Gunnar Samuelsson investigates the philological aspects of how ancient Greek, Latin and Hebrew/Aramaic texts depict crucifixions. A survey of the texts shows that there has been too narrow a view of the "crucifixion" terminology. The various terms do not only refer to "crucify" and "cross." They are used much more diversely. Hence, most of the crucifixion accounts that scholars cite in the ancient literature have to be rejected, leaving only a few. "Though sensationalistic (especially in the hands of the media), the claim is ultimately anticlimactic and sober. Samuelsson investigates every instance of the language of crucifixion in ancient Greek, Latin, and Hebrew sources: Homer and Aesop, classical historians and philosophers, playwrights and orators, Hellenistic and Roman historians, ancient papyri, Roman philosophers and poets, as well as texts from the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Jewish literature, and finally the NT... This study is highly persuasive." Zeba Crook in Religious Studies Review . Vol. 38. Num 2. June 2012. "In the summer of 2010 there was a brief international media storm, with headlines like 'Jesus did not die on cross, says scholar' or 'Evidence shows: Jesus never crucified'. We now have the thesis that provoked those headlines, so that we can judge for ourselves. (...) If you thought you knew what a 'cross' was, or if you thought there was a simple correspondence between Greek stauros , Latin crux and English 'cross', be prepared to be surprised." R. T. (Dick) France in Evangelical Quarterly Jan 2013, Vol. 85 Issue 1, p. 72-74. "I believ e that many of my general statements about the employment of the Greek and Aramaic terms by Josephus and the Targums as strictly applicable to crucifixion would be strongly contested by the Swedish scholar Gunnar Samuelsson, author of a very learned, not to say pedantic, recent doctoral dissertation on the subject published in 2011." Geza Vermes in Standpoint Magazine , April 2013. "Once again, it turns up that even the views of internationally acknowledged scholars could be challenged by a young Ph.D student (...) The book is fascinating reading for should find itself on the desk of all Biblical scholars those who so often speak or write more theologically than factually about the crucifixion of Jesus for the general audience. It is surprising that such a common term as crucifixion has never before been dealt with so thoroughly and so convincingly by a classical or Biblical scholar." Zdzislaw Kapera in The Polish Journal of Biblical Research 11 (2012), 162-163. "Ab sofort wird man beim Studium der einschlägigen Texte nicht mehr die gängigen Übersetzungen und Nachschlagewerke benutzen, sondern vorrangig Samuelssons gründliche philologisch-semantische und durch die Register vorzüglich erschlossene Studie. (...) Das Buch ist in formaler Hinsicht vorzüglich gestaltet und nahezu fehlerfrei geschrieben." Günter Röhser in Theologische Revue Nr. 1, Jahrgang 109 (2013), 23-25. "The usual recognition afforded to most of the good PhD theses is that they are (...) cited in the works of other New Testament scholars. Gunnar Samuelsson has a rare distinction, for his work received attention, perhaps even notoriety, prior to its publication. Apart from the reports on subject specific blogs, the content of this thesis was being communicated through global media outlets such as CNN and Pravda. (...) The breadth of primary data assembled will be of great benefit to subsequent generations of scholars." Paul Foster in The Expository Times 123 (3), 122-124. Gunnar Samuelsson, born 1966; 1992 Pastor and Missionary Degree; 1997 BA and MTh at the University of Gothenburg; 2000 MA; 2010 ThD; Senior Lecturer in New Testament Stu- dies at the Department of Literature, History of Ideas and Religion, University of Gothen- burg.