The Bible and Archaeology

1. The Bible and Archaeology New Testament

2. Archaeology • Word “archaeology” is from the Greek words archaios= “old, ancient” and logos= “word, study.” • Science devoted to recovery of the remains of ancient civilizations. • Thus it is the “handmaid of history.” • Archaeology deals with real history; fables, myths, legends, and fictional stories do not leave behind material remains.

3. Archaeology and the Bible • Much of the Biblical narrative could never be “proven” by archaeology; it is beyond proving since it lies in the domain of faith. • But as we peruse the archaeological finds that follow, ask yourself the following important question: • “What do these things tell me about the nature of the biblical material; am I dealing with fables, myths and legends, or real history?”

4. Pilate Inscription • Years ago, many scholars questioned the actual existence of a Roman Governor with the name Pontius Pilate, the procurator who ordered Jesus' crucifixion. • In June 1961 Italian archaeologists led by Dr. Antonio Frova were excavating an ancient Roman amphitheatre near Caesarea-on-the-Sea (Maritima) and uncovered this interesting limestone block.

5. Pilate Inscription • On the face is a monumental inscription which is part of a larger dedication to Tiberius Caesar which clearly says that it was from "Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea." • This is the only known occurrence of the name Pontius Pilate in any ancient inscription. Visitors to Caesarea's theater today see a replica, the original is in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. • It is interesting as well that there have been 13 bronze coins found that were struck from 29-32 AD by Pontius Pilate.

9. Crucified Man • Critics used to doubt that Jesus was ever nailed to a cross, insisting that John's Gospel was indulging in fantasy rather than fact in claiming such. • No longer! In 1968, at a suburb of northern Jerusalem, the ossuary of Yohanan ben Ha'galgol was discovered. • While otherwise unknown, this man had been crucified, as the seven-inch iron spike still transfixing his heel bones offers mute testimony.

12. Rock-Cut Tomb • A good number of tombs from the time of Jesus have been discovered around Jerusalem, and so burial practices of the day can be described with some accuracy. • It was customary then to place the body, washed, anointed with oils and spices and wrapped in a shroud, in the family tomb where it was placed either in a shaft cut into the rock, or on a shelf cut laterally into the rock. Jesus’ burial was handled this way (Jn. 20:39-41; Mk. 15:46; Matt. 27:59, 60). • Then, after the flesh had decayed, the bones were gathered and placed in a stone box called an ossuary.

15. Pools of Bethesda and Siloam • In John 5:1-15 Jesus heals a man at the Pool of Bethesda. John describes the pool as having five porticoes. • This site had long been in dispute until recently. Forty feet underground, archaeologists discovered a pool with five porticoes, and the description of the surrounding area matches John's description. • In 9:7 John mentions another long disputed site, the Pool of Siloam. However, this pool was also discovered in 1897, upholding the accuracy of John.

21. Simon Inscription • Found on the Tomb of Absalom in the Kidron Valley in Jerusalem. • It is unlikely Absalom, son of King David, lies buried in the tomb, which was built hundreds of years after his death. • The inscription declares that the 60-foot-high monument is the tomb of Simon, a devout Jew who the Bible says cradled the infant Jesus and recognized him as the Messiah: "This is the tomb of Zachariah, martyr, very pious priest, father of John" • It is unlikely Simon is buried there; the monument is one of several built for Jerusalem’s aristocracy at the time of Jesus. • However, the inscription does back up what until now were scant references to a Byzantine-era belief that three biblical figures — Simon, Zachariah and James, the brother of Jesus — shared the same tomb.

25. Bone Box of Caiaphas • Construction workers in Jerusalem’s Water Park accidentally found a burial cave.  • While such discoveries are not uncommon in Palestine, this cave proved to be significant because of an ossuary containing the words “Yehosef bar Qafa.”   Translated in English these words are “Joseph son of Caiaphas.”   • According to the ancient Jewish historian Josephus, this was the full name of the high priest who served during Jesus’ trial and later threatened the apostles. 

26. Bone Box of Caiaphas • In the first century, wealthy families would lay the body of their deceased loved-one in a tomb or cave and allow the body approximately a year to decompose.  • After decomposition they would then gather the bones of their loved-one and put them in a burial bone box called an ossuary.  These boxes were around 1 ¼ feet wide and 2 ½ feet long.  • This burial custom, according to archeologists, is believed to have been limited to about a one hundred year period, prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D 70. 

28. House of Simon Peter • Archeological investigations carried out over a 70-year period (at the beginning of the 20th century) by the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (Jerusalem) revealed an octagonal mid-5th-century ecclesiastical structure built around an earlier one-room dwelling dated to the 1st century A.D. • The central octagonal shrine, enclosing a dry-wall basalt structure, was surrounded by an octagonal walk-way similar to the walk-way in the Rotunda of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

29. House of Simon Peter • The room contained within the central octagonal shrine appears to have been part of an insula (a complex of small single-storey residential rooms and courtyards) that toward the end of the 1st century was put to public use, possibly as a domus ecclesia, a private house used as a church. • The plastered walls of the enshrined room were found to be scratched with graffiti in Aramaic, Greek, Syriac and Latin, containing the words "Jesus", "Lord", "Christ" and "Peter".

