Posted on 12/10/2008 1:23:21 PM PST by BGHater
Archaeologists have discovered vases of perfumed ointment which may have been used by Mary Magdalene to anoint the feet of Jesus.
The Italian team have been digging for several months at the ancient Palestinian town of Magdala – from where Mary gets her name.
The archaeologists of the Franciscan academic society Studium Biblicum Franciscanum found the unopened vases dating to the first century AD conserved in mud at the bottom of a swimming pool in Magdala's thermal complex.
The town is on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee and Mary Magdalene is mentioned several times throughout the Bible.
Many believe that Mary Magdalene was the woman described in the Gospel of St Luke who anointed Jesus feet with oil and then wiped them with her tears and hair.
She is also described as a prostitute and is also present at the foot of the Cross when Jesus is crucified and was also the first witness to see Christ following his Resurrection.
Speaking of the discovery Father Stefano De Luca who is leading the dig, said: "The mud-filled condition of the site allowed us to find these truly extraordinary objects, which were intact and sealed and still contain greasy substances.
"We think these are balms and perfumes and if chemical analysis confirms this, they could be similar to those used by Mary Magdalene in the Gospels to anoint the feet of Christ.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Smell good ping.
No proof that she was the annointer nor is there proof that she was a prostitute.
Forgive me if I’m not seeing anything more than a hypothetical link. She *may* have used these bottles. She *may* have not have ever been in that location, too.
But it is untrue that Mary Magdalene is described in the Gospels as a 'prostitute'.
let me guess, there’s a note inside it telling the secret burial place of the body of her husband Jesus.
If these were unopened, then none of them is the one she opened and used. But, it is cool to have things discovered from that special time in human history.
Yep, they must the same ones ... someone's gonna have to re-write the Bible now, scientists are in agreement.
Mary may have anointed the feet of Jesus, though that is not certain, but she was not a prostitute. That comes from the fact that the story of the prostitute in Luke is so close to the mention of Mary.
Mary of Magdala has been defamed enough by that story. Particularly since the story of the prostitute was a later addition to the gospel of Luke.
The more people are different the more they are the same. I would bet a lot of $ these are tourist trinkets sold to pilgrims going to “Magdala”.
I found a 1930’s bottle in Georgia. FDR *may* have drank out of it.
That’s about big a stretch as what they are saying.
Mary Magdalen was an alien and those jars are full of alien food.
Yes but she had a green card.
It’s pretty hard to prove anything someone did from back then, even if it’s written down.
At least we might find out what perfumes smelled like so we can at least guess what the perfume might have been like at the time—what the stuff poured on Jesus feet smelled like.
Some say Mary M. was Jesus’s wife or GF. Could be—I don’t think Jesus was gay.
I bet they don’t smell as good as they did when they were made.
What’s the story behind your posting of Nick Pisa’s mom is a skank? I failed to see a connection to the story, though I did chuckle over it. Thanks in advance.
Mary Magdalene was NEVER described in the Bible as a prostitute.
... The archaeologists of the Franciscan academic society Studium Biblicum Franciscanum found the unopened vases dating to the first century AD conserved in mud at the bottom of a swimming pool in Magdala's thermal complex.
If they were unopened they weren't the ones she used. She broke hers open and poured out the perfumed ointment.
No, but she was part of the Magdala Underground. They were notorious for an indiscriminate rash of balmings.
He said “they could be SIMILAR to those used by Mary Magdalene in the Gospels to anoint the feet of Christ.”
That may be what the author MEANT, but what here is what he SAID, to quote the first sentence of the article:
Archaeologists have discovered vases of perfumed ointment which may have been used by Mary Magdalene to anoint the feet of Jesus.
Distilled oil of spikenard from India and elsewhere in the east has been known and used as a perfume for thousands of years. Spikenard was traditionally kept in alabaster jars, iirc.
I bought some to see what it smelled like. It has an initial musty smell that is unpleasant, which disappears in a few minutes and leaves behind an exquisitely beautiful, heavenly fragrance. I love the stuff.
Agree but that is not what the priest is saying and his people are the ones who discovered the jars. The press will do anything to make a story. BTW I was at this place. The one thing that amazed me was how people lived so close together and how small their houses were. Homes were about the size of a closet. Years ago when I was a kid I read about the various towns Capernum etc in the bible. I pictured those towns about the size of a small town in the U.S. with maybe a couple of thousands of people living there. Actually Capernum could fit in my backyard.
Also, don’t they think there was more than one Mary from Magdalene?
“Oh my, we found a vase with the name “Mary” on it! We’re in Magdalena. This has to be the oil that was used to annoint Jesus’ feet! We’re rich!”
Deliberately misleading headline.
The vials in question may have a link to her hometown .
“They were notorious for an indiscriminate rash of balmings.”
Touche....nicely done.
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...and just last week, I found a piece of Black Hills limestone that may have been thrown at a pesky coyote by General Custer.
"We think these are balms and perfumes and if chemical analysis confirms this, they could be similar to those used by Mary Magdalene in the Gospels to anoint the feet of Christ.
Well, the rock is similar to one perhaps thrown at something by somebody in Custer's 1874 Expedition, during which it is known that at some point Custer threw something, even if just a fit.
Journalists! Bah; HUMBUG!
I H.A.T.E. misleading, sensatioanlist, bait & switch titles & lead sentences.
“nor is there proof that she was a prostitute.”
Obviously written by the Opus Dei.
who is this Pisa person?
> She is also described as a prostitute...
Mary Magdalene is never described as a prostitute in the Bible.
I don’t know what smells worse, this article or the rotten contents in the jars they found.
They don’t have anything connecting these jars to her.
“The” Science Is In!
It’s like saying “You’re from Amerika... do you know Britney Spears?”
It would probably work better to figure out the components and recreat it.
I guess they mean she may have used that KIND of perfume (like the noxema comment). But they wrapped it in the kind of propagandistic, drive-by double talk that we’ve all grown to know and detest.
It reminds me of when you see a frontier cabin and it’s about 10X10 for the whole family. But I’ve lived in a small apartment, where the weather is warm. You simply don’t spend that much time indoors.
I’ll give the doubletalker the benefit of the doubt on one thing. There was a discovery, he wanted to publicize it. To get it publicized he felt he had to tie it to something people would care about. OK, I accept that. It was still doubletalk and nonsense.
That’s like when they found the ossuary in Jerusalem that said James bar Joseph. That was a pretty long stretch, but it was better than this.
I read once that at that time something like half the women in Judea and Samaria were named either Miriam or Salome. For a current comparison, think Jennifer and Ashley. We won’t even consider Taylor and Brooke.
Many can believe it all they want, but it isn't supportable by the texts.
I’m sure someone will try that. It will be interesting to see if olfactory tastes have changed much over the years.
She is nowhere in the bible described as a prostitute. That is purely a supposition born of wishful thinking.
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