Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Ancient Burial Box Linked to Priest Who Played Part in Christ's Crucifixion
Christian Post ^ | August 30, 2012 | Nicola Menzie

Posted on 08/03/2012 2:44:21 PM PDT by NYer


Yosef bar Caifa

Scientists at a university in Israel believe they have discovered an ancient burial box belonging to the family of the high priest who played a part in the crucifixion of Jesus as described in the Bible.

The burial box, or ossuary, was recovered from looters three years ago by the Israel Antiquities Authority.

On close examination the ossuary was found to have a rare inscription mentioning the names "Miriam," "Yeshua," and "Caiaphus."

Once the inscription was authenticated, archaeologists were astounded by what they had found.

According to researchers, the Caiaphus mentioned in the carved-in inscription may very well be the same Caiaphas noted in the Gospels.

In Matthew 26:57-68, readers are told that after his arrest, Jesus was taken to "Caiaphas, the high priest" who questioned him about his divinity.

The full inscription on the ossuary reads: "Miriam daughter of Yeshua son of Caiaphus, priest of Maaziah from Beth Imri."

Maaziah is a clan name connected to an order of high priests who lived between the first century BCE and the first century AD, according to Yuval Goren, an archaeology professor from Tel Aviv University brought in to help authenticate the ossuary.

"Beyond any reasonable doubt, the inscription is authentic," Goren said in a press release from the university.

Researchers also believed that Beit Imri, if not the name of another priestly order, may actually be a reference to where Caiaphus' family lived before they migrated to Galilee.

If Beit Imri is indeed a geographical location, it was likely situated on the slopes of Mount Hebron.

The limestone burial box and its skeletal remains were likely recovered from the Valley of Elah, near Jerusalem, which is the same setting of the epic battle between a young David and the giant Goliath.

Most burial boxes of this kind were usually unmarked or simply offered the name of the deceased, so researchers having one on their hands that provides information about three generations of a single family was extraordinary, Goren said.

Other ossuaries have been discovered in the past, but have usually been found to have fake inscriptions.


TOPICS: Catholic; History; Religion & Science
KEYWORDS: caiaphas; crucifixion; godsgravesglyphs; letshavejerusalem; pokemon
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-43 next last
To: NYer

Anyone else find it odd the mount of burial boxes found in the last few years that are supposedly linked to Jesus? Would this be the third (presumable) fake box?


21 posted on 08/03/2012 7:47:19 PM PDT by PghBaldy (Obama 07/22/12: "we all reflect on how we can do something about some of the senseless violence...")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: madison10

This burial box was discovered in 1990.

The story was recycled again about a year ago, and catholicculture.org recycled it again in the last few days.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2741739/posts


22 posted on 08/03/2012 8:12:07 PM PDT by jjotto ("Ya could look it up!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Woe!


23 posted on 08/03/2012 8:17:13 PM PDT by SaraJohnson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

I thought I saw this very same thing on the ‘Naked Archeologist’ last year...interesting.


24 posted on 08/04/2012 3:14:23 AM PDT by exPBRrat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: muir_redwoods

:-)

I need to read the article better. I was in my work car doing 10 different things trying to get home for the weekend.


25 posted on 08/04/2012 3:29:36 AM PDT by proparapi
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

I like the switch from BCE to AD all in the same sentence. Which dating style is it going to be fellas?

Whoever’s doing the funding?


26 posted on 08/04/2012 3:31:45 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: 1010RD

The author would know best, assuming the author is getting funding.


27 posted on 08/04/2012 4:36:51 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: jjotto; NYer; freedumb2003; djf; MestaMachine; count-your-change; proparapi; huckfillary; ...

Thanks jjotto, good reminder, and here are more; and on a side note, the James Ossuary was *not* faked, and it was clearly *not* faked, but the so-called authorities in charge of antiquities in Israel dragged everyone through the courts anyway, and should be fired, blackballed, and sued beyond recognition by all parties involved.
28 posted on 08/04/2012 5:24:09 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

The irony is that BCE is used to calm the sensibilities of non-Christians. Unless if means Before the Christian Era.
;-]


29 posted on 08/04/2012 6:49:30 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv
Do you have any links showing it definitively isn't a fake?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ossuary

Wikipedia shows that this hasn't been determined, although the trial of Oded Golan certainly looks like a political witch hunt a la totalitarian regimes or the state of Massachusetts.

