Free Republic

A 2,000-year-old bone box etched with the name of Jesus' brother discovered in Israel is now on display in the US. The limestone box, or ossuary, features the inscription 'James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus,' written in ancient Aramaic. Because the names correspond to those of Jesus of Nazareth's brother and father, many speculate that the box once held the remains of James the Just, the first leader of Christians in Jerusalem after the crucifixion.

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. New studies have backed a suggestion that an inscribed ossuary [bone box] being examined by archaeological authorities in Israel may well be that of St James, the brother of Jesus. Examination of the inscription - potentially the world's first ever archaeological reference to Jesus - by Dr Andre Lemaire, a specialist in Aramaic texts at the Sorbonne in Paris had already suggested, on purely epigraphic grounds, that the inscription was genuine. But now a team of scientists at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada, has come to the same conclusion...