Posted on 08/25/2009 9:34:25 AM PDT by Nikas777
Syria: 5th century skeleton found in Byzantine cathedral
Edited by Maha Karim
Saturday, 15 August 2009 13:23
A cathedral with a skeleton remains in it, dating back to the Byzantine era, was unearthed by the Syrian excavation team in Tal Al-Hasaka site, north eastern Syria.
The cathedral ,which dates back to the Early Christianity Era, is 18 meters long, and includes a four meter wide northern hall, a 6.5 meter wide middle hall and a three meter wide southern hall, Al-Hasaka Archeology Director Abdul-Maseeh Baghdo said in a press release on Saturday.
It also includes two column bases, and the floor is inlayed with reddish-yellow baked clay.
In the cathedra's northern hall, an entrance leading to the service area was discovered where a grape squeezer and a skeleton of a human who died of torture were found.
The excavation team also found the cathedral's stairway exit consisting of four steps, with another four steps facing them the opposite way.
Moreover, the team found intact columns reaching five meters in height with ornaments, as well as the cathedral's collapsed ceiling which was built from baked clay and basalt stones.
A bimah - a platform where a religious preacher stands - was uncovered, confirming that this site is a cathedral, according to the Archeological director. (KUNA)
So I wouldn’t think that the person was tortured by the
Romans.
Not likely for being a Christian as Christianity was the official religion of the Roman Empire by the 5th Century.
Cordially,
I don’t think they dated the bones - just the church.
Is this really a “cathedral”?
Good point. I was also thinking that he might also have been martyred while traveling among the heathens outside the empire.
Young Werther your info is a little off.
Constantine ruled a united empire which became divided again after his death - the division was administrative along cultural lines for ease of administration not for any Christian schism.
This division created the Latin church and the Greek church that later became the Catholic Church is it is now called in the west and the Orthodox Church (though both churches call themselves the same name officially - One Holy and Apostolic Catholic Church - ‘catholic’ is a Greek word that means ‘universal’).
Syria is a dictatorship - but because the ruling Alawites adhere to the Arab nationalist Ba'athist movement Christians live pretty much free from persecution there. It is a paradox that is the middle east.
You misunderstood me. The bones could be the bones of a persecuted Christian from before the time of Constantine reburied in the church as a relic of a martyred saint and these bones would be a few hundred years older than the church that was probably built to house the bones.
That is certainly possible. The point I was trying to make was that the Roman Empire was not persecuting Christians in 5th Century. It was at the time trying to fend off invading barbarian hordes. By 476 AD the Western Empire fell.
I would think the archaelogists who found the bones could determine the age of the bones and therefore whether or not your theory is possible.
Agreed - just a semi-educated guess on my part.
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Thanks Nikas777 and BenLurkin. |
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Amen. And so did Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, and many other places that have been lost to Islam. Pray for us. Pray for Holy Mother, the Church. Pray for the Christian martyrs.
Theodora was one hot babe in her youth and supposedly had a voracious sexual appetite.
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