A New Interpretation of the Greek Ossuary Inscription in Talpiyot Tomb B

Richard Bauckham has written a new piece on the inscription in Tapiyot Tomb B and I am happy to be posting it here.  It's a PDF file available here:

A New Interpretation of the Greek Ossuary Inscription in Talpiyot Tomb B

Richard Bauckham

The Changing Body of the Stick Man in Talpiot Tomb B

Last night, James Tabor announced some "breaking news", that James Charlesworth has spotted the Name of “Jonah” Encrypted on the Jonah and the Fish Image.  The observation is made in a Globe and Mail article, Ancient ossuary hints at earliest reference to resurrection of Jesus by Michael Posner, who concludes the article with a quotation from Christopher Rollston to the following effect:

I've looked at the photographs really carefully. The name Jonah is simply not there. It's really ridiculous. They are etchings that are part of the amphora. There are no letters.

I am not an epigrapher myself and so have to defer to experts like Rollston, but I would add that what he says here strikes me as self-evidently the case.  There are so many lines in question here that one could make them spell all sorts of things.  I might just as plausibly see YONAH written in the lines on the palm of my hand.

But there is another issue relating to this "breaking news" item. In order to get "YONAH" spelt out in the "head" of the "fish", the "letters" have to be distinguished from "the stick figure".  In James Tabor's post on the topic, he shows three pictures, the first a photograph, the second a coloured inking-in of the "stick figure" and the third a coloured-inking in of "YONAH".

There is a problem here.  Take a look at the stick figure in the new picture:

"Stick figure", new version, Taborblog

He's inked in in black, with a massive squished head, a body, two arms and two legs.  But as Stephen Goranson pointed out to me, the arms and legs of the stick figure have changed!  Take a look at James Tabor's earlier picture, published on his blog on 6 March.  I have isolated the relevant section of that photograph to produce the following picture:

"Stick figure", original version (cropped), Taborblog

Here again you see the stick man in black, with a large spherical head, a body and arms and legs.  Now compare and contrast the two versions.  Different lines are now being used for the man's arms and legs!

It can be difficult to focus on these pictures given their orientation, so I have rotated them 180 degrees and placed them side by side for the purposes of comparison:

The changing lines of the stick man Jonah (left: original; right: new version)

In the new version, he looks a bit more like a three-legged man with one arm.  Now the non-connecting left arm is no longer part of the man, and a new front right leg has been added, oddly enough also part of what James Tabor and James Charlesworth claim also to be the letter Hey (H), seen in blue on the original image.

If it is so difficult to decide which of the random lines constitute the "stick figure" of Jonah, it is surely time to acknowledge that this is not a stick figure at all, not of Jonah, not of anyone else, still less a "stick figure . . . ingeniously made into the name as well" (Tabor).

This might be the weakest element in the story so far, a story that is already beset with problems.  I may have to revise my Top Ten.

Thanks again to Stephen Goranson for pointing this out.  For more on the problems over the attempt to read "YONAH" in the head of the vessel, see Jim Davila on Paleojudaica, Antonio Lombatti and Robert Cargill (who finds Yo Yo Ma!).

Update (20.45): See now two excellent posts on the topic from Steve Caruso, "Yonah" ON the Ossuary? - No. Simply: No. and Jonah Inscription Problems & Other "Possibilities".

Update (17 May): See now Jason Staples, Stick Man Jonah More Unprecedented Than Previously Realized (includes comments from Simcha Jacobovici).

Robert Cargill on CNN discussing the "Jesus Discovery"

Robert Cargill appeared live on CNN Newsroom this morning discussing the Talpiot Tombs in Jerusalem ahead of the broadcast of the Resurrection Tomb Mystery (USA) / Jesus Discovery (Canada) documentary being broadcast tonight. Here's the clip:

 

If you can't access the clip, go to the link here.

"The Jesus Discovery": Summary and Top Ten Problems

James Tabor & Simcha Jacobovici, Robotic Arm Control Center
The Jesus Discovery Website, http://thejesusdiscovery.org

I have now been blogging about Talpiot Tomb B for almost six weeks.  Since the The Resurrection Tomb Mystery (Discovery Channel, USA) / The Jesus Discovery (Vision TV, Canada) is being broadcast tonight, I thought I would take a moment to draw things together and summarize my top ten problems with the claims that are being made.

