Tag: Jesus christ

Does Jesus-Era Jerusalem Leper Disprove Turin Shroud?

The Turin Shroud appears to show the image of a crucified Jesus. The discovery of a ‘Jesus-Era’ man buried outside Jerusalem, Israel, has cast doubt on the famous Turin Shroud. The man, who is thought to have suffered from both tuberculosis and leprosy, was buried in a cave called the ‘Tomb of the Shroud’, part of the ‘Field of Blood’ (Akeldama), a 1st century AD cemetery in the Lower Hinnom Valley (Gehenna) near Jerusalem. The preservation of bodies in the region is extremely rare, thanks to high humidity levels underground.

The man’s location in the Valley, beside high priest Annas (6-15 AD) – the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest who betrayed Jesus to the Romans – has led the project’s team to conclude that he too was an important figure. The large team comprises experts from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Lakehead University, Canada; University College London and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

And though the man’s remains, which had unusually not undergone a second burial, could hold the oldest evidence of leprosy in the region, it is their shroud’s relation to the famous Turin Shroud that will inevitably steal headlines all over the world.

The Turin Shroud is a mysterious cloth which many believe to have wrapped the body of Christ. It bears the image of a man struck by the wounds of crucifixion, and its efficacy has been fiercely debated for centuries. Yet this shroud, the first found in Jerusalem from Jesus’ era, is completely different, being of a much simpler textile. Assuming it is common of all burial shrouds at the time, this research casts a dark shadow over the Turin Shroud’s authenticity.

A lump of the man’s hair, which had been ritually cut, was also found inside the shroud. The unique find may prove the existence of leprosy in the area many years before thought. Previous estimates have suggested that ‘leprosy’ in the Old Testament may in fact refer to skin rashes such as psoriasis, while the disease actually flourished up to 4,000 years ago in the Indus Valley.

Earlier this month the team dated tuberculosis 3,000 years earlier than previous estimates, when samples were found at a submerged town off the coast of Haifa.

Have a Roman Christmas at the British Museum

Did you know Christmas dates back to Roman times? Want to find out more? You could do worse than head down to the British Museum this Sunday (Dec 6) then, where popular children’s writer Caroline Lawrence will head up a day of Roman fun based around the ancient festival of Saturnalia, aptly named ‘A Roman Christmas‘. Visitors can get stuck into music, quizzes and prizes – and enjoy a talk and book signing from the author of Roman Mysteries, which has also been made into a CBBC series.

Tickets are priced at 5 for the event which starts at 1pm in the museum’s BP Lecture Theatre, with Young Friends getting in for just 3.50. According to the museum Roman dress is welcome, so don’t be surprised if you spot a few centurions wandering the streets of Bloomsbury that afternoon! The Roman Mysteries book series has been a hit with readers and reviewers across the nation since its first outing in 2001.

Don’t be surprised if you spot centurions round central London this Sunday!

Stories take place in the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Titus, and are largely based in Ostia, a port town of Rome – but other mysteries take place in Pompeii, Egypt, Turkey and other ancient cities. Riddles are solved by four children named Nubia, Flavia Gemina, Jonathan ben Mordecai and Lupus. So far there are 17 books in the series.

Saturnalia was a Roman festival to celebrate Saturn, the god of agriculture and the harvest. Beginning on December the 17th and running for an entire week the festival was notorious for its heavy drinking, eating and reversal of social roles, in which slaves were supposed to become masters. The dating of the festival has meant it has been linked by many scholars to the Christian day of Christmas, when Jesus’ birth is celebrated. Yet these theories have never been fully substantiated. Still, it’s a good excuse for a yuletide party at the BM, eh?

Mount Zion Mug Gives Insight Into Bible-Era Jerusalem

We all get a bit ticked off when someone else uses our favourite coffee mug. But for the Jews in ancient Jerusalem, keeping their best cups sacred was apparently a matter of the gravest importance.

A stone drinking receptacle dating from around the time of Jesus Christ, found recently on historic Mount Zion, has shed light on strict religious ritual when it came to mugs in Biblical times. It bears tens lines of strange script scratched into its side, which while not yet deciphered are nevertheless believed to indicate that the cup wasnt to be casually used by just anybody.

The mug, found broken up into three fragments, dates from some time between 37 BC and AD 70 when the Romans nearly destroyed Jerusalem after the Jewish revolt. It was discovered by archaeologists digging in the remains of an elite neighbourhood that once stood near the palace of King Herod the Great (who lived from 74 BC to 4 BC). The same team recently found a stone nearby, also engraved with mysterious markings. The script looks like its written in a kind of secret code, combining the two languages used in Jerusalem at the time Hebrew and Aramaic.

They could be instructions on how to use [the cup], which could have incantations or curses. Its not going to be something mundane like a shopping list.

They wrote it intending it to be cryptic, said Shimon Gibson of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte one of the lead excavators on the dig speaking to National Geographic. Clearly the cup bore some enigmatic meaning which similar to, say, the writing in the Dead Sea Scrolls was intended to be understood only by certain specific individuals. They could be instructions on how to use [the cup], which could have incantations or curses, he continued. Its not going to be something mundane like a shopping list.

Cups of the time that came into contact with forbidden foodstuffs had to be smashed up and disposed of, according to strict Jewish purity laws on eating and drinking. This one was very practically made out of stone. According to Jewish law, stone cannot become ritually impure, explained archaeologist Jodi Magness of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill an expert on daily life in biblical Jerusalem also talking to National Geographic. In the long run, if youre observing purity laws, its cost-effective to use stone vessels.

Such mugs are very commonly found in the area. However, this one is unique. This is the first time an inscription has been found on a stone vessel of this type, commented Gibson. Hes been circulating images of the artefact as widely as possible among experts on writing from the period, and also hopes to get as many pictures as possible online in the hope of it being spotted by someone who can interpret the text.

Were welcoming suggestions too. Serious ones only please.