30 posted on 08/04/2012 6:57:30 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: 1010RD

Wikipedia can kiss all our asses. The entry is bogus, and it’s pointless to try to edit the pages, because any changes will be rescinded by the party-line fascists who run Wikipedia. The court case showed that the IAA *didn’t* determine that the inscription was faked, it merely continued to *claim* that it was, and the experts brought in to investigate the artifact didn’t agree on authenticity — but the one expert who could tell if the inscription or any part of it were modern found that it was a single inscription (iow, part of it was *not* added later) and ancient. Those findings were made years ago, before the trial started, but ignored by the jokers who wrote the report conclusions for the IAA.

Biblical Archaeology Review:
http://www.bib-arch.org/news/forgery-trial-news.asp

[snip] The story was reported by Matthew Kalman in the San Francisco Chronicle, and from there around the world. He described Judge Aharon Farkash’s evaluation as a “humiliating collapse” of the government’s case and “a major embarrassment ... for the [Israel] Antiquities Authority.” [/snip]


31 posted on 08/04/2012 7:30:56 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv
For sake of clarity, we are talking about two different burial boxes, correct?

By which I mean that the James Ossuary is not the ossuary spoken of in the article heading, this thread...

...others here could get mixed up, scanning comments, or else I'm mixed up. Straighten me out if I'm wrong.

32 posted on 08/04/2012 8:53:41 AM PDT by BlueDragon (...no thank you,..already have a few "flys like an anvil" awards...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

This may be confusing to those who haven’t been following these articles since the articles refer to different ossuaries which were found at different times in different locations and at different times.

Bibilcal archeology and Biblical studies are often at odds and violent disagreements are common among adherents of one POV or another. The stakes are not only financial but involve the reputations of scholars—and nothing is more vitriolic than the arguments between scholars of different opinion.

And this is in addition to the reluctance of Israel to delve into these matters which involve the birth of a religious sect (Christianity) which grew out of their Jewish tradition, the opposition of Muslims to anything which involves Jewish life in Israel and Jerusalem before their Prophet, and the reluctance of Christians/clegy to accept any archeological evidence that might differ from their own parochial view.

Anything that has to do with Jesus as a historical figure is radioactive.


33 posted on 08/04/2012 10:20:45 AM PDT by wildbill (You're just jealous because the Voices talk only to me.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: freedumb2003

wow!


34 posted on 08/04/2012 10:22:58 AM PDT by fabian (" And a new day will dawn for those who stand long, and the forests will echo with laughter")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

OK, OK don’t shoot the messenger. Why does the government of Israel care if Jesus had a brother?


35 posted on 08/04/2012 10:49:31 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

OK, OK don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just trying to understand the controversy. Why does the government of Israel care if Jesus had a brother?


36 posted on 08/04/2012 10:50:53 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: 1010RD

The government of Israel doesn’t care. Think of this a something like experts inside the Smithsonian arguing with experts outside the Smithsonian. The dispute gets more and more bitter until lawsuits are filed and there’s a trial. The ‘insider’ experts, of course, have government money on their side.


37 posted on 08/04/2012 1:22:11 PM PDT by jjotto ("Ya could look it up!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Is it possible that Caiaphas may have in his heart repented (like Nicodemus, secretly have believed, for fear of the Jews), and named his son Yeshua, after the one that he had allowed to be horribly, unjustly crucified? Since his son then named his daughter Miriam, the name of the mother of the one his father had allowed to be unjustly crucified, it is sort of like frosting on the cake, when it comes to making one think that this might be so. Might notorious High Priest, Caiaphas, very possibly be in heaven?


38 posted on 08/04/2012 10:45:12 PM PDT by Bellflower (The LORD is Holy, separated from all sin, perfect, righteous, high and lifted up.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 1010RD

I admit it, I should have put on your blindfold and let you have a last cigarette. ;’) It’s not the gov’t, it’s some bureaucrats, which in most countries includes higher ed.


39 posted on 08/05/2012 10:06:02 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: wildbill; BlueDragon; jjotto; 1010RD

Well put! As always, FReepers rise to the occasion!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2914340/posts?page=33#33


40 posted on 08/05/2012 10:08:37 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-43 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson