The Caiaphas ossuary is one of twelve ossuaries or bone boxes, discovered in a burial cave in south Jerusalem in November 1990, two of which featured the name "Caiaphas". [1]
The Caiaphas ossuary is one of twelve ossuaries or bone boxes, discovered in a burial cave in south Jerusalem in November 1990, two of which featured the name "Caiaphas". [1]
The Caiaphas ossuary is a highly decorated ossuary twice inscribed "Joseph, son of Caiaphas" which held the bones of a 60-year-old male. The limestone ossuary measures c. 37 cm (15 in) high by 75 cm (30 in) long and is housed in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. [2]
It has been suggested that it belonged to Joseph, son of Caiaphas, known as the High Priest of Israel Caiaphas in the New Testament. This identification is disputed. According to the Canonical gospels, Caiaphas was the major antagonist of Jesus.
It should be distinguished from the less ornate Miriam ossuary, which came to light in June 2011. The latter is a looted, though authenticated artifact from the Valley of Elah, bearing the inscription: "Miriam daughter of Yeshua son of Caiapha, priest of Ma’azya from Beit Imri". [3]
The chamber tomb was discovered by construction workers in November 1990. It was located in the Peace Forest, near the North Talpiot neighborhood. [4] The workers' superintendent reported it to the Israel Antiquities Authority after the tomb's roof was opened by a bulldozer, to reveal the rock-hewn loculi burial cave. The burial was typical of the Second Temple period (516 BCE and 70 CE) in Jerusalem, and one of many in the Jerusalem necropolis which may be encountered as far south as the Arab village of Sur Baher. [4]
The four cave niches contained twelve ossuaries, of which six had been disturbed by grave robbers. [5] One very ornate ossuary contained the bones of two infants, two teenage boys, an adult woman and a man of about 60. Besides the detailed etching, there were traces of bright orange paint. It was inscribed "Yehosef bar Qayafa" on the long side, [6] and "Yehosef bar Qafa" on the narrow side.
The bones were eventually reburied on the Mount of Olives.
According to The New York Times and a number of biblical scholars, if authentic and attributable to high priest Caiaphas, the ossuary is an important confirmation of the New Testament account, and facilitates understanding of the historical Jesus. [7] [8] [9] More generally, the contents of the burial cave increase knowledge of ossuary inscriptions and burial customs of the Second Temple period. [4]
In June 2011, archaeologists from Bar-Ilan and Tel Aviv Universities announced the recovery of a stolen ossuary, plundered from a tomb in the Valley of Elah. The Israel Antiquities Authority declared it authentic, and expressed regret that it couldn't be studied in situ . [3] It is inscribed with the text: "Miriam, daughter of Yeshua, son of Caiaphas, Priest of Ma’aziah from Beth ‘Imri". Based on it, Caiaphas can be assigned to the priestly course of Ma’aziah, instituted by king David.
Since the original discovery, the identification with Caiaphas has been challenged by some scholars on various grounds, including the spelling of the inscription, the lack of any mention of Caiaphas's status as High Priest, the plainness of the tomb (although the ossuary itself is as ornate as might be expected from someone of his rank and family), and other reasons. [8] [10] The Ossuary of Caiaphas has since been confirmed by Israeli scholars to be authentic [11]
The use of rock-cut cave tombs in the region began in the early Canaanite period, from 3100–2900 BCE. The custom lapsed a millennium, however, before re-emerging in the earliest Israelite tombs, dating to the 9th century BCE in Jerusalem. The use of rock-cut tombs reached its peak in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, before rapidly declining and eventually falling out of use in the 6th century BCE in some regions. It reappeared during the Second Temple period and continued into the Late Roman and Byzantine periods.
Yeshua was a common alternative form of the name Yehoshua in later books of the Hebrew Bible and among Jews of the Second Temple period. The name corresponds to the Greek spelling Iesous (Ἰησοῦς), from which, through the Latin IESVS/Iesus, comes the English spelling Jesus.
An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the skeletal remains are removed and placed in an ossuary. The greatly reduced space taken up by an ossuary means that it is possible to store the remains of many more people in a single tomb than possible in coffins. The practice is sometimes known as grave recycling.
Talpiot is an Israeli neighborhood in southeastern Jerusalem, established in 1922 by Zionist pioneers. It was built as a garden suburb on land purchased by the Tel Aviv-based Palestine Land Development Company and other Jewish building societies.
The James Ossuary is a 1st-century limestone box that was used for containing the bones of the dead. An Aramaic inscription meaning "Jacob (James), son of Joseph, brother of Yeshua" is cut into one side of the box. The ossuary attracted scholarly attention due to its apparent association with the Christian holy family.
