The Nazareth Inscription or Nazareth decree is a marble tablet inscribed in Greek with an edict from an unnamed Caesar ordering capital punishment for anyone caught disturbing graves or tombs. [1] It is dated on the basis of epigraphy to the first half of the 1st century AD. Its provenance is unknown, but a French collector acquired the stone from Nazareth. It is now in the collections of the Louvre. [2] [3]
The text is read by scholars in the context of Roman law pertaining to exhumation and reburial, mentioned also by Pliny. [4] [5] The inscription is of interest to some authors for its indirect relationship to the historicity of Jesus, even though the text contains no reference to Jesus of Nazareth. A 2020 study of the marble's isotopes showed that the tablet came from a quarry in the Greek island of Kos, casting much doubt on the theory that it has any relationship to Jesus, and it may instead have been inscribed as a reaction to the desecration of the grave of the Kos tyrant Nikias circa 20 BCE. [6]
The marble tablet measures 24 by 15 inches, with the koine Greek inscription appearing in fourteen lines. It was acquired in 1878 by Wilhelm Fröhner (1834–1925), and sent from Nazareth to Paris. Fröhner entered the item in his manuscript inventory with the note "Dalle de marbre envoyé de Nazareth en 1878." Though indicating that the marble was sent from Nazareth, the note does not state that it was discovered there. Nazareth was a significant antiquities market in the 1870s, as was Jerusalem, [7] and may have been "nothing more than … a shipping center" for the item. [8] Since 1925 it has been in the Bibliothèque nationale, Paris, displayed in the Cabinet des Médailles.
The inscription, with a facsimile, was published in 1930 by Franz Cumont, [9] who had been alerted to it by Rostovtseff. [7]
The Greek used in the inscription is relatively poor. [10] Clyde E. Billington provides the following English translation: [11] [12]
Edict of Caesar
It is my decision [concerning] graves and tombs—whoever has made them for the religious observances of parents, or children, or household members—that these remain undisturbed forever. But if anyone legally charges that another person has destroyed, or has in any manner extracted those who have been buried, or has moved with wicked intent those who have been buried to other places, committing a crime against them, or has moved sepulcher-sealing stones, against such a person, I order that a judicial tribunal be created, just as [is done] concerning the gods in human religious observances, even more so will it be obligatory to treat with honor those who have been entombed. You are absolutely not to allow anyone to move [those who have been entombed]. But if [someone does], I wish that [violator] to suffer capital punishment under the title of tomb-breaker.
Violatio sepulchri ('tomb violation') was a crime under Roman law, as noted by Cicero (d. 43 BC). The Nazareth Inscription prescribes the death penalty for the offense. [13] A tomb at which funeral rites had been duly performed became a locus religiosus , belonging to the divine rather than to the human realm. [14] [13] : 144 Roman Imperial tombstones are often inscribed with a curse (defixio) against anyone who desecrates the grave. [13] : 144
Scholars have analysed the language and style of the Nazareth inscription and attempted to date it. It has been discussed in the context of tomb-robbery in antiquity.
