LATEST ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIND IN ISRAEL ADDS EVIDENCE TO GOD, JESUS CHRIST

“About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he…performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly.”
Josephus (Jewish historian, 37–100 CE):

Archaelogists made an important discovery in Megiddo in 2005. It was finally on display and opened to the public in Washington DC for the very first time a few days ago. This has been touted the greatest find in Israel, some say ranking next to the Dead Sea Scrolls, in importance.

Megiddo today is just a small kibbutz (communal settlement) in Northern Israel. In ancient time Megiddo was a major city-state, strategically located along trade and military routes connecting Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia. It is renowned for its biblical and historical significance where it is linked to major battles of Egyptians, Canaanites, Israelites and Assyrians. It was also the place where Josiah was killed in battle. Most famously of all, it is mentioned in Revelation as the place where the final battle of Armageddon will take place. Armageddon is a translation of 'Mount 0f Megiddo. There is no mountain so the 'mount' probably refers to the mound on which the city stood.

The nearby Megiddo Prison sits on the ancient Roman town of Legio (old name Kefar 'Otnay). It was part of a significant Roman military base. Some prison extension was required which, like all construction projects in Israel, required clearance by the Israel Antiquities Authority. The IAA conducted some digs to ascertain no historical sites will be destroyed. They discovered a part of the ground within the compounds of the prison covered a mosaic floor of a prayer hall dating back to 230 AD. This hall formed a wing of a large residential building used by Roman soldiers, namely the Sixth Ironclad Legion, stationed there at the time.

The mosaic has three clear inscriptions.

“Remember Primilla and Cyriaca and Dorothea, and lastly, Chreste.”

Nothing else is know of these women. They could be the patrons of the community, or sponsors, or martyrs, or honoured for some other reasons. They were obviously persons of importance to the community, reflecting major roles played by women in early Christian life. None of the names are Jewish. Primilla is Roman, the other three were Greeks.

"Gaianus, also called Porphyrius, centurion, our brother, has made the mosaic at his own expense as an act of generosity."

Gaianus is Roman and Porphyrius is Greek. This suggest he could be a Roman who lived in the Eastern regions of the empire and acquired a Greek alias. It said he funded the cost of the mosaic personally. It is not an official Roman project since Gaianus funded it personally. He was called a "brother" which is the way Christians addressed each other, which suggested Gaianus was a Christian.

"The god-loving Akeptous has offered the table to God Jesus Christ as a memorial.”

Akeptous is Greek name. She was called 'philotheos' which means 'God lover'. She was the donor of the table which was placed at the centre of the room. It was probably used in the celebration of the Eucharist, or Lord’s Supper.

The artisan of the mosaic was a Roman called Brutius whose name was also inscribed. Hellenic culture predominated the region at the time, so all those Grrek names were most likely Hellenised Jews. The fact Gaianus' name appeared is most interesting. It suggests two things. One, that Romans and Jews were practicing the faith together in those early days. Two, the fact the prayer hall was within the compound of the military base and that Gaianus not only funded the mosaic, his name was inscribed on it, suggests that the terrible persecution of Christians in those early days were not carried out in outlier districts of the Roman Empire.

There is also the early Christianity icon of two fish in the mosaic. The fish was a logical choice as icon due to its association with (1) Jesus having a few fishermen as apostles, (2) Jesus called his disciples to be "fishers of men" (Mark 6:4), (3) the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fish (Mark 6:41). There are many that say in the early days, due to the ongoing persecution of Christians, the sign of the fish was used as a covert identification in their community. Early Christians also used to write fish covertly in Greek as "ichthys" which is an acronym for Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter, meaning "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior".

No one in the early days would have liked the idea of using the sign of the cross because of its association with the grossly barbaric and gruesome act of execution. The cross gained popularity after Constantine converted to Christianity. Constantine reportedly saw a divine vision before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 AD. He saw a cross in the sky accompanied by the words "In hoc signo vinces" which means "in this sign, conquer". This led to the adoption of the cross as a military and religious emblem and eventually it became a symbol for Christianity.

