The Jesus Dynasty / James Tabor

The second week of our summer season (June 22-27) was filled with much excitement and accomplishment. Our excellent team continued to bond together, gain skills, and exude great enthusiasm. As some of you know who have done a bit of archaeology, team members quickly become attached to given areas of an excavation and more or less lay claim to them, anxious to master all the features, tackle the interpretive problems, and advance the excavation efforts. Such was the case in our second week. We made tremendous progress in three areas and continued to find many valuable artifacts including fragments of stone vessels, fairly intact tops of pilgrim flasks, nails, glass, and lamp remains–plus thousands of pottery sherds, mostly now dating from the Byzantine and 2nd Temple periods.

It is always exciting to uncover a mosaic. Mosaics reached their full development in the 1st century B.C.E. and have become one of the hallmarks of archaeology in the Levant and Mediterranean worlds. Their development and history is quite fascinating. In previous seasons a patch of lovely colored mosaic floor that we believe to be Byzantine (5th-8th century A.D.) had been uncovered and preserved by the Israel Antiquities Authority. Much of it had been destroyed by later building but we were anxious to trace it under the area of soil along its edge which involved opening another square and removing two meters of soil. By all appearances it continued and was intact. Team members began talking on Sunday of how pleased they would be to reach their goal by the end of the week. The digging was careful but deliberate and enthusiastic, down through several loci or levels. On Wednesday the mosaic was uncovered and to our surprise it included a tiled sump for drainage and cleaning as well as a channel along the edge leading to a wall. It will have to be cleaned but we now have enough to really evaluate the floor and put it into the larger context. We celebrated the successful end of our task when the full mosaic was revealed and took lots of photos.

In our main open squares we continued to articulate and isolate the complex of walls and debris that appear to be Byzantine foundations over highly preserved 2nd Temple period rooms. This is clearly the most immediately excited area of our operations at this point but the whole week was spent in carefully digging around what is there and only doing selective removal until we could understand the complex of stones and walls. Our plan is to remove the entire Byzantine substructure (it was what supported our mosaic above) in the next two week session and we will at that point come down into the 2nd Temple areas. We are of course all eagerly anticipating that prospect.

Up above these deep areas another team came upon a floor and a robber trench and spent the whole week clearing it. Robber trenches are found frequently at complex multilayered sites and are the result of later cultures digging down into previous levels looking for stones to reuse. You can actually see the tunnels with their fill that are left behind, and trace them into the walls of stones left behind.

Once the tench was cleaned the floor was removed on the last day of the week of digging and immediately two lovely coins, in situ, were uncovered. A delicate bone hair pin was also spotted by our careful diggers who had become quite skilled at proper examination of sensitive areas. Such an item could easily be broken but we managed to remove it intact.

Over the weekend Gibson and I examined all our coins (100+) found so far that had just been returned from the Israel Antiquities Lab after cleaning and made some preliminary assessments. We have some exceptionally well preserved examples from almost every period, early Roman, late 2nd Temple, Byzantine, Crusader, and Islamic. We eagerly anticipate the arrival next week of Prof. Warren Schultz of DePaul University (Ph.D. in Islamic History from the University of Chicago), our famed Numismatist. He plans to dig with us a week, along with his daughter Amanda, as well as examine all our coins.

We just completed our first week (June 15-19) of the June/July six week season of the Mt Zion excavations. Things have gotten off to a very good start with great promise of things to come. Most of our Team members have come for two weeks, so we will have another group arriving June 29th, and a third July 13th, but since some stay longer than two weeks there will be some valuable overlap.

Mt Zion “Area E” as we call it, is just east of Zion Gate, down the slope along the present Old City Wall. This wall dates to the 16th century, built under the direction of the famous Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman “the Magnificent.” Though we are outside the present wall today, in antiquity our area was not only inside the city walls, but was precisely at the center of the”four-square” city. This location presents an unprecedented opportunity to explore ancient Jerusalem ‘through the ages,” from the Iron Age down to modern times. Thanks to the construction of the magnificent Nea Church by the emperor Justinian in the 6th century A.D., just to the north of our location, soil fill and rubble was pushed over site, sealing off earlier layers and periods quite effectively. We know from probes done in the 1970s by Magen Broshi that we have well preserved chambers and vaults, to a height of 18 meters, that date to the late 2nd Temple period (Roman 1st century Jerusalem) and were witness to the Roman destruction of the city in 70 A.D., with Byzantine, Islamic, Crusader, and Ottoman layers above. Because the site slopes down from Zion Gate to the modern road, it is possible to see a kind of journey through time, with all these levels represented.

Our intent, as in any proper archaeological excavation is to “dig in phase,” that is, to take the whole complex of areas we have opened down together in sequence, without probing down deeply into one area before other areas are also removed. Everything we removed is meticulously recorded by drawings and photographs. In the particular areas we are now digging our plan is to expose and preserve the late 2nd Temple period remains, that is Herodian Jerusalem, prior to the 70 A.D. Roman destruction. For Christians this is indeed “Jerusalem in the time of Jesus.”

