Christian archaeology - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Christian Archeology is the study of archaeological sites in connection to the texts of the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

. The abundance of forgeries, fakes, and misinterpretations is rife, and as such the verification of context and the maintenance of an unbiased standpoint is essential. It is an auxiliary of history and has played an important role in the quest for the historical Jesus

Historical Jesus

The term historical Jesus refers to scholarly reconstructions of the 1st-century figure Jesus of Nazareth. These reconstructions are based upon historical methods including critical analysis of gospel texts as the primary source for his biography, along with consideration of the historical and...

and an attempt to establish the historicity of Christ.

Pool of Bethesda

According to the Gospel of John, the Pool of Bethesda was a swimming bath (Greek: kolumbethra) with five portico

Portico

A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...

s (translated as porches by older English bible translations).
The Johannine narrative describes the porticos as being a place in which large numbers of infirm people were waiting, which corresponds well with the site's 1st century CE use as an asclepieion. The biblical narrative describes a Shabbat

Shabbat

Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...

visit to the site by Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

, during which he heals a man who has been bedridden for many years, and could not make his own way into the pool. Prior to archaeological

Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

digs, the Pool of Bethesda was identified with the modern so-called Fountain of the Virgin, in the Kidron Valley

Kidron Valley

The Kidron Valley is the valley on the eastern side of The Old City of Jerusalem which features significantly in the Bible...

, not far from the Pool of Siloam

Pool of Siloam

Pool of Siloam is a rock-cut pool on the southern slope of the City of David, the original site of Jerusalem, located outside the walls of the Old City to the southeast. The pool was fed by the waters of the Gihon Spring, carried there by two aqueducts.-History:The Pool of Siloam is mentioned...

, and alternately with the Birket Israel

Birket Israel

Birket Israel also Birket Israil or Birket Isra'in, abbreviated from Birket Asbât Beni Israìl was a public cistern located on the north-eastern corner of the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem...

, a pool near the mouth of the valley which runs into the Kidron south of St. Stephen's Gate.

In digs conducted in the 19th century, Schick discovered a large tank situated about 100 feet north-west of St. Anne's Church, which he contended was the Pool of Bethesda. Further archaeological excavation in the area, in 1964, discovered the remains of the Byzantine and Crusader churches, Hadrian's Temple of Asclepius and Serapis, the small healing pools of the Asclepieion, the other of the two large pools, and the dam between them. An archaeological diagram of the layout - the diagram displayed at the location itself - is visible at this link] It was discovered that the Byzantine construction was built in the very heart of Hadrian's construction, and contained the healing pools.

This archaeological discovery proved beyond a doubt that the description of this pool in the Gospel of John was not the creation of the Evangelist, but instead reflected an accurate and detailed knowledge of the site. The Gospel speaks of the name of the pool as Bethesda, its location near the Sheep Gate; and the fact that it has five porticos; with rushing water. These details are corroborated through literary and archaeological evidence affirming the historical accuracy of the Johannine account.

Caiaphas ossuary

German higher-critical scholars in the 18th and 19th centuries questioned historicity of Caiaphas. By the 20th century Jesus myth theory argued he was merely fictional character having no basis in historical fact. In 1990 an ornate limestone ossuary was discovered in the Abu Tor neighborhood of modern Jerusalem.

This ossuary appeared authentic and contained human remains. The Aramaic inscription on the side which read "Joseph son of Caiaphas." also appeared authentic. The bones in the ossuary were of an elderly man. According to the New York Times and a number of Biblical scholars, if the remains are proven to be those of Caiaphas, it will be an important confirmation of the New Testament account, and lead to greater understanding of the historical Jesus.

If true, the discovery would be an important confirmation of a significant segment of the New Testament account of Jesus leading to a greater understanding of the historical Jesus

Historical Jesus

.

Since the original discovery, the identification with Caiaphas has been challenged by some scholars on various grounds, including the spelling of the inscription, the lack of any mention of Caiaphas's status as High Priest, the plainness of the tomb (although the ossuary itself is as ornate as might be expected from someone of his rank and family), and other reasons.

Pilate Stone

The Pilate Stone is the name given to a block of limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

with a carved inscription attributed to Pontius Pilate

Pontius Pilate

Pontius Pilatus , known in the English-speaking world as Pontius Pilate , was the fifth Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, from AD 26–36. He is best known as the judge at Jesus' trial and the man who authorized the crucifixion of Jesus...

