Maya with Doll, 1938"Since the 1970s, hundreds of tombs and thousands of ossuaries (limestone bone boxes) have been discovered in the Jerusalem area. These ossuaries served as coffins in first-century Jerusalem.
One of these tombs was found to contain ten ossuaries. Six of the ossuaries in this tomb have inscriptions on them. As it turns out, every inscription in this particular tomb relates to the Gospels.
In the feature documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus a case is made that the 2,000-year-old "Tomb of the Ten Ossuaries" belonged to the family of Jesus of Nazareth.
All leading epigraphers agree about the inscriptions. All archaeologists confirm the nature of the find. It comes down to a matter of statistics. A statistical study commissioned by the broadcasters (Discovery Channel/Vision Canada/C4 UK) concludes that the probability factor is 600 to 1 in favor of this tomb being the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth and his family.
The film also documents DNA extraction from human residue found in two of the ossuaries and reveals new evidence that throws light on Jesus' relationship with Mary Magdalene.
The documentary includes dramatic recreations, based on the latest historical evidence, illustrating accurate images of Jesus of Nazareth, his family, his followers, his ministry, his crucifixion and his entombment.
Part archaeological adventure, part Biblical history, part forensic science, part theological controversy: this is a story that will be carried around the world." (1)
Click on picture to enlarge.The year 212 saw a flurry of administrative reforms under the young emperor's leadership. Soldiers received increases in pay and in legal rights, but the most noteworthy change was the bestowal of Roman citizenship upon all free residents of the empire. This grant of universal citizenship, called by scholars the Constitutio Antoniniana, allowed for greater standardization in the increasingly bureaucratic Roman state. Construction was also well underway on the magnificant baths in Rome that would bear the emperor's name. The main building seems to have been completed four years later, but the entire complex was not finished until the reign of Alexander Severus.
Caracalla spent little time in Rome after the spring of 213. A visit to Gaul and a military campaign along the borders of Upper Germany and Raetia occupied much of the rest of the year. Winter may have been spent in Rome, but the following year Caracalla made a journey to the East in preparation for a war against the Parthians. Along the way, the emperor displayed an increasing fascination and identification with Alexander the Great. Like the Macedonian prince, however, Caracalla would not survive an expedition to the East.(1)
Coin. Struck 213 AD
St. Valentine of Terni and his disciples from a 14th century manuscript.
I found the image on the Springfield Museums website. Here's the website's description of the image:
ago, I read the book by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run With the Wolves. A large part of the book is dedicated to discussing the old faerie tales (Brothers Grimm, et. al.) and how they were mostly cautionary tales for girls so that they had a mythology to prepare themselves for life as women--to navigate that sometimes dangerous world.* Estes pointed out that modern faerie tales have been "sanitized for our protection," mainly through the efforts of Disney. Girls, and boys as well, have been subsequently left in the dark about the dangers of life, because they lack the coded language of myths, fables, and faerie tales. Stories are painstakingly prepared so that they DON'T scare children, out of fear of traumatizing them. We have a movie rating
system that sometimes seems rather arbitrary and based on "bad words" and not bad ideas. Whereas the old faerie tales taught girls to protect themselves, make wise decisions, and essentially be the heroines of their own lives, modern stories make them depend on an external rescuer. My questions are the following: What thing(s) in Western culture in particular have/has changed that a lot of parents want to shelter their children from scary stories? Do you think it is important to tell myths to children (scary and non-scary)? Why? Where do you draw the line if you tell a child a scary story? When it becomes gratuitous and without any instructional value? Somewhere else? Can your recommend any contemporary children's literature that fulfills the old role of the classic cautionary tales?