Our group jumped right into our task with great enthusiasm and fervor. As with any excavation, the first day or two is devoted to cleaning the site. This includes debris that has fallen in, repair of sandbags, and removal of weeds and vegetation that has accumulated. After two days of hard, hot, and dirty work the site began to literally “gleam” in the sun, inviting us to begin the actual work of excavation. On Tuesday we began that work in earnest, picking up where things had left off following our four week season in March.

We had previously opened four areas at the lower end of the site, exposing Byzantine structures including a lovely mosaic floor, and underneath, just the top of what we think are the 2nd Temple/early Roman remains, dating back to the Roman destruction in 70 A.D. We extended these areas to the north and to the west, with two additional areas. Half the team was thus removing modern layers while the other half began to work down through the Byzantine levels as well as removing the “fill” from the Justinian period. These ancient fills are extraordinarily rich with finds, including lots of coins, pottery, lamp fragments, glass, metal, bones, and broken stone vessels. We realized we were basically digging through the “debris” of Roman Herodian Jerusalem, but just above structures that are extraordinarily well preserved.

A highlight of the week was the arrival of Jesse and Michael Pinchas and their team to do Ground Penetrating Radar over the areas we have begun to examine. Their results offer great promise in guiding us as to our strategy in excavating what lies below, since they can give us 3-D imagery of subsurface structures. We also enjoyed visits from staff and students from the German School of Archaeology and the University of the Holy Land. David and Patty Tyler of New York, who are doing fund raising for us, joined us for the first week as our guests and they were quite happy to pitch in for three days and get as hot, dirty, and tired, as the rest of us.

We know we are in a palatial residential area, likely inhabited by the wealthy aristocratic and priestly classes. One could have looked out to the northeast from this site and seen the magnificent Herodian Temple. Some evidence of that turned up in our digging this week with fragments of stone vessels, that signal a regard for ritual purity, as well as terra sigillata, or imported ceramic fine ware. We expect much more of that to come. We also have reason to think that Herod’s Theater was close by, if not partially on our site. So there is much excitement ahead and our whole team, both staff and students, could not wait for week two to begin!

We hope many of you will join us in future seasons and whether you can come or not you can participate in our Web fund drive and do your part, small or large, to “Dig Mount Zion.”

June 4, 2008

One of the fields that has become absolutely pivotal for historical work on early Christianity is archaeology–in other words, the material evidence of our human pasts. I was trained at the University of Chicago as a textual scholar, but as all of my readers know, about 20 years ago I began to involve myself in field archaeological work in Israel and Jordan. The insights that this field of study and inquiry have added to my own understanding of our ancient texts would be hard to overestimate.

I leave next week to participate in what I think might be one of the most fascinating and potentially important excavations conducted in recent times in Jerusalem–namely the “Dig Mount Zion” Project that Dr. Shimon Gibson has inaugurated just outside the present Turkish Old City Wall. It is an honor to work with such a respected, experienced, and skilled archaeologist, and Gibson has assembled a marvelous professional team under the sponsorship of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In Herodian/Roman Jerusalem this was “center-city,” and two seasons of work have put us just above well preserved remains from the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Our summer dig season runs for six weeks, June 13 through July 30th. We have scores of volunteers, or “team members,” from all over the world signed up to participate but if any of you are interested and able to move quickly we still have spaces for more at some of our sessions. You can check our Dig Mount Zion Web site for full details.

Whether you can come or not this season you can participate in a most significant way by joining our special Mount Zion June Fund Drive

Like many other archaeological digs in the region, our expedition has been successful in receiving funding from donors and corporate sponsors. However, to complete our funding for our 2008 work we have an immediate need of $63,000 for additional operational costs.

Political candidates have recently demonstrated that millions of dollars can be raised directly through the Internet by grassroots supporters who give amounts averaging $25 to $100. Most archaeological projects are seeking funding and constantly appeal to major donors and foundations for support, and we have been doing this as well. However, many people are not aware of the fact that they could play a vital part by donating smaller sums as well. Hence, we decided to take our needs directly to you and to ask if you might be willing to donate. We just inaugurated this Fund Drive yesterday and there is a Bar Graph that shows our progress. We invite each of you to help us move it all the way to our Goal.

Contributions for this Special Fund Drive go directly to The Foundation for Biblical Archaeology. TFBA, founded and directed by President Sheila Bishop, is our North Carolina based agent and long-term trusted partner. Ms. Bishop has earned the trust of the entire archaeological community in Israel and Jordan by her dedication to supporting and reviving Biblical Archaeology. Most Foundations charge overhead fees of 10-20% to handle and disburse funds, but TFBA is as committed to this Project as we all are, and delivers 100% of donations directly to the field for our expenditures. All contributions are tax-deductible and receipts and financial accounting is provided by TFBA in partnership with the sponsor, University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

All archaeological projects require funds to cover the operational costs for the dig itself; conservation of structural walls; scientific tests (radiocarbon-dating, animal-bone and plant examinations, flotation, etc.); post-dig research (sorting of finds, drawing of artifacts, coin cleaning and identification, drafting of site plans, etc.); and publication (printing and distribution costs). At this stage we are looking for additional help for the operational stage.