, a prefect of the Roman-controlled province of Judaea

Judaea (Roman province)

Judaea or Iudaea are terms used by historians to refer to the Roman province that extended over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Israel...

from 26-36. The stone was found in 1961 by a team of Italian archeologists and is significant because this is the only universally accepted archaeological find with an inscription mentioning the name "Pontius Pilatus" to date.

The 82 cm x 65 cm limestone block, was found in 1961 in an excavation of an ancient theater

Roman theatre (structure)

The characteristics of Roman to those of the earlier Greek theatres due in large part to its influence on the Roman triumvir Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Much of the architectural influence on the Romans came from the Greeks, and theatre structural design was no different from other buildings...

(built by decree of Herod the Great

Herod the Great

Herod , also known as Herod the Great , was a Roman client king of Judea. His epithet of "the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis." He is also known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and elsewhere, including his...

c. 30 BC), called Caesarea Maritima in the present-day city of Caesarea-on-the-Sea (also called Maritima). On the partially damaged block is a dedication to Tiberius Caesar Augustus

Tiberius

Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...

. It has been deemed authentic because it was discovered in the coastal town of Caesarea, which was the capital of Iudaea Province

Iudaea Province

Judaea or Iudaea are terms used by historians to refer to the Roman province that extended over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Israel...

during the time Pontius Pilate

Pontius Pilate

was Roman governor

Roman governor

A Roman governor was an official either elected or appointed to be the chief administrator of Roman law throughout one or more of the many provinces constituting the Roman Empire...

.

The partial inscription reads (conjectural letters in brackets):

[DIS AUGUSTI]S TIBERIEUM

[PO]NTIUS PILATUS

[PRAEF]ECTUS IUDA[EA]E

[FECIT D]E[DICAVIT]

The translation from Latin to English for the inscription reads: Pontius Pilate, prefect of Judea, has restored the Tiberieum of the Seaman (or possibly, of the Caesareans) .

James Ossuary

The James Ossuary

James Ossuary

The James Ossuary is a 2,000-year old chalk box that was used for containing the bones of the dead. The Aramaic inscription: Ya'akov bar-Yosef akhui diYeshua is cut into one side of the box...

is a 2,000-year old limestone box used as a container for the bones of the deceased. Antiquities dealer, and convicted forgoer Oded Golan

Oded Golan

Oded Golan is an Israeli engineer, Israeli artifact collector, and currently on trial for forgery of antiquities. Some of the artifacts he has uncovered have produced great excitement in religious and archaeological circles, and have caused allegations of fraud and forgery...

is believed to have discovered the James Ossuary at some point before 2003 on the illegal Israeli antiquities marker. The Aramaic inscription on the artifact reads: Ya'akov bar-Yosef akhui diYeshua, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus."

While the age of the Ossuary is not contested, the inscription has been declared a modern forgery by the Israel Geological Survey based on examination of the patina covering the box itself and the inscription.

Papyrus Fragments

Papyrus is a primitive form of paper

Paper

Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....

produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt. Papyrus was in common use in the Roman Empire during the 1st century CE. Sheets of papyrus were glued together to produce a scroll of approximately 30 feet.

Archeologists have discovered many papyrus fragments. In studying these fragments, they noticed that the material, ink, glue, script, punctuation, writing style, language, etc., was slowly evolving.

Just as a book printed at the time of H.G. Wells is easy to distinguish by the trained eye from a book published in 2000 AD, so too can the trained papyrologists distinguish the subtleties of different fragments and date them reasonably accurately (generally within a thirty-year window).

An example of this took place recently and created quite a stir among Biblical Scholars . While analyzing a fragment of the Gospel of Matthew, Dr. Carson Theide of the Paterborn Institute found the sample to be identical to another fragment found at Qumran . Furthermore, it matched a second legal document . This legal document was dated , while the fragment from Qumran was known to be written around 65 AD . (in any event, before the community was destroyed by the Romans in 68 AD).

Thus, Theide had two dated documents from the 60s that have the same ‘time signature’ as the Canonical Matthean fragment . Therefore, he argues that we know that the Canonical Matthean Gospel was written in 65 AD. (+ or – 15 years).

Biblical scholarship has shown that the fragment Theide used was of a much later version of the Canonical Matthean Gospel . Therefore, the original of the Matthean Gospel was composed in 55 AD. (+ or – 15 years) .

