Mummy Mask May Reveal Oldest Known Gospel

livescience ^ | January 18, 2015 | Owen Jarus

[SteveH]

A text that may be the oldest copy of a gospel known to exist — a fragment of the Gospel of Mark that was written during the first century, before the year 90 — is set to be published.

At present, the oldest surviving copies of the gospel texts date to the second century (the years 101 to 200).

This first-century gospel fragment was written on a sheet of papyrus that was later reused to create a mask that was worn by a mummy. Although the mummies of Egyptian pharaohs wore masks made of gold, ordinary people had to settle for masks made out of papyrus (or linen), paint and glue. Given how expensive papyrus was, people often had to reuse sheets that already had writing on them.

[To Hell With Poverty]

LOL, clicked on the link and the look on the mummy’s face was “It wasn’t me!”

[a fool in paradise]

PING

[Boogieman]

[SWAMPSNIPER]

"had to settle for masks made out of papyrus (or linen), paint and glue."

Why not use duck tape?

[biggerten]

They didn’t have any, ducts weren’t invented yet, so no duct tape.

[Rastus]

Oh, man. Bill Clinton’s got a hot date lined up!

[SteveH]

You guys, all wrapped up in yourselves.

[Celtic Conservative]

So, a papier mache’ gospel?

CC

[tbpiper]

Why not use duck tape?

That's only for southern Egypt.

[Flick Lives]

Duck tape?   ;-)

[1010RD]

Reused? What if it was the intent of the deceased to be wrapped in the Gospel?

[Springfield Reformer]

Ping for later

[PapaBear3625]

Reused? What if it was the intent of the deceased to be wrapped in the Gospel?

Then he would have had the scroll be buried with him intact, instead of a fragment used in a paper mache mask.

[Prospero]

Reused? What if it was the intent of the deceased to be wrapped in the Gospel?

Precisely what I was thinking.

[1010RD]

Given the expense of paper, a fragment might be all he or his family could afford.

[SunkenCiv]

• Earliest manuscript of Gospel of Mark reportedly found
• 1st-century New Testament fragment: more details emerge
• Was the Gospel of St Luke 'written' by MARY?
• "The Chronicle of Luke: 'That You May Have Certainty'" (Sermon on Luke 1:1-4)
• The Hail Mary of a Protestant (A true story)
• American's donation lets pope peruse oldest copy of St. Luke's Gospel

Thanks SteveH and a fool in paradise.

[left that other site]

That would be in line with Egyptian tradition, as mummies were wrapped in amulets, spells, and incantations layered within the wrappings.

In the early Church, the people did not entirely abandon the customs of their ancestors, so incorporating a shred of the Gospel into the mummification process would not be out of character.

However, this theory would be negated if there were pagan incantations or other indications of Egyptian gods and goddesses on the mummy.

I would really love to know more about this.

The cool thing about it is that it verifies the early appearing of the Gospel of Mark. Mark is known as the earliest of the Four Gospels, and to include it in the mummy would mean that there had to be more copies around.

I LOVE this stuff! :-)

[1010RD]

Me, too. Just when we think we know so much, we find out we don’t.

[left that other site]

Yes!

I think this is one of the most fun and interesting ping lists on FR.

Thank You Sunken Civ for the GGG!