Francis de Zulueta dates the inscription, based on the style of lettering, to between 50 B.C. and A.D. 50, but most likely around the turn of the era. [15] As the text uses the plural form "gods", Zulueta concluded it most likely came from the Hellenized district of the Decapolis. Like Zulueta, J. Spencer Kennard, Jr. noted that the reference to "Caesar" indicated that "the inscription must have been derived from somewhere in Samaria or Decapolis; Galilee was ruled by a client-prince until the reign of Claudius". [8] : 232
It was once of interest to historians of the New Testament. [7] : 89 Some authors, citing the inscription's supposed Galilean origin, interpreted it as Imperial Rome's clear reaction to the empty tomb of Jesus [2] [7] : 89 and specifically as an edict of Claudius, who reigned AD 41-54. [16] [17] If the inscription was originally set up in Galilee, it can date no earlier than 44, the year Roman rule was imposed there. [2]
However, the 2020 isotope study of the marble published in the Journal of Archaeological Science clarified the origin of the tablet and points to another interpretation. [18] The scientists took a sample from the back of the tablet, and used laser ablation to help determine the isotope ratio of the stone. [6] The enrichment of carbon 13 and depletion of Oxygen 18 allowed a confident identification of the source of the marble as the upper quarry in the island of Kos. The team proposed that the edict was issued by Augustus after the desecration of the tomb of the Kos tyrant Nikias. [19] [6]
There is no mention at all made in the Nazareth Inscription of abusing a corpse but only of moving corpses to other locations with wicked intent. It also mentions multiple bodies being taken from tombs, not just one. Kyle Harper, one of the authors of the 2020 study, said that the theory that the Nazareth Inscription was written by Augustus because of the abuse of Nikias' corpse, “has not yet been proven”. Israel has no marble, so any marble would necessarily have to come from elsewhere — most likely from a location on the route from Rome to Judaea —,[ original research? ] and the poor Greek makes it unlikely that the inscription was made in a Greek-speaking area.[ original research? ]
Nazareth is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. In 2021 its population was 77,925. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and commercial center for the Arab citizens of Israel, and became also a center of Arab and Palestinian nationalism. The inhabitants are predominantly Arab citizens of Israel, of whom 69% are Muslim and 30.9% Christian. The city also commands immense religious significance, deriving from its status as the hometown of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity.
The pontifex maximus was the chief high priest of the College of Pontiffs in ancient Rome. This was the most important position in the ancient Roman religion, open only to patricians until 254 BC, when a plebeian first occupied this post. Although in fact the most powerful office in the Roman priesthood, the pontifex maximus was officially ranked fifth in the ranking of the highest Roman priests, behind the rex sacrorum and the flamines maiores.
Aphrodisias was a small ancient Greek Hellenistic city in the historic Caria cultural region of western Anatolia, Turkey. It is located near the modern village of Geyre, about 100 km (62 mi) east/inland from the coast of the Aegean Sea, and 230 km (140 mi) southeast of İzmir.
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 Jesus" is cut into one side of the box. The ossuary attracted scholarly attention due to its apparent association with the Christian holy family.
Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the writing and the writers. Specifically excluded from epigraphy are the historical significance of an epigraph as a document and the artistic value of a literary composition. A person using the methods of epigraphy is called an epigrapher or epigraphist. For example, the Behistun inscription is an official document of the Achaemenid Empire engraved on native rock at a location in Iran. Epigraphists are responsible for reconstructing, translating, and dating the trilingual inscription and finding any relevant circumstances. It is the work of historians, however, to determine and interpret the events recorded by the inscription as document. Often, epigraphy and history are competences practised by the same person. Epigraphy is a primary tool of archaeology when dealing with literate cultures. The US Library of Congress classifies epigraphy as one of the auxiliary sciences of history. Epigraphy also helps identify a forgery: epigraphic evidence formed part of the discussion concerning the James Ossuary.
Hierapolis was originally a Phrygian cult centre of the Anatolian mother goddess of Cybele and later a Greek city. Its location was centred upon the remarkable and copious hot springs in classical Phrygia in southwestern Anatolia. Its extensive remains are adjacent to modern Pamukkale in Turkey.
The Lapis Niger is an ancient shrine in the Roman Forum. Together with the associated Vulcanal it constitutes the only surviving remnants of the old Comitium, an early assembly area that preceded the Forum and is thought to derive from an archaic cult site of the 7th or 8th century BC.
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.
Wilhelm Fröhner or Guillaume Frœhner was a curator at the Musée du Louvre, an archaeological researcher and collector of antiquities in Paris. As a historian, he publicly rejected Gustave Flaubert's depiction of infanticide in Punic culture, described in Salammbô.