Biblical scholarship has proved that the writer of Matthew based his work on three earlier documents (M source, Mark, and Q source). Therefore, the three primary source documents for the Canonical Matthean Gospel would have been written between 40 and 55 AD. (+ or – 15 years). Yet the debate has just begun and the dating of Matthew is far from being resolved. (See Markan priority

Markan priority

Markan priority is the hypothesis that the Gospel of Mark was the first written of the three Synoptic Gospels, and that the two other synoptic evangelists, Matthew and Luke, used Mark's Gospel as one of their sources. The theory of Markan priority is today accepted by the majority of New Testament...

)

The Oxyrhynchus Papyri

Oxyrhynchus Papyri

The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a very numerous group of manuscripts discovered by archaeologists including Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt . The manuscripts date from the 1st to the 6th century AD. They include thousands of Greek and...

date from between the 2nd and 6th century. The fragments were discovered in the late 19th century at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. Surviving fragments of the Gospel of Thomas

Gospel of Thomas

The Gospel According to Thomas, commonly shortened to the Gospel of Thomas, is a well preserved early Christian, non-canonical sayings-gospel discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945, in one of a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library...

and other New Testament canon and Apocrypha discovered among the fragments date from the 2nd and 3rd century's, and may represent a portion of an earlier collection of sayings attributed to Jesus.

Papyrologists believe these sayings of Jesus were recorded earlier rather than later (some fragments from Oxy. 1224 may be from 40 AD.). Others have linked these papyri to the Gospel of the Hebrews

Gospel of the Hebrews

The Gospel of the Hebrews , commonly shortened from the Gospel according to the Hebrews or simply called the Hebrew Gospel, is a hypothesised lost gospel preserved in fragments within the writings of the Church Fathers....

. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are of significance to biblical scholars as they offer some of the earliest autographs of New Testament canon and Apocrypha.

Papyrus Egerton 2

The Egerton Gospel

Egerton Gospel

The Egerton Gospel refers to a group of papyrus fragments of a codex of a previously unknown gospel, found in Egypt and sold to the British Museum in 1934; the physical fragments are now dated to the very end of the 2nd century AD, although the date of composition is less clear – perhaps 50-100 AD...

(British Library Egerton Papyrus 2) refers to a group of papyrus fragments of a codex of a previously unknown gospel, found in Egypt and sold to the British Museum in 1934; the physical fragments are now dated to the very end of the 2nd century AD, although the date of composition is less clear - perhaps 50-100 AD. It is one of the oldest known fragments of any gospel, or any codex. It is also called the Unknown Gospel, as no known ancient source makes reference to it, in addition to being entirely unknown before its publication.

Despite its apparent historical importance, the text is not well known. It is a mere fragment, and does not bear a clear relationship to any of the four canonical gospels. The sayings included in this "Unknown Gospel" are the type of traditional sayings are posited for the hypothetical Q Document. Ronald Cameron states: "Since Papyrus Egerton 2 displays no dependence upon the gospels of the New Testament, its earliest possible date of composition would be sometime in the middle of the first century, when the sayings and stories which underlie the New Testament first began to be produced in written form. The latest possible date would be early in the second century, shortly before the copy of the extant papyrus fragment was made. Because this papyrus presents traditions in a less developed form than John does, it was probably composed in the second half of the first century, in Syria, shortly before the Gospel of John was written."

The Fayyum Papyrus

The Fayyum Fragment

Fayyum Fragment

The Fayyum Fragment is a papyrus fragment containing text that could be from part of the New Testament, and consists of only about 100 Greek letters...

(Papyrus Vindobonensis Greek 2325 [P. Vienna G. 2325]) is a papyrus fragment containing text that could be from part of the New Testament. The surviving manuscript is badly damaged and has fewer than a hundred Greek letters preserved. Because of its style of handwriting it is believed to have been copied around the end of the 3rd century. The text seems to parallel Mark 14:26-31, appearing to present a more abbreviated account. It is unclear whether the fragment is an abridged version of the synoptic gospels, or a source text on which they were based, perhaps the apocryphal Gospel of Peter.[3]

The text reads:

External links

Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana.
Excavation Sites Archaeological work and volunteer pages.
Archaeology in Popular Culture
Anthropology Resources on the Internet - Anthropology Resources on the Internet : a web directory with over 3000 links grouped in specialised topics.
Archaeology magazine published by the Archaeological Institute of America
Archaeology Directory - Directory of archaeological topics on the web.
The 2003- Iraq War & Archaeology Information about looting in Iraq.

Pool of Bethesda

Caiaphas ossuary

Pilate Stone

James Ossuary

Papyrus Fragments

The Oxyrhynchus Papyri

Papyrus Egerton 2

The Fayyum Papyrus

External links

Further reading