WP: Site May Be 3rd-Century Place of Christian Worship

[Pirate Smile]

Site May Be 3rd-Century Place of Christian Worship
Discovery Made At Israeli Prison

By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, November 7, 2005; Page A14

MEGIDDO, Israel, Nov. 6 -- Israeli state archaeologists have discovered mosaics, pottery and other remains of a Roman-era Christian building on the grounds of a high-security prison here. They say the site could be the oldest public place of Christian worship ever uncovered in Israel and perhaps one of the earliest such sites in the world.

The mosaic floor of the structure, buried beneath rock, soil and asphalt, was discovered Oct. 30 by an Israeli prisoner working on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority. The agency has been excavating the compound for more than a year to ensure that nothing of historic value is lost during an ongoing renovation project. At a news conference Sunday, Yardena Alexandre, a spokeswoman for the authority, called the discovery "one of the most important finds for the history of early Christianity."



Photos
Discovery Made at Israeli Prison
Israeli state archaeologists have discovered mosaics, pottery and other remains of a Roman-era Christian building on the grounds of a high-security prison in Megiddo. They say the site could be the oldest public place of Christian worship ever uncovered in Israel and perhaps one of the earliest such sites in the world.

Judging by the age of broken pottery discovered on the floor, the distinctive mosaic style, inscriptions citing Jesus and the apparent pre-Byzantine design of the building, state archaeologists said the structure was most likely a public place of Christian worship that dates to the mid-3rd or early 4th century. If true, the find would join the early 3rd-century Christian gathering place at Dura Europus in Syria as one of the oldest of its kind.

At that time, near the end of the Roman Empire, Christianity was an outlawed religion practiced in the Holy Land in the clandestine chapels of private homes. Archaeologists involved in the excavation were reluctant to describe the remains as a church because the term was not used during that period.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/06/AR2005110600478.html

[Zen Democrat]

1. Isn't this Ar-Megiddo, the place called "Armegeddon" in the Bible?

[Liberal Veteran]

2. Yeah.....it is.

Perhaps we need to have a big battle over who gets that site?

[daleo]

5. I wonder if some TV preacher will pick up on that?

Maybe play up that bit as Revelations, and hit up the faithful for a few $million.

[hippiechick]

21. Our local (Indiana) news already has ...

:eyes: But at no other time would this bunch of inbreds report on anything archaeological ...

[bleedingheart]

23. That's where they find the knives in the Omen movie...

[barb162]

3. Look at that incredible floor! This is a wonderful discovery

[davidwparker]

4. thanks for the post

[Vektor]

6. Archaeologists unveil ancient church in Israel

Discovery made on prison grounds near biblical site Armageddon

MEGIDDO PRISON, Israel - Israeli prisoner Ramil Razilo was removing rubble from the planned site of a new prison ward when his shovel uncovered the edge of an elaborate mosaic, unveiling what Israeli archaeologists said Sunday may be the Holy Land’s oldest church.

The discovery of the church in the northern Israeli town of Megiddo, near the biblical Armageddon, was hailed by experts as an important discovery that could reveal details about the development of the early church in the region. Archaeologists said the church dated from the third century, decades before Constantine legalized Christianity across the Byzantine Empire.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9950210/

Cool article...

[GrpCaptMandrake]

7. VERY cool,

with a loading dose of irony, to boot.

The discovery of this oldest of churches was made while expanding the Megiddo maximum security prison for an infusion of a couple of thousand Palestinian (political) prisoners.

You can take the ironies six different ways from the Sabbath on that one.

[Vektor]

8. I thought so too.

very interesting indeed. I also love reading about archaeological finds in general.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

9. Back when the other little boys

wanted to be firemen and policemen, I wanted to be an archaeologist.

Even studied it for awhile, and, to this day, am utterly enamoured of it.

Love the stuff in the Levant, but am equally transfixed by the highly developed pre-Columbian New World stuff.

[Vektor]

10. I thought I was the only dorky kid...

who would will away whole afternoons digging in the sand with a plastic sifter looking for "fossils" and "dinosaur bones"... :-)

I have been quite transfixed with the documentaries I have seen about the search for the tomb of Alexander the Great.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

13. Isn't that under water? n/t

[Vektor]

15. Not sure...

I saw something on A&E and another on the History channel that suggested it might be the coast line, but not quite submerged. Archaeologists had found a tomb, and thought it might be his. (?!?!?!)

I can't remember much more about these specials - I saw them about a year or two ago.

[ninkasi]

11. How very sad

that instead of discovering, studying, and preserving the past, some countries instead spead enormous sums destroying past, present, and the future. This means you, Chimp.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

14. The Ishar Gate at Babylon comes to mind

Some Marine spray painted "Semper FE" on it.

Obviously a freeper marine.