The Philopappos Monument is an ancient Greek mausoleum and monument dedicated to Gaius Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappos or Philopappus,, a prince from the Kingdom of Commagene. It is located on Mouseion Hill in Athens, Greece, southwest of the Acropolis.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Wikipedia articles on the life and influence of Jesus.
Aizanoi, Latinized as Aezani, was a Phrygian city in western Anatolia. Located in what is now Çavdarhisar, near Kütahya, its ruins are situated astride the River Penkalas, some 1,000 m (3,300 ft) above sea level. The city was an important political and economic centre in Roman times; surviving remains from the period include a well-preserved Temple of Zeus, unusual combined theatre-stadium complex, and macellum inscribed with the Price Edict of Diocletian. The city fell into decline in Late Antiquity. Later serving as a citadel, in 2012 the site was submitted for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Roman Cyprus was a small senatorial province within the Roman Empire. While it was a small province, it possessed several well known religious sanctuaries and figured prominently in Eastern Mediterranean trade, particularly the production and trade of Cypriot copper. The island of Cyprus was situated at a strategically important position along Eastern Mediterranean trade routes, and had been controlled by various imperial powers throughout the first millennium BC. including: the Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians, Macedonians, and eventually the Romans. Cyprus was annexed by the Romans in 58 BC, but turbulence and civil war in Roman politics did not establish firm rule in Cyprus until 31 BC when Roman political struggles ended by Battle of Actium, and after about a decade, Cyprus was assigned a status of senatorial province in 22 BC. From then until the 7th century AD, Cyprus was controlled by the Romans. Cyprus officially became part of the Eastern Roman Empire in 293 AD.
The Priene Calendar Inscription is an inscription in stone recovered at Priene that records an edict by Paullus Fabius Maximus, proconsul of the Roman province of Asia and a decree of the conventus of the province accepting the edict from 9 BC. The documents align the provincial calendar with the Roman calendar, honouring Augustus by making the provincial year began on his birthday. It refers to Augustus' birth using the term "gospel." It is known as the Priene text because it was found on two stones in the marketplace of the ancient town of Priene. Other copies are known from Apamea and Eumeneia.
In archaeology, instrumentum domesticum refers to instruments, tools, and other artifacts intended for ordinary and domestic use. It also includes replicas of such objects made to be deposited in graves. The name is Latin for "domestic instruments", a term originally defined by Roman Law.
Nicias, also known as Curtias Nicias, was a ruler of the island of Kos under Roman rule, during the Second Triumvirate and the early reign of Augustus. He is known from coinage, inscriptions, and anecdotes in ancient literary sources. Ancient sources call him a tyrant. The desecration of his tomb may have prompted the Nazareth Inscription.
Marcus Venerius Secundio was a Roman impresario who produced plays in Greek and Latin, and a custodian of the temple of Venus at Pompeii. Marcus was a former slave, who after he was freed applied himself to organizing theatrical performances. He was a financial success, and improved his social standing and garnered prestige. Marcus lived in the 1st century and was probably born around the beginning of the Christian era and died a few years before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79. Analysis of his remains suggests that he was about 60 years old when he died. His name occurs in the wax tablet archive of his contemporary the banker Caecilius Iucundus. The discovery that Marcus put on performances in Greek is strong evidence that ancient Greek must have been an accessible language along with classical Latin in ancient Rome.
The Msida Bastion Historic Garden, also Msida Bastion Cemetery or Msida Bastion Garden of Rest is a former Protestant cemetery in Floriana, Malta, in use from 1806 till 1856. It was restored and reopened as a garden in 2002. It is listed in the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands under number 52, as a Grade 1 Monument. Currently, Din l-Art Ħelwa are the caretakers of the Msida Bastions with a team of over 25 volunteers coordinated by the garden's Warden, all aiding in the general upkeep and research of the site.
The Tomb of the Haterii is an Ancient Roman funerary monument, constructed between c. 100 and c. 120 CE along the Via Labicana to the south-east of Rome. It was discovered in 1848 and is particularly noted for the numerous artworks, particularly reliefs, found within.