Posted on 04/04/2011 7:26:13 AM PDT by Red Badger
After 2,000 years buried within a cave in the Holy Land, the features are barely distinct as that of a human face.
But Bible historians are trying to determine whether this is the first ever portrait of Jesus Christ.
They are investigating whether the picture, which can still just about be seen to depict a man wearing a crown of thorns, was created in Jesus’s lifetime by those who knew him.
The portrait was found on a lead booklet, slightly smaller than a credit card, which lay undiscovered in a cave in a remote village in Jordan overlooking the Sea of Galilee.
It was part of an astonishing hoard of 70 books found there, each with between five and 15 cast lead pages bound by lead rings.
Historians believe the collection was made by followers of Jesus in the few decades immediately after his crucifixion. The most convincing evidence that the books are Christian is that one plate appears to show a map of the holy city of Jerusalem featuring crosses outside the city walls.
And one phrase in the booklets appears to read ‘Saviour of Israel’ in ancient Hebrew.
The discoveries were supposedly made between 2005 and 2007, when a flash flood exposed two nooks inside the cave, containing the booklets, metal plates and scrolls.
The director of Jordan’s Department of Antiquities, Ziad al-Saad, believes the booklets were made by Jesus’s followers shortly after his death.
He said: ‘They will really match, and perhaps be more significant than the Dead Sea Scrolls.
‘The initial information is very encouraging and it seems that we are looking at a very important and significant discovery – maybe the most important discovery in the history of archaeology.’
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Another arab pi**ing in the well. That’s all.
It may not be the first picture but hopefully the last of....how many posts?...of this story.
The discovery of the manuscript is very interesting but, frankly, the image bears no resemblance to that which I saw on the 3-cheese pizza.
I still say the pizza is Michael Jackson..............
ping
See: http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/ for serious questions about the authenticity of these lead tablets.
I have read some of the arguments.
They seem to hinge on similarities of depictions on coins of the era among other things.
The maker of these plates might have used the coins as a reference or they might have been actually used a part of the mold in the original.
I am not really interested in whether they are fake or not. That will be proven one way or another scientifically, not by ‘consensus’ opinion.
If they are real, it won’t change much of today’s world.
If they are fake, it won’t change any of today’s world...............
Finally, the provenance for the item is very unclear (always a bad sign). My bet: this is a fraud.
****Looks just like contemporaneous portraits of Helios or Apollo, the Sun God in the Greco-Roman pantheon. ****
I was thinking the same thing! Now, we need to open it, give it to real translators adept in ancient languages, then examine the metal for signs of fakery.
It is the best way to be sure.
It could be.
It could also be the first known depiction of an extraterrestrial, too.
Anything is possible.
Looks like a lion to me.
If genuinely produced by early Christians, it could represent The Lion of the Tribe of Judah mentioned in Revelation
No, it’s already been debunked as a fraud.
It could represent a Roman convert’s idea of Christ. The Romans had no compunctions against the portrayals of deities like the Jews, and hence the early Christians, did. That would account for the similarity between the coins and statues of the day and the plates............
By reputable, scientific analysis or by people who have opinions instead of facts?..................
“They seem to hinge on similarities of depictions on coins of the era among other things.”
That’s not really the best evidence. One of the codices has Greek text that appears to have been copied, word for word, from a tombstone on display in a museum in Jordan, but the copier did not know Greek, because they confused the letters lambda and alpha. Only a fragment of the text on the tombstone was copied, and this was repeated over and over, in a nonsensical fashion. Also, that codex was originally claimed to be found in Egypt, but now it’s popped up again with the lead codices and claimed to have been found in Jordan.
We don’t know if it IS a picture of Jesus, or some pagan deity or a portrait of Fredius Flinstonius.............
Here’s the story:
http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2011_03_27_archive.html#7454369078247746754
Yes, these are reputable experts.
James R. Davila - Professor of Early Jewish Studies at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland
Dr. Peter Thonemann - University Lecturer in Ancient History
Forrest-Derow Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History, Wadham College
Lecturer in Ancient History, Keble College
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.