ATLANTA (AP) - An exhibit of Holy Land artifacts from the first through sixth centuries that starts its last U.S. stop this weekend offers a striking glimpse into everyday life in what is now Israel at the time when Christianity emerged, as well as a powerful reminder of how rooted Christianity was in Judaism.
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(Photo: AP / John Bazemore)A first-century ossuary, or burial box, with the name 'Jesus son of Joseph', right, and one with the inscription 'Judas son of Jesus' are shown at an exhibit of Holy Land artifacts at Emory University's Michael C. Carlos Museum in Atlanta on Friday, June 8, 2007, The artifacts from the first through sixth centuries that starts its last U.S. stop this weekend offers a striking glimpse into everyday life in what is now Israel at the time when Christianity emerged, as well as a powerful reminder of how rooted Christianity was in Judaism.
The "Cradle of Christianity" show is on view at Emory University's Michael C. Carlos Museum from Saturday through Oct. 14.
There is tableware from first century Jerusalem, the kind that would have been used at the Last Supper. Also on view are simply decorated stone ossuaries, or burial boxes, inscribed with the names Mary and Jesus, including the "Judas son of Jesus" box from the same Jerusalem tomb featured in a widely criticized TV documentary that claimed to have located the tomb of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and their supposed child — also the focus of the best seller "The Da Vinci Code."
Here, they're presented as evidence that those names were very commonplace among the Jewish community at the time.
"It's all in your mind," David Mevorah, curator of the exhibit, which was organized by the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, said of the controversial book and TV show. "But if you want to connect to reality, this would be a good example. ... It doesn't offer any new theory, just a direct link."
Most artifacts and artworks, excavated over the last century, are stunningly powerful in their intimate, unpretentious connection to New Testament episodes. Six large stone vessels stand against a sepia-colored, 1895 photograph of the village of Cana — similar to the stone jars described in John's Gospel as used there at a wedding feast where Jesus turned water into wine.
A first century ossuary that contained an ankle bone fragment pierced by a large iron nail provides devastatingly tangible evidence of the common practice of crucifixion. (The bone on view is a replica, because Jewish law mandates bones to be reburied.)
Other objects draw a direct link with Jesus' crucifixion, with "the two bad guys" of that moment, as Mevorah put it, namely the high priest Caiaphas and Pontius Pilate, the Roman ruler of Judea who sentenced Jesus to death. An intricately decorated ossuary bearing the hand-scribbled inscription of "Joseph son of Caiaphas" is exhibited next to a stone fragment from a building Pilate built in honor of the Roman emperor Tiberius, the only archaeological evidence with the ruler's name.
Also on view is a fragment of the longest of the Dead Sea Scrolls from the first century, the Temple Scroll, which called for a new interpretation of the Torah.
Through the interplay of artwork and objects from everyday life during early days of Christianity, the exhibit also shows the common traditions of Judaism and Christianity.
"It's aiming to show common roots, a path taken side by side and coexistence for many centuries," Mevorah said.
Visitors entering a Holy Land sanctuary at the time would have had a hard time figuring out whether they were in a church or a synagogue, he said, until they could see the distinctive symbols that developed around the fourth century — the cross and the menorah.
Two capitals and two marble screens from the sixth century shown side-by-side are virtually identical in their floral motifs and decorative frames, except that two come from churches and carry a cross, while the others portray menorahs.
As Christianity spread, dozens of sanctuaries were built across the Holy Land. Pilgrims flocked to them, taking away small souvenirs like the tiny flasks for oil from the lamps burning in churches that are exhibited next to an interactive map illustrating some of the pilgrimage sites while eyewitness accounts are played. Continue >>
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