Several people have asked me for a kind of "layperson's guide" to the claims and what is wrong with them so I will attempt to provide it here.  After providing a summary of the case, I will list my problems with the case as succinctly as possible.  Some of these are things that I have brought up; others are things highlighted by other bloggers.  I have tried to link to at least one blog post to provide more detail on each of the problems.  I may update the post with more after it goes live.

First, a quick survey of the context and claims.  In 2007, a Discovery Channel documentary on The Lost Tomb of Jesus was broadcast, and there was an associated book and website.  The creative force behind the project was Simcha Jacobovici.  The claim at the centre of the documentary was that they had discovered the family tomb of Jesus in Talpiot, Jerusalem. The basis of the claim was that there was a remarkable cluster of names, several of which corresponded to names found in the New Testament.  The vast majority of scholars rejected the claims being made in the documentary, the book and the website.  I listed multiple Errors and Inaccuracies, all of which remain on the website to this day.

Now, in 2012, there is a follow-up documentary, book and website, labelled either "The Jesus Discovery" or "The Resurrection Tomb Mystery".  The key figures here are filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici and Professor James Tabor of UNC-Charlotte.  The new project involves the investigation of a tomb that is next door to the one discussed in the previous project.  It is labelled Talpiot Tomb B, or the "patio" tomb.  It is underneath an apartment block and has been reached by the use of ingenious, expensive technology, a robotic arm and snake camera.  This is because the ultra-orthodox Jews were unwilling to allow them to enter the tomb.

The claim at the heart of the new documentary is that this tomb belonged to some of Jesus' disciples, his earliest followers, probably Joseph of Arimathea himself, the man who buried Jesus.  The basis for the claim is twofold: (1) One of the ossuaries is said to feature a picture of a fish, pointing downwards, that is spitting out a stick man.  They interpret this as depicting the Hebrew Bible's story of Jonah and the fish, and they suggest that this is being used as a symbol of early Christian resurrection. (2) Another of the ossuaries features an inscription that they interpret as referring to resurrection.

I have read the book carefully, I have examined all the photographs and footage that have been made available so far, and I have carefully read James Tabor's Preliminary Report.  On the basis of all the material I have seen so far, I want to state unequivocally that I am totally unconvinced by the claims that are made by Tabor and Jacobovici.  The case that this tomb belonged to Jesus' disciples is very weak.  Here are some of the reasons that I am unpersuaded:

(1) Weak circumstantial evidence alone. There is nothing in this tomb that offers a clear and explicit link to the early Christian movement.  The case is based on circumstantial evidence alone, and weak circumstantial evidence at that.

(2) Handles on a fish?  The claim that one of the ossuaries depicts the tale of Jonah and the fish is weak.  The image is of some kind of vase or vessel.  The vessel features matching handles at the top and in the middle of the image.  And when is a fish not a fish?  When it has handles. (See Sins of Commission and Omission).

(3) Layered patterns of geometric shapes.  The vessel also features layered patterns of geometric shapes.  These decorations are not bizarre attempts to draw the scales of a fish -- they are decorations that match the border decorations of the ossuary in question. (See Scales of a Fish on the Talpiot Ossuary?).

(4) The Composite Computer-Generated Image. The project works with a computer-enhanced, composite, re-oriented CGI image of the vessel in all of its publicity materials.  The clever use of this image, which differs in important ways from the actual photographs, achieves a kind of "cognitive priming".  (See If the Evidence Doesn't Fit, Photoshop It).

(5) The original excavators did not see a fish.  The tomb was first excavated in 1981. In a write-up in DAVAR in May that year, Zvi Ilan reported that the excavators, who actually saw the ossuary, interpreted the image in question as an amphora (a vessel).  (See "Jonah" Ossuary Discussed in Print in 1981).

(6) Fish in the margins. Tabor and Jacobovici claim that there are little fish in the margins of the ossuary in question.  They suggest that these interpret the larger "fish".  However, on closer inspection, these do not appear to be fish.  They are simple decorative ovals. (See Sins of commission and Omission).

(7) The handled half-fish. The image that gets all the attention is on the front facade of the ossuary.  But on its side there is another image, an image of a vase with clear, obvious handles on each side.  This vase helps one to interpret the other image as a vessel.  Tabor and Jacobovici suggest that this is a "half-fish", pointing downwards, but the handles are problematic for this interpretation.  (See When is a Fish Not a Fish?).

