John 20:6-7: Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
Sigh. That’s what is says in an ENGLISH translation of the original Greek, but the original Luke 23:53 in GREEK in which it was written uses the word at least once of Syndon, meaning a SHEET, origin, a sail, a large linen cloth, or a SHROUD, which was bought by Joseph of Arimathea as part of the grave cloths.
ΚΑΤΑ ΛΟΥΚΑΝ 23:53-56 SBL Greek New Testament (SBLGNT) 53 καὶ [a]καθελὼν ἐνετύλιξεν αὐτὸ σινδόνι, καὶ ἔθηκεν [b]αὐτὸν ἐν μνήματι λαξευτῷ οὗ οὐκ ἦν [c]οὐδεὶς οὔπω κείμενος. 54 καὶ ἡμέρα ἦν [d]παρασκευῆς, καὶ σάββατον ἐπέφωσκεν. 55 κατακολουθήσασαι δὲ [e]αἱ γυναῖκες, αἵτινες ἦσαν συνεληλυθυῖαι [f]ἐκ τῆς Γαλιλαίας αὐτῷ, ἐθεάσαντο τὸ μνημεῖον καὶ ὡς ἐτέθη τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ, 56 ὑποστρέψασαι δὲ ἡτοίμασαν ἀρώματα καὶ μύρα.Καὶ τὸ μὲν σάββατον ἡσύχασαν κατὰ τὴν ἐντολήν,
Mark, Matthew, and Luke refer to a Syndon in their Gospels in the original Greek:
Matthew 27:59 N-DFS
GRK: αὐτὸ ἐν σινδόνι καθαρᾷMark 15:46 N-AFS
GRK: καὶ ἀγοράσας
σινδόνα καθελὼν αὐτὸν Luke 23:53 N-DFS
GRK: ἐνετύλιξεν αὐτὸ σινδόνι καὶ ἔθηκεν
Strong’s Concordance defines Syndon as follows, using the authoritative Thayer’s Greek Lexicon:
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
STRONGS NT 4616: σινδόνι— σινδών, σινδονος, ἡ (of uncertain origin; Sanskritsindhu (Egyptian,sehenti or 'sent'; cf. Vanicek, Fremdwörter under the word); the Sept. for סָדִין, Judges 14:12; Proverbs 29:42 (), fine cloth (Latin sindon), i. e.:1. linen cloth, especially that which was fine and costly, in which the bodies of the dead were wrapped: Matthew 27:59; Mark 15:46; Luke 23:53 (cf. Herodotus 2, 86 who says of the Egyptians, κατειλισσουσι πᾶν τό σῶμα σινδονος βυσσινης (see Wilkinson's note in Rawlinson's Herod. 3rd edition, the passage cited)).
“About his head” refers to the binding used around his face, tied under his jaw, up and over the crown, to keep the mouth closed in death. This is written in the Mishnah—the written record of Jewish customs and interpretations of the Rabbis that ruled day-to-day interactions of the Jewish people—describing the proper Jewish burial methods and would have been used “in the manner of the Jews,” the same rules that decreed that Jesus had to be in the ground before the beginning of the Sabbath (Sundown), and buried on the day of his death. Jesus was not buried in a cultural vacuum. Other bindings, “strips of cloth,” would have been used to tie His wrists and ankles to keep His limbs from flopping akimbo. Again, this is according to the Jewish Mishnah.
In the same 1st Century Jewish cemetery in Jerusalem, the remnants of at least one full size shroud has been excavated. These remains were available due to an earthquake in the 1st Century which caused destruction which prevented re-entry to the cemetery to gather the bones into a central ossuary with the bones of their ancestors.
As for the “napkin” cited in some English translations of the New Testaments, that is not found in any of the original Greek Gospels. Instead the word is Sudarion, a SWEAT CLOTH, sometimes translated as a handkerchief, but that too is a mistranslation. Sweat Cloth is the correct translation, a cloth used to keep sweat out of the eyes of workers, usually rolled into a kerchief and then tied around the forehead. The Gospel of John in Greek actual says in Greek that the sweat cloth that had been around His face, not a napkin, was laying, still rolled and tied, away from the rest of the burial cloths.
ΚΑΤΑ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ 20:6-7
SBL Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)6 ἔρχεται οὖν [a]καὶ Σίμων Πέτρος ἀκολουθῶν αὐτῷ, καὶ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον· καὶ θεωρεῖ τὰ ὀθόνια κείμενα, 7 καὶ τὸ σουδάριον, ὃ ἦν ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ, οὐ μετὰ τῶν ὀθονίων κείμενον ἀλλὰ χωρὶς ἐντετυλιγμένον εἰς ἕνα τόπον·
The actual Sudarium (latin) from the tomb is thought to still exist and is kept in the Cathedral at Oviedo, Spain and is called the Sudarium of Oviedo. It shows signs of having been rolled corner to corner diagonally into a kerchief, something like a boy scout would have done to wear around his neck, and then tied. The diagonal length of the Sudarium is ~40” which is an ideal length for a jaw binding to keep the mouth closed as required in the Mishnah. The blood stains match those on the head of the image on the Shroud of Turin.
The blood stained cloth called the Sudarium of Oviedo