He Should Have Worn Stockings

Reuters reports that

an Israeli researcher has challenged the popular belief that Jesus died of blood loss on the cross. Instead, argues Professor Benjamin Brenner in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, he probably succumbed to a sometimes fatal disorder now associated with long-haul air travel.

According to Professor Brenner, Jesus's death, traditionally thought to have occurred 3-6 hours after crucifixion began, was probably caused by a blood clot that reached his lungs.

Such pulmonary embolisms, leading to sudden death, can occur as a result of immobilisation, multiple trauma and dehydration, observed Brenner, a researcher at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.

He went on to point out that recent medical research has linked immobility among passengers on lengthy air flights to deep vein thrombosis, popularly known as "economy-class syndrome" in which potentially lethal blood clots can develop, commonly in the lower legs.

Moreover, according to Brenner, Jesus, as a Jew from what is now northern Israel, may have been at particular risk of a fatal blood clot: Thrombophilia, an unusual condition in which blood has an increased tendency to clot, is common to natives of Galilee.