(8) The Inscription Does Not Clearly Refer to Resurrection.  Although Tabor and Jacobovici are confident that the four line Greek inscription refers to resurrection, the evidence for this is now looking increasingly weak.  It requires time to examine these things, but the sight-reading shown in the documentary and reported in the book is shaky. In particular, it needs to be stressed that the inscription does not mention Jesus. (See The Four-Line Ossuary Inscription from Talpiyot Tomb B and Bauckham on the Talpiot Tomb Inscription)

(9) The Tomb Does Not Clearly Date to the time of Jesus. In order for this tomb to be connected to Jesus' disciples, and specifically Joseph of Arimathea, it would need to be dated to the narrow period from the 30s to 70 CE.  However, the dating evidence suggests that the tomb may have been in use much earlier in the early Roman period, perhaps as early as the first century BCE (See The Dating of Talpiot Tomb B).

(10) Witnessing to Resurrection Does Not Make the Tomb Christian.  Even if, for the sake  of argument, we were to grant Tabor and Jacobovici's claims about the tomb's inscription and iconography, this would witness only to early Jewish belief in resurrection.  We already know from many texts that many Jews believed in resurrection in the Second Temple period.  Belief in resurrection from the dead is not distinctive of the early followers of Jesus.

Comments on ABC's Nightline Feature on the Talpiot Tombs

Last night, ABC News broadcast a short feature as part of their Nightline programme about the Talpiot Tombs. You can view it here:




If that does not work, try this link instead. The story is here:

"Jesus Tomb" Controversy Rages

I thought that the feature was fair to those involved and I have no complaints about the way that they used the footage they recorded with me yesterday afternoon here in Gray Building at Duke; I think they did a great job. I thought it was a shame that Robert Cargill could not be included in the piece, though, especially as I was the only dissenting voice represented on screen. And of course, most of what I said did not make the cut, including discussion of the inscription and a chance to talk about the cluster of names in Talpiot Tomb A -- they even invited me to comment on Simcha Jacobovici's Beatles analogy (and I enjoyed mentioning John, Paul, George, Martin, Alan and Ziggy). But that is very much par for the course. It's remarkable how much information they manage to cram into this short format.

One feature of the report is worth an extra comment. When they discuss the "vase" or "vessel" interpretation, they quite fairly invite the audience to decide for themselves, "Vase or fish?" However, the image they then give to the audience as the basis for comparison is the Composite, CGI recreation of the image (see Robert Cargill's critique) and not the actual photographs. The CGI version is constructed on the basis of the fish interpretation, including the tapered "tail", and it does not incorporate features like the upper handles that can be seen in the actual photographs (see again Robert Cargill's critiques).

Two features in the report surprised me. I have read everything available on the tomb and have looked at all the materials that they have made available but haven't yet seen the documentary that airs on Thursday, so I was surprised to see a clip from the documentary in which James Charlesworth says "I am lifted up, says Jesus, I am lifted up! . . . apo tou thanou [?], from the dead!", surprised because the ossuary says nothing about "Jesus" at all. It will be disappointing if the documentary gives the impression that the inscription on the ossuary mentions Jesus because it does not.

The other thing was Simcha Jacbovici's suggestion that those who disagree with him are reacting because of "theological trauma". I knew there was something wrong with me. Now we know why I saw the face of Jesus in the side of one of the ossuaries!

The Dating of Talpiot Tomb B: did Jesus have disciples in the first century BCE?

I have recently been reading and greatly profiting from Amos Kloner and Boaz Zissu's  magisterial The Necropolis of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Perod (Interdisciplinary Studies in Ancient Culture and Religion 8; Leuven: Peeters, 2007) and I naturally turned with interest to their brief cataloguing of the Talpiot Tomb B, where I read with interest:

The finds indicate that the cave was used from the first century BCE to the first century CE (342).

Now did I just read that right?   Was this tomb already in use in the first century BCE?  By my reckoning, that makes it a little more difficult for it to have been known as the special burial place of Jesus' disciples.  Tabor and Jacobovici's speculation that the tomb belonged to the first century CE figure of Joseph of Arimathea also becomes unlikely in the light of this important detail.

After coming across this detail, I went to look at James Tabor's Preliminary Report and although he refers to that page of the book, he does not comment on this detail.  It is implied throughout that this tomb is, without doubt, first century CE.

I have also checked through  James D. Tabor and Simcha Jacobovici, The Jesus Discovery: The New Archaeological Find That Reveals the Birth of Christianity (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012) and there is no discussion of the Kloner and Zissu's dating of the tomb there either.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I would have thought that attempting to date the use of the tomb in question would be fundamental to any attempt to associate it with a particular group of people.