Josephus applies this point specifically to crucifixion when he says, in reference to the rebels who had seized control of Jerusalem in 66 CE and killed some of the hated ruling priests: “They actually went so far in their impiety as to cast out their dead bodies without burial, although the Jews are so careful about burial rites [peri tas taphas], that even malefactors who have been sentenced to crucifixion are taken down and buried before sunset” (Jewish War 4.317, italics added). Those “sentenced to crucifixion” in the time of Josephus were people crucified by the Romans (and not by Jewish
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