Pilate ordered Jesus to be flogged before being nailed to a cross. What did a flogging involve?

Scourging alone was sometimes fatal. A Roman scourge was a short wooden handle with numerous long lashes of leather attached to it. Each leather strip had a sharp piece of glass, metal, bone, or other hard object attached to the end of it. The victim would be stripped of all clothing and tied to a post by his wrists with his hands high enough over his head to virtually lift him off the ground. The feet would be dangling, and the skin on the back and buttocks completely taut. One or two scourge-bearers (lictors) would then deliver blows, skillfully laying the lashes diagonally across the back and buttocks with extreme force. The skin would literally be torn away, and often muscles were deeply lacerated. It was not uncommon for the scourge-wounds to penetrate deep into the kidneys or lacerate arteries, causing injuries that in themselves proved fatal. Some victims died from extreme shock during the flogging.

In addition to the physical pain of crucifixion, the most notable feature of this type of execution was the stigma of disgrace that was attached to it. One indignity was the humiliation of carrying one’s own cross, which might weigh as much as two hundred pounds. Victims were also mercilessly taunted. They were usually hanged naked. They were deliberately made a spectacle of shame and reproach.