Using a robotic camera, archaeologists have found Christian inscriptions in a tomb in Jerusalem that may have been made by the earliest followers of Jesus Christ himself. They would be by far the oldest evidence of the existence of a Christian culture. The discovery could potentially radically change our understanding of early Christianity.
The tomb under investigation probably dates from before 70 AD. ch. and contains inscriptions that scholars characterize as “typically Christian.” The inscriptions are on various ossuaries, clay boxes in which bones are kept. Among other things, the archaeologists discovered a short inscription in ancient Greek that speaks of 'resurrection' (see box). References to the Biblical prophet Jonah were also found.
According to the Bible, Jonah was swallowed by a whale and lived in the animal's belly for three days before the fish vomited it up again. In later early Christian inscriptions, the reference to this story symbolizes the Christian hope of redemption and resurrection. It is often represented by an image of a whale with a human figure in its mouth. In the examined tomb, archaeologists found exactly this symbol.
The oldest known examples of such quintessentially Christian symbolism until now have been Roman crypts from the third century, when Christianity was spreading throughout the Roman Empire. The Jonah symbol does not appear in first-century AD tombs, which are usually classified as Jewish, not least because the Jewish faith forbids the portrayal of humans and animals. Apart from the possible Christian inscriptions, the tomb is a normal, carefully hewn room in the rock, like so many in Jerusalem in the period between 20 and 70 AD. BC
“The discovery is absolutely extraordinary,” said James Tabor, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina (USA) and author of a preliminary research report. “If anyone had previously claimed to have found a resurrection inscription or a Jonah symbol in a first-century Jewish tomb, I would have said it was impossible.”
The four lines probably contain the following words:1. ΔΙΟΣ (DIOS)2. (JAIO)3. ΥΨΩ (YPSO) 4. ΑΓΒ ΑΓΙΩ or ΑΠΒ
The first three words translate as 'god[ness] Yahweh h[v]rise[t], depending on the grammatical form, which is unclear. The full meaning of the inscription depends on the last word. ΑΓΙΩ can be translated as 'the holy'. ΑΓΒ is not a well-known Greek word, but here the Aramaic word bagah (‘out/from’) may be spelled backwards. The whole translation could then be 'The holy Yaweh raises [you] from [the tomb].
We could hardly believe what we saw on the film images from our robot camera. Virtually everything in this tomb is different from what we normally find in tombs from this period."
Biblical scholars and religion experts generally assume that typical themes that distinguish early Christianity from Judaism—such as the emphasis on resurrection and redemption—didn't appear until the second century. Due to the recent discovery, that view is now under discussion. These ideas may have existed much earlier among the direct followers of Jesus.
On the other hand, the discovery can certainly count on a lot of skepticism. Finding such ancient Christian symbols is highly controversial for many archaeologists and religion experts. It is completely outside the usual context of religious life of the first centuries after the beginning of our era. In addition, the tomb under investigation is only a stone's throw from the so-called 'Jesus Tomb'. In this tomb, discovered in 1980, there is, among other things, a bone box on which the name 'Jesus of Nazareth' can be read.
According to Tabor, the recently examined tomb and the Jesus tomb belong to the same complex, possibly on the territory of a wealthy family. Whether the 'primal sources' of the Christian faith may be found in this complex - at least until the Israeli government gives permission to further investigate the tomb - will remain food for speculation.