And then there are all those cuneiform tablets in the Baghdad Museum that were ground into dust.

[ninkasi]

17. That's what I mean

how can some people have absolutely no respect for the great sites of antiquity? It was the same, though, when the Spanish conquered Mexico; large numbers of documents, Mayan, I believe, were destroyed, because they were not Christian. Who knows how much knowledge and history has been destroyed by fools.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

20. The conquistadores

gathered together thousands of hieroglyphic texts by the Mexica (aka "Aztecs") and the other cultures around the lake district and burned them. Cortes and his barbarian brethren were fascniated by the running water and flush toilets at Tenochtitlan, then promptly pronounced it all "demonic" and destroyed the single greatest civilization extant in the Americas at that time.

Mayan civilization had faded away about 400 years earlier.

[ninkasi]

28. Exactly

It seems to be that throughout history, ignorant men have destroyed that which they could not understand, and a great deal of the destruction was done in the name of religion.

So much history is being destroyed today, both in Iraq, and other places. Although Iraq has always been widely known as the site of irreplaceable artifacts and historical treasures, I have no doubt that much of what was once simply undiscovered, has now been destroyed.

Men like Bush, who can't seem to grasp anything beyond their own bloated sense of self-importance and never ending greed are truly barbarians, in every sense of the word.

[AngryAmish]

25. Or the burning of the library of Alexandria

savages

[ninkasi]

29. Yes, another tragedy

So much accumulated knowledge, so easily destroyed by, as you say, savages. The same race of savages controls our country today, much to my sorrow.

[bleedingheart]

24. that makes me sick....the idea of spray painting or crushing

historic pieces...

[On the Road]

12. Remember, That's Jesus' Neck of the Woods

Right up there in Galilee, seat of anti-Roman revolts. Where most of the disciples came from, too. And Josephus, for that matter.

That makes it more interesting to me, even if it is 4th century. Christianity might have been a little different there from Rome.

[On the Road]

16. Since Christianity Was Outlawed,

I'm surprised the building was so openly designed as a church. Since so many Christians were poor, I'm surprised the was so elaborate.

Now, the question is: was this from the Pauline or the Jewish Ebionite branch of the church. It would appear from the Greek language, from the use of Roman mosaics, and from the amount of money required, that it would be the Roman Church. But it was in Galilee, a hotbed of Jewish revolt. (Although by the late 2nd century, that was permanently pacified.)

[ErisFiveFingers]

18. Well, it could have been a private home, or something else?

The first article specifies that they are not calling it a "church", because the concept of "church" wasn't quite established in the 3rd century. It could have been a private house, a public house for many kinds of worship, etc.

I also noted that the "dating" of the site is speculative, based on the style of architecture. It could be 4th century, or even 5th-6th century, but simply built in the style of an older building, with older beliefs (table vs altar)....

I also find it extremely noteworthy that "the God Jesus Christ" is used as the terminology of reference, possibly indicating that it is from a sect which did not view Christ as a messiah of Israel sent by god, or a prophet/messenger of god, or even as a "son of god", but rather, saw Christ as a god *himself*.

That would point away from the Ebionites, (and the poor christians, as "Ebionim" were "the poor ones"), no? It seems much more in line with Pauline branches of christianity to believe in the divinity of christ.

[On the Road]

27. I Agree Now That You Pointed Out

the phrase "the God Jesus Christ" -- hadn't seen that. Definitely Pauline (if not Docetist, Nestorian, or some other group that emphasized Jesus' divinity).

And I hadn't thought the possibility it might have been a private home. According to Paul's letters, a number of upper-class Romans seem to have been secret Christians.

[reprobate]

19. The presence of the fish sign is indicative of it's pagan roots.

"The sign of the fish is widely used today as a symbol of Christianity, but originated in Pagan sacred geometry. Two circles, symbolic of spirit and matter, are brought together in sacred marriage.
When the circumference of one touches the center of the other they combine to produce the fish shape known as 'vesica piscis'. The ratio of height to length of this shape is 153:265, a formula known to Archimedes in the third century BCE as the 'measure of the fish.' It is a powerful mathematical tool, being the nearest whole number approximation of the square root of three and the controlling ratio of the equilateral triangle"
From The Jesus Mysteries by Freke and Gandy.


Since many early churches were built on the sites of pagan temples, one must wonder if there is a temple to Dionysus or Apollo beneath this one.

[hippiechick]

22. Freke and Gandy

... I've read a couple of their books. Interesting stuff !!


:hi:

[zann725]

26. Sorry, but the 'timing' of this 'discovery' is interesting...

in terms of current Crusades.

[MADem]

30. Those guys doing the cleaning are Israeli prisoners, apparently

...per the slideshow captions accompanying the article.

Incredible that they found this after so many years...