barry, The! Greatest! Of! Marlys!

Seattle WA, Sasquatch Books, 2000. Go visit their website, www.sasquatchbooks.com



 

 

Now here are some real-life T-poles.

 

 

 A clothesline pole being dug out of a backyard on Baudin St, New Orleans, La. 

The same pole viewed from a different point.

Two utility poles on Greenfield Lane, Scituate, Mass.

Another utility pole elsewhere in New England.

  

Now what does this have to do with the way the Romans executed people by suspending them  in torture on a pole? Simple:





 

People weep and mourn over their destiny and often curse Cadmus, because he brought the Tau into the class of letters. For they affirm that tyrants follow its figure and imitate its form and then join pieces of wood together with the same figure to impale people on them. From this, the evil name is united with the evil device. For the stauros has been created by this letter [the Tau], but has been given a name by people.

κλάουσιν ἄνθρωποι καὶ τὴν αὑτῶν τύχην ὀδύρονται καὶ Κάδμῳ καταρῶνται πολλάκις, ὅτι τὸ Ταῦ ἐς τὸ τῶν στοιχείων γένος παρήγαγε· τῷ γὰρ τούτου σώματί φασι τοὺς τυράννους ἀκολουθήσαντας καὶ μιμησαμένους αὐτοῦ τὸ πλάσμα ἔπειτα σχήματι τοιούτῳ ξύλα τεκτήναντας ἀνθρώπους ἀνασκολοπίζειν ἐπ᾿ αὐτά· ἀπὸ δὲ τούτου καὶ τῷ τεχνήματι τῷ πονηρῷ τὴν πονηρὰν ἐπωνυμίαν συνελθεῖν. ὅ σταυρός εἶναι ὑπό τούτου μέν ἐδημιουργήθη ὑπό δέ ἀνθρώπων ὀνομάζεται. [1]

And the Greek letter Tau is the same as our letter "T." Particularly in the ancient world when people wrote in all caps. Those fabrications weren't shaped like crosses, then. So where is the evidence for crucifixion? Come on, scholars! Where is the evidence? You'll find there is... none.


[1] Lucian, Jud. voc. 12., quoted in John Granger Cook, Crucifixion in the Mediterranean World, Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck 2014, p. 5. (modifications mine).