Josef Ben Caiaphas, known simply as Caiaphas in the New Testament, was the Jewish high priest during the years of Jesus' ministry, according to Josephus. The Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John indicate he was an organizer of the plot to kill Jesus. He famously presided over the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus. The primary sources for Caiaphas' life are the New Testament, and the writings of Josephus. The latter records he was made high priest by the Roman procurator Valerius Gratus after Simon ben Camithus had been deposed.
The tomb of Jesus is the place where Jesus was entombed after his death. According to the gospel accounts, the tomb originally belonged to Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy man who, believing Jesus was the Messiah, offered his own sepulcher for the burial of Jesus.
Theophilus was the High Priest in the Second Temple in Jerusalem from 37 to 41 CE according to Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews. He was a member of one of the wealthiest and most influential Jewish families in Iudaea Province during the 1st century. A growing but still uncommon belief points to High Priest Theophilus as the person to whom the Gospel of Luke is addressed, but Theophilus is a common enough name that there are many other possibilities for the addressee of Luke's Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. In its favor is the fact that in Luke Theophilus is called by the title Most Excellent (kratiste), indicating he held a political office like high priest, the ethnarch under the Romans. In Acts 1:1 he does not have this honorific indicating that he no longer held an office of the Roman government. This provides an unusual identifier that eliminates other candidates for whom such a change in office was not effected.
Eleazar Lipa Sukenik was an Israeli archaeologist and professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is best known for helping establish the Department of Archaeology at the Hebrew University and being one of the first academics to recognise the age and importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He also oversaw the uncovering of the Third Wall of ancient Jerusalem. He also was the director of the Museum of Jewish Antiquities at the Hebrew University.
The Talpiot Tomb is a rock-cut tomb discovered in 1980 in the East Talpiot neighborhood, five kilometers south of the Old City in East Jerusalem. It contained ten ossuaries, six inscribed with epigraphs, including one interpreted as "Yeshua bar Yehosef", though the inscription is partially illegible, and its translation and interpretation is widely disputed. The tomb also yielded various human remains and several carvings.
The Lost Tomb of Jesus is a pseudoarchaeological docudrama co-produced and first broadcast on the Discovery Channel and Vision TV in Canada on March 4, 2007, covering the discovery of the Talpiot Tomb. It was directed by Canadian documentary and film maker Simcha Jacobovici and produced by Felix Golubev and Ric Esther Bienstock, while James Cameron served as executive producer. The film was released in conjunction with a book about the same subject, The Jesus Family Tomb, issued in late February 2007 and co-authored by Jacobovici and Charles R. Pellegrino. The documentary and the book's claims have been rejected by the overwhelming majority of leading experts within the archaeological and theological fields, as well as among linguistic and biblical scholars.
The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History (ISBN 0061192023) is a controversial book by Simcha Jacobovici and Charles R. Pellegrino published in February 2007. It tells the story of the discovery of the Talpiot Tomb on Friday March 28, 1980 and makes an argument that it is the tomb of Jesus Christ and his family.
The ivory pomegranate or Jerusalem Pomegranate is a thumb-sized ornamental artifact acquired by the Israel Museum. It is not actually made of ivory, but of hippopotamus bone and bears an inscription; Holy (Sacred) to the Priest of the House of God (YHWH).
Jason's Tomb is a Jewish rock-cut tomb dating to the first century BCE in the Hasmonean period, discovered in the Rehavia neighborhood in Jerusalem, Israel. It has been identified as the burial site of a certain Jason, possibly a naval commander, based on the charcoal drawing of two warships discovered in the cave.
The Cave of Nicanor is an ancient burial cave located on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. Among the ossuaries discovered in the cave is one with an inscription referring to "Nicanor the door maker". The cave is located in the National Botanic Garden of Israel on the grounds of the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Levi Yizhaq Rahmani was an Israeli archeologist and Chief Curator of Israel Antiquities Authority, and notable for his work on tombs, ossuaries and ossilegia in the Second Temple period. Ossuaries are generally catalogued as "Rahmani no. 9", etc., following the numbering in Rahmani's 1994 catalogue.
Miriam ossuary is a decorated limestone ossuary from a tomb in the Valley of Elah, Israel, which bears an inscription attributing it to "Miriam, the daughter of Yeshua."
Tombs of the Sanhedrin, also Tombs of the Judges, is an underground complex of 63 rock-cut tombs located in a public park in the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Sanhedria. Built in the 1st century CE, the tombs are noted for their elaborate design and symmetry. They have been a site for Jewish pilgrimage since the medieval period. The popular name of the complex, which has the most magnificently carved pediment of ancient Jerusalem, is due to the fact that the number of burial niches it contains is somewhat close to that of the members of the ancient Jewish supreme court, the Great Sanhedrin, namely 71.
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