Alexander Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 The reason I'm posting this now, even though this story broke in June 2003, is because I recently had a discussion with an otherwise sane individual who actually cited the so-called "Jesus Box" as historical evidence of the existence (at least in earthly form) of Jesus. Astonished, I said that the box was proven a fake years ago. His reply: "Really? I don't remember seeing that on the news." Well, he was right. The discovery of the alleged tomb was front page (or nearly front page) news, but the discovery of the hoax was buried on the back pages. I have since spoken to at least a dozen people who remember the story about the tomb's discovery, but didn't hear that it was a fake. So here's the story from CBS news... Oh, Brother: Jesus Box Is A Fake (CBS/AP) An artifact said to be one of the most important archaeological discoveries ever has turned out to be a fake. The inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus" on an ancient stone burial box caused a stir last year, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger, because it was said to be the oldest reference to Jesus outside the Bible. But Israeli experts announced Wednesday that "the inscription is a forgery." Gideon Avni of the Israeli Antiquities Authority said the box is authentic and dates back 2,000 years, but the inscription was forged in recent times. "The inscriptions, possibly inscribed in two separate stages, are not authentic," the Antiquities Authority said in a statement. "This forgery was done sometime in the last decades, maybe in the last years," he told CBS News. The James inscription cut through the ancient limestone box's patina, a thin coating acquired with age, the experts said, proving the writing was not ancient. Avni said the decision by the authority was unanimous. In the Bible, Matthew 13:55 refers to James as Jesus' brother. He later became head of the church in Jerusalem, according to the New Testament. Oded Golan, the Israeli owner of the ossuary, dismissed the officials' findings as "wrong." However, Biblical language professor Avigdor Horowitz, who served on one of the investigating committees, said not one inscribed passage on the tablet was without a linguistic mistake. "The person who wrote the inscription was a person who thinks in modern Hebrew," he told a news conference in Jerusalem. "A person thinking in biblical Hebrew would see it as ridiculous." The Israel Antiquities Authority and the Jerusalem police launched separate investigations into the two items after Golan offered one for sale. The Yoash inscription is a shoebox-sized tablet from about the ninth century BC inscribed with 15 lines of ancient Hebrew with instructions for maintaining the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. When it was first disclosed two years ago, it caused a stir in the archaeological world, with some experts calling it a rare confirmation of biblical narrative. The existence of the James ossuary was revealed last November at a news conference in Washington by the Biblical Archaeology Review. Israel Antiquities Authority head Shuka Dorfman said the ossuary itself was not examined because its authenticity as an ancient burial box was not in question. The practice of reburying Jewish remains ended around A.D. 70. "The box is original; probably we have in our storeroom hundreds of the same or similar ossuaries. The inscription is false," he said. The artifact had been valued at $1 million to $2 million, based on the claimed link with Jesus. Golan said he bought the James ossuary in the mid-1970s from an antiquities dealer in the Old City of Jerusalem for about $200, but he said he could not remember the dealer's name. However, antiquities inspectors, who have questioned several Old City dealers, were also checking suspicions Golan bought the ossuary only a few months ago. In such a case, those involved in the sale could be prosecuted for dealing in stolen goods. The police investigation into how the box was acquired will continue regardless of the committee's findings. Dorfman said the antiquities experts made a purely scientific examination of the artifacts, without trying to prove or disprove any allegations against Golan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 boy is dad gonna be PISSED! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 My wife subscribes to ARCHAEOLOGY, and I think there was an article about this & Golan a few months ago. Evidently he's a somewhat sketchy character... isn't there another relic controversy with which he's involved? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 Here's an article on the historicity of Jesus. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 My wife subscribes to ARCHAEOLOGY, and I think there was an article about this & Golan a few months ago. Evidently he's a somewhat sketchy character... isn't there another relic controversy with which he's involved? GoM, I believe recently there was an NYT article that reported this fraud and also went deeper into the whole issue of greater and greater fraud in the antiquities market, with special attention to this man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 This story was just on 60 Minutes a few weeks ago. The guy (antiquities dealer) was finally busted by the Israeli feds... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Lightning Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 That's old news in the Holy Land... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 Not really relevant to the thread at hand, but one of my favorite exchanges in MONTY PYTHON & THE HOLY GRAIL is when King Arthur asks the French castle guards if their master would be interested in accompanying him on his quest for the grail and they tell him "He's already got one." "Are you quite sure?" "Oh yes, it's very nice!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AfricaBrass Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 Not really relevant to the thread at hand, but one of my favorite exchanges in MONTY PYTHON & THE HOLY GRAIL is when King Arthur asks the French castle guards if their master would be interested in accompanying him on his quest for the grail and they tell him "He's already got one." "Are you quite sure?" "Oh yes, it's very nice!" Monty Python and the Holy Grail is ALWAYS relevant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted January 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 That's old news in the Holy Land... Well, apparently for Americans who don't follow the news CAREFULLY, it's new news... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 Not really relevant to the thread at hand, but one of my favorite exchanges in MONTY PYTHON & THE HOLY GRAIL is when King Arthur asks the French castle guards if their master would be interested in accompanying him on his quest for the grail and they tell him "He's already got one." "Are you quite sure?" "Oh yes, it's very nice!" There's also a clever bit in Eco's Name of the Rose where Adso is extremely impressed with the Benedictine monastery's collection of relics and William makes a clever comment in response. (I wish I had the book in front of me so I could quote the passage!) Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BERIGAN Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 That's old news in the Holy Land... Well, apparently for Americans who don't follow the news CAREFULLY, it's new news... Don't feel so bad...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 (edited) Wow, I produced a whole program on archaeology site theft that featured Oded Golan & the ossuary. It aired on the History Channel several months ago. (The show was "Tomb Raiders: Robbing the Dead" - lousy title, but not my choice). This announcement was made by the IAA last summer. Alexander, is that an old story that you posted? The other piece that Golan is involved with is the Jehoash Inscription. And it seemed to be an open secret among antiquities dealers in Jerusalem that Golan had a nice little operation making high end items. But when he was busted at his house (I believe that he's currently out on bail), the ossuary, insured for over a million bucks, was found sitting on top of a toilet tank in an upstairs bathroom, not exactly the safest climate controlled environment. Edited January 10, 2005 by Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 I'm guessing the folks who believed the validity of the markings on the box might also believe the authenticity of a sword marked “500 BC” on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 I'm guessing the folks who believed the validity of the markings on the box might also believe the authenticity of a sword marked “500 BC” on it. I think some of this stems from wealthy American Christian individuals and groups who are obsessed with finding archaeological evidence to support Biblical narratives. Lest anyone interpret that as an anti-Christian remark, I hasten to add that I consider myself a Christian; I'm just not going to base my faith on whether or not somebody can dig up an old urn in the Holy Land. In any case, there's great demand for such items, which no doubt tempts schemers like this guy to "find" them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 I found this story interesting when it was first both introduced as the real thing and then discredited, because I really am very interested in the "history" of James, brother of Jesus, and the first church in Jerusalem, and how it was superceded by Paul and the Gentile church. James was supposedly a very important figure in Jerusalem of his time, and mentioned outside of church mentionings (but everything is suspect). I remember most telling my Catholic-raised wife about the box and James and her retort was "Jesus HAD BROTHERS?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 Jazzbo, btw, I didn't mean to cast intellectual aspersions on those who are interested in the history of the period--quite the opposite, as I am developing an interest myself. I simply think the market for relics from that time is being driven by wealthy and often ideologically conservative American religious folk. (Not blaming them for the creation of this fake... just saying that the crooks are exploiting their desire to find archaeological confirmation.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 Man, can you even imagine the inferiority complex that James - Brother of Jesus © - must have had! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 Oh David, I know, I know and agree with you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maren Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 I found this story interesting when it was first both introduced as the real thing and then discredited, because I really am very interested in the "history" of James, brother of Jesus, and the first church in Jerusalem, and how it was superceded by Paul and the Gentile church. James was supposedly a very important figure in Jerusalem of his time, and mentioned outside of church mentionings (but everything is suspect). I remember most telling my Catholic-raised wife about the box and James and her retort was "Jesus HAD BROTHERS?" Ah yes, one of the big divides between Catholics and Protestants -- IMO, it was all to uphold that Virgin Mary thing -- not enough that she conceived Jesus with only the assistance of the Holy Ghost, she herself had to be "conceived without sin" in order to be a pure enough "vessel" and then -- over the centuries -- she had to be "pure" in perpetuity and could never have had another child! Even the Catholic translations of the Bible (KJV wouldn't do) said "James, the brother of Jesus" -- but we spent endless hours in grade school being told "that doesn't really MEAN brother -- it means cousin." Um, yeah, right -- so why didn't the translator just say "cousin" ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank m Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 I heard this story recounted by a paleontologist/biologist who had brought his class on a field trip to dig around for artifacts. He is one of the guys who had been brought in to study the "human" track left in a stream bed claimed by creationists to prove that man and dinosaurs lived at the same time, thereby upsetting the long time span required for evolution etc. The result of the study was that the supposed footprints had really been left by a two legged running dinosaur thereby leaving dinosaur heel prints which were interpreted by the conservative gang as human. He realized at the end of the field trip that they were in close proximity to the footprints so he suggested that the class head over that way and take a look. He said that when they got there that the footprints in question had, during the intervening period, grown toes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Use3D Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 I forgot about the Jesus box, watched a big documentary about it a while ago. Too bad it's fake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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