The historicity of Jesus is fact. The divinity of Jesus is faith. This archaelogical discovery has great importance as it fundamentally provides a better understanding to the arguments on the historicity and divinity of Jesus.

Having faith, all Christians of course simply accept the historicity of Jesus as a matter of fact although the vast majority would find it difficult if asked to show evidence outside of the Bible. All Muslims believe in the historicity of Jesus, not that they have any special evidence, but simply because their Quran told them so. No Muslim believe in the divinity of Jesus, again simply because the Quran told them so. Outside of Christian and Muslim communities, there are many who do not believe Jesus ever lived and they challenge the very few evidence in the form of records by historians such as Josephus and Tacitus.

All detractors wonder why such a giant of a man as Jesus has almost no trace of his time on Earth. Where are the archaeological and epigraphic evidence, The problem is most folks fail to view things in perspective. After the death of Jesus, Christians were persecuted in the Roman Empire for the next 300 years. The growth of Christianiaty was a cultural, social and political threat to the Romans which led to their persecution. Punishments included social ostracism such as loss of status, exclusion from public office and societal privileges, confiscation of property, imprisonment, forced labour, public execution by crucifixion, burning and fed to animals such as lions. Persecution was intense and cruel under Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Decius, and the worse of the worse, Diocletian. Following the Great Fire of Rome, Emperor Nero scapegoated Christians, leading to brutal punishments such as burning Christians as human torches.

During the years of persecution, no Christian practice their faith in public. It was much like what they are doing in Iran and China today. There were no churches, no public place of worship. Christians gathered in small groups in private homes to pray. Would anyone dare to write anything, much less put up a monument? Under the circumstances, it does not need rocket science to understand the lack of evidence of historicity of Jesus.

Apart from cultural reverence, there is usually a political angle to what history left behind for us. Look at Alexander the Great. Historians will say the abundance of monuments, cities, inscriptions, and literary works tied to Alexander the Great stems from the vast scope of his empire, the deep cultural impact he had on multiple civilizations. Most historians attribute it to Alexander's intentional personal efforts to immortalize his legacy. This cannot explain his glorification after his death. Reading between the lines of history, one finds Ptolemy, one of the four generals Alexander annoited to take over his empire split after his death, built a cult of him. For acceptance as King of Egypt region, Ptolemy needed royal lineage. He built an alusion of lineage to King Phillip, the father of Alexander. To maintain the association to this lineage he had to propagate the greatness of Alexander long after the latter's death. Alexander's greatness was Ptolemy's 'back mountain" which legitimised his claim to the throne. (See my old blog "Tales from Gabriel - Alexander the great").

The Megiddo Mosaic is one of the few epigraphic evidence the name Jesus is clearly mentioned. (There have been a few archeological discoveries, but that's for another blog). This just adds to the authenticity of the Bible and layers of evidence to the historicity of Jesus.

All Muslims and orthodox Jews as well as many others never believed in the divinity of Jesus. There is nothing offensive in this as it is a matter of faith, reserved only for Christians. But what Christians need to challenge is the claim that there is no evidence early Christians believed in Jesus' divinity, that Jesus himself never said He is God incarnate, that the idea for the divinity of Jesus formalised after the First Council of Nicea (325 AD), and that the Quran specifically implies that earlier scriptures were altered or misunderstood, e.g., Surah Al-Baqarah 2:75-79 which Muslims often cite this as evidence that Christians corrupted the Bible to promote Jesus' divinity.

The Megiddo mosaic is an epigraphic evidence that early Christians practiced the faith clearly in the belief that Jesus Christ is God.  All the other accusations can be easily addressed, every one of them, but that requires another blog.

Watch the short clip of the Megiddo Mosiac on public display at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. The artifact is expected to return to Israel, where plans are underway to house it near its original location in Megiddo within a dedicated archaeological site

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