30. House of Simon Peter • The enshrined room is presumed to be the "House of Simon, called Peter" reported by the Spanish pilgrim, the Lady Egeria, who visited the town sometime between 381-384 A.D. during her pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She described in some detail how the house of "the prince of Apostles" had been made into a church, with its original walls still standing. • In the mid-5th century, this room was enshrined within an octagonal-shaped building. This was the church later described by the 6th-century Piacenza Pilgrim who wrote, "The house of St. Peter is now a basilica."

35. Artemis Temple at Ephesus • Architect J.T. Wood, inspired by the story of the silversmiths of the Ephesian goddess Artemis in Acts 19:23-41, began a work of excavation in May 1863 which eventually led to the discovery of the Temple of Artemis. • Beneath 25 feet of soil and rubble Wood's first significant discovery was a magnificent pavement, the bases of colossal pillars, and cylinders adorned with sculptures in honour of Artemis.

36. Artemis Temple at Ephesus • From the remains of the temple itself, it has been calculated that it was about 343 feet long and 164 feet wide, and contained one hundred columns over six feet in diameter. • During excavation, evidence was unearthed that revealed that the interior of the temple (measuring seventy feet wide) was lavishly decorated with brilliant colours, gold and silver. The altar, where it was thought the principal statue of Artemis stood behind, was twenty feet square. • It was beneath this altar that one of Wood's own countrymen, David G. Hogarth, discovered a large array of statues of the goddess made from bronze, gold, ivory, and silver, thirty five years after Wood's initial discovery. It is quite possible that these were the very statues that were crafted by the silversmith's of Artemis as described by Luke in Acts 19: 23-41.

40. Theater at Ephesus • Luke records how these craftsmen, influenced by Demetrius, were led to respond to the threat that Paul's preaching had on their livelihood with the words: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians" (vv. 28, 34). • There are in existence several ancient inscriptions proving that these particular words were commonly used in the practice of devotion and prayer. • The great theatre where the Ephesian people rioted was situated on the slope of Mount Pion and capable of holding about 24,500 people. • The ruins that can be seen today represent a later reconstruction than what existed in New Testament times although the basic structure was essentially the same as what existed in Paul's day.

43. Erastus Inscription • In 1929, among the excavated ruins of ancient Corinth was discovered an inscription on a marble paving stone bearing the name of Erastus. • The inscription read: ERASTVS. PRO. AED. S. P. STRAVIT, which is an abbreviation of ERASTUS PRO AEDILITATE SUA PECUNIA STRAVIT. The inscription translates as "Erastus, in return for his aedileship, laid this pavement at his own expense."

44. Erastus Inscription • The office of aedilis was the commissioner of public works and, for this reason, a high ranking public offical belonging to the Roman ruling class in a city. • Paul mentions an Erastus from Corinth in his Letter to the Romans (16:23) and identifies him as "the city treasurer" (oikonomos), which is not the Greek equivalent of the Latin aedilis; rather the oikonomos is equivalent to the lesser office of arcarius. If the Erastus of Rom 16:23 is to be identified with the man of the inscription, then he was aedilis either before or after Paul wrote his letter.

46. Theodotus Incription • Found on Mt. Ophel in Jerusalem in 1913 by Raimond Weill. • Now in the Rockefeller Museum in East Jerusalem. • Dedication Inscription with 10 lines of writing on limestone from the 1st century AD, in Greek uncial characters.

47. Theodotus Incription “Theodotus, son of Vettanos, a priest and an archisynagogos, son of an archisynagogos grandson of an archisynagogos, built the synagogue for the reading of Torah and for teaching the commandments; furthermore, the hostel, and the rooms, and the water installation for lodging needy strangers. Its foundation stone was laid by his ancestors, the elders, and Simonides”

48. Theodotus Incription • The artifact is dated from before the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70.  • Presumably this inscription was attached to a synagogue in Jerusalem. • The inscription indicates that the synagogue built by Theodotus was not only intended as a place of learning Torah, but also served as a place of lodging for visitors to Jerusalem.  • Notice the reference to the ruler of the synagogue (archisynagogos), a designation also found in the gospels and the Book of Acts (see Mark 5:22, 35-36 = Luke 8:49; Luke 13:14; Acts 13:15; 18:8, 17) 

50. Lysanius Inscription • In Luke's announcement of Jesus' public ministry (Luke 3:1), he mentions, "Lysanius tetrarch of Abilene." • Scholars questioned Luke's credibility since the only Lysanius known for centuries was a ruler of Chalcis who ruled from 40–36 B.C. • However an inscription dating to the time of Tiberius, who ruled from 14–37 A.D., was found recording a temple dedication which names Lysanius as the "tetrarch of Abila" near Damascus. This matches well with Luke's account.