Great Reminder, Moonlight, Thank You.
As for Jesus: Much has been written about whether he was crucified or not in the research book 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail'. Their consensus (3 authors) was: he probably wasn't, or if he was he was removed before he died and continued to live on.
Many people where crucified during that time period as it was the Romans preferred method of 'teaching the enemy a lesson', so if Jesus was crucified, he was one of a great many.
How he died is unimportant to me.
But ask yourself, if he did die and was resurrected as Christians believe - why all the emphasis on the crucifixion rather than the resurrection!?
Why all the bowing and praying to Jesus on the cross? - which has become the main symbol of Christianity. Why isn't the main symbol the resurrection.
It couldn't be to keep the throngs in guilt - "he died for our sins" is one of the biggest con jobs going, imo.