Dekel Ben-Shitrit holds the bronze ring he found while weeding in a garden. Credit: Nir Distelfeld/Israel Antiquities Authority
Posted on 02/28/2018 5:31:11 PM PST by SJackson
About 700 years ago, a bronze ring depicting St. Nicholas — the saint who inspired the modern-day figure of Santa Claus — slipped off the finger of its owner, likely either a crusader or a pilgrim traveling to the Holy Land. The ring lay buried in the dirt for hundreds of years, until a gardener in Israel found it last week while weeding in Lower Galilee.
The gardener, Dekel Ben-Shitrit, 26, turned the unusual ring over to Israel's National Treasures Department, where archaeologists dated the metal artifact to between the 12th and 15th centuries, during the Middle Ages. [The Holy Land: 7 Amazing Archaeological Finds]
"This special ring is amazingly well preserved and will contribute a great deal to science," Yana Tchekhanovetz, an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) who specializes in the Byzantine period, said in a statement.
This bronze ring bearing the likeness of St. Nicholas dates to the Middle Ages. This bronze ring bearing the likeness of St. Nicholas dates to the Middle Ages. Credit: Clara Amit/Israel Antiquities Authority A preliminary analysis suggests that the ring, which depicts the face of a bald man next to a staff, shows the likeness of St. Nicholas next to a bishop's crook, the saint's hallmark, Tchekhanovetz said.
Dekel Ben-Shitrit holds the bronze ring he found while weeding in a garden. Credit: Nir Distelfeld/Israel Antiquities Authority
"In the Eastern Christian world, St. Nicholas is considered the patron saint of travelers, including pilgrims and sailors," Tchekhanovetz said.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
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It's silly, but my thought on reading this was it's more likely the ring was flown here by Santa's reindeer than Mohammed was here on his flying horse on the way to outer space. I acknowledge flying reindeer aren't an article of faith like flying horses.
All I want for Christmas is a Crusader ring from the 12th to 15th centuries.
No reindeer? Christmas toy sack? Color me skeptical.
I guess it’s real. It’s still puzzling
why the inside of the ring is enscribed,
“Drink your camel milk.”
Santa is actually totally real. Somewhat off the version we've made him out to be, but he is real and has had an enormous impact on humanity.
SJackson wrote: “... it’s more likely the ring was flown here by Santa’s reindeer than Mohammed was here on his flying horse ...”
Mohammerhead claimed he was given a ride by the Archangel Michael on a Interstellar Pegasus to Heaven where he met with allah, seated upon his throne.
Hmmm...
Did the gardener get a few bucks for the find?
ping
Really cool fond.
*find
Iused to watch Crusader Rabbit.
Are they going to make any effort to find the owner? Or a descendant (since the owner is undoubtedly deceased)? Maybe some of the owner’s DNA is on the inside of the ring.
This is a story that has been passed down though the generations of my family about an ancester who lost his ring while skinny dipping in the holy land.
He brought the naughty Muslims some coal in their stockings?
A person who lived in the 12th to 15th centuries—assuming descendants survived adulthood—would likely by now have descendants in the high hundred thousands to low millions.
I frankly don’t know how St. Nick acquired reindeer. He was said to have donated to needy households by putting coins in the smoke hole, which is what houses with open hearths had before there were enclosed fireplaces and chimneys.
Wife taught at a private French school in San Francisco. They would do a lineage day and kids would bring their family history, every year there would be 4-5 kids traced back to Charlemagne just in that one foreign school
WOW Really cool, thanks for posting!
Maybe we will be able to say, “Merry Christmas” this year. :)
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