A limestone burial box, almost 2,000 years
old, may provide the oldest archeological record of Jesus of Nazareth, experts
announced.
The
ossuary, as the bone boxes are known, dates to A.D. 63 and has an inscription
in Aramaic which translates to: "James, son of Joseph, brother of
Jesus," said Andre Lemaire, an expert in ancient writing who identified
the box in Jerusalem last spring.
Aramaic,
an ancient Semitic language, was the lingua franca of the Middle East for many
centuries. At the time of Jesus' life, Aramaic was the common language of the
Jews.
Writing
about his findings in the new issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Lemaire,
who teaches at the Sorbonne in Paris, called it "very probable" that
the box belonged to Jesus' brother James, who by Christian tradition was the
leader of the early church in Jerusalem.
Some
scholars expressed doubt that the box, which is 20 inches long by 11 inches
wide, could be definitively linked to Jesus, a Jewish carpenter by trade
revered by Christians as the son of God.
"We
may never be absolutely certain. In the work I do we're rarely absolutely
certain about anything," said Kyle McCarter, a Johns Hopkins University
archaeologist, who said that the finding was probable, but that he had "a
bit of doubt."
While
most scholars agree that Jesus existed, no physical evidence from the first
century has ever been conclusively tied with his life.
Two
scientists from the Israeli government's geological survey tested the box last
month, inspecting the surface patina and inscription under a microscope. They
concurred that the object is more than 19 centuries old, the archaeology
magazine reported.
"It's
hard to avoid the conclusion that these three names refer to the personages so
identified in the New Testament," said Hershel Shanks, editor of Biblical
Archaeology Review.
Writing provides answers
Many of
the conclusions reached by experts relied on the inscription written on the
ossuary. The boxes commonly were used by Jewish families between 20 B.C. and
A.D. 70 to store the bones of their loved ones.
Lemaire
said out of hundreds of such boxes found with Aramaic writing only two contain
mentions of a brother. From this, scholars infer that the brother was noted
only when he was someone important.
James,
Joseph and Jesus were common names in ancient Jerusalem, a city of about 40,000
residents. Lemaire estimates there could have been as many as 20 Jameses in the
city with brothers named Jesus and fathers named Joseph.
But it is
unlikely there would have been more than one James who had a brother of such
importance that it merited having him mentioned on his ossuary, Lemaire said.
Lemaire
found the box in June by accident, said Shanks, who was able to inspect the box
personally.
'Didn't realize the significance'
The owner
is reported to be a collector of ancient Jewish artifacts. The man, who wishes
to remain anonymous, bought the box some 15 years ago from an antique dealer
for $200 to $700, Shanks said.
The boxes
"are not popular on the market because ... people don't want a bone box in
their living room," Shanks said.
The
collector, who is Jewish, was not aware that Jesus had a brother. He discovered
the interest in the object only when he met Lemaire at a dinner party last
spring and asked him to decipher some Aramaic written on a number of
collectibles, Shanks said.
The box
owner "didn't realize the significance," Shanks said. "He threw
up his hands, 'How could the Son of God have a brother?'"
Plans are
under way to exhibit the box at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada,
during the annual meeting of Bible scholars in November, Shanks said.
But he
said whether the box belonged to Jesus' brother, it still provides a powerful
link with the past.
"This
is something that provides a bridge over time," he said. "My reaction
is not so much excitement as it is awe."
By Jeordan Legon
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/10/21/jesus.box/
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