Please make your contribution of any amount today! The money you contribute will go directly to our operational costs without delay or overhead costs. You can use any major credit card or Pay Pal. Visit Mt Zion Donations and make a secure donation now. If you prefer a check mail it to TFBA/Mt Zion Project, P.O. Box 1553, Goldsboro, NC 27533-1553 (Made to TFBA, marked Mt Zion). We thank you!

For more information, an informative video and lots more photos see our Web site: or contact Prof. James D. Tabor (jdtabor@uncc.edu) 704-687-2783.

One of the most fascinating names inscribed on the ossuaries in the Talpiot “Jesus Family” tomb is the unusual and rare form of the Greek inscription for a “Mary,” as first published by the learned L. Y. Rahmani in 1994:

MARIAMNENOU (HE) MARA: of Mariamene, who is (also called) Mara

[IAA 80.500, CJO 701: L. Y. Rahmani (A Catalog of Jewish Ossuaries in the Collections of the State of Israel, Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities and Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1994)]

Rahmani understood the name as a neuter genitive of the name MARIAMNENON, which is in turn a diminutive form of MARIAMENE.

Although this reading has been only lately questioned and disputed by various scholars, (Pfann, Price, Puech, et al.), who have proposed it be read as MARIAME KAI MARA or MARIAM HE KAI MARA (Mariame AND Mara OR Mariam also known as Mara), whether referring to two women or one by two names, what I find really interesting about Rahmani’s reading is the presence of the Greek letter “Nu” or “N,” in other words: MariameNe.

I for one have not been so quick to dispute the skilled and sharp eye of Rahmani, supported now after further reexamination by Prof. Leah Di Segni and incorporated into Amos Kloner’s official report on the tomb. Mary in English takes various forms in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Coptic: Miriam, Mariam, Mariame, Mariamme, and Maria, but the name spelled with an “N,” as Rahmani read this ossuary, is virtually unknown in antiquity (see E. Stanley Jones, ed., Which Mary: The Marys of Early Christian Tradition, Atlanta: SBL, 2002).

I say “virtually” unknown, for a reason, so bear with me here. Now here is where things get really interesting.

If you do a search for Mariamne, spelled with an “N,” on Wikipedia, you will read that it is a name frequently used in the Herodian Royal house for Mariame or Mariamme. If you search further on Google, again for “Mariamne” spelled with an “N,” even excluding references to the inscription in the Talpiot tomb, you will find dozens of “hits.” If you read many English or French editions of Josephus’s works you will find dozens of references to Mariamne, spelled with the “N.” And finally, even Voltaire wrote a play called “Herode et Mariamne,” yes, you guessed it, spelled with an “N.” And yet the fact remains, so far as I have been able to discover, all these sources, from Wikipeida, to Josephus in translation, and even Voltaire, have no basis in any Greek texts from Antiquity. My guess is that the root of this widespread misunderstanding comes from translations in English and French of Josephus that incorrectly put “Mariamene” for the name “Mariame.” But the original Greek has no “Nu” or “N.”

I had a colleague run a search on Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, the University of California at Irvine data base that has collected and digitized all of Greek literature from Homer to the fall of Byzantium in 1453. Currently this is a collection contains 3800 authors, 12,000 texts, and about 99 million words–and it is updated quarterly. UNC Charlotte and most major universities are subscribers to the TLG Library and search engine. Non-subscribers can access a trial version, see the TLG Web site for information. We asked for all examples in extant Greek literature of the name Mariam spelled with an “Nu,” or “N.”

Our results were rather amazing. As it turns out this very unusual form of the name Mariam in Greek, namely any form containing the “N,” popped up in only two works–the Acts of Philip and Hippolytus, Refutation of all Heresies, and in both works the reference was to the woman named Mary Magdalene in our Gospels. There are multiple references in the Acts of Philip to Mary Magdalene and her apostolic mission and travels. However, the reference in Hippolytus is of particular interest in that he mentions a Jewish-Christian group of “Naassenes” who taught that James the brother of Jesus handed on the secret tradition of Jesus to “Mariamene.” Hippolytus flourished in the late 2nd century CE and he was linked to Irenaeus, who in turn was linked to Papias. If there are other instances of any form of the name “Mariam” spelled with an “N” we missed them and would be glad to have them pointed out. But assuming this data result is correct, what if one asks the question differently? If we begin with the Talpiot tomb inscription, read as Mariamene, spelled with an “N,” that surely Rahmani and Di Segni would vehemently deny has anything to do with Mary Magadalene, and just ask two related questions:

• Where in all of Greek literature do we know this unusual form of the name?

• Is/are there any identifiable woman/women in all of antiquity who was/were known by this form of the name Mary?

So far as I can discover the answer is clear. Our only references, outside the Talpiot tomb, are to a single woman, Mary Magdalene. It seems to me that this result has great force. Rather than one having to “jump” to the 2nd century or the 4th century, to desperately find a parallel to “Mariamene” in the Jesus Tomb, is not quite the opposite the case? When one searches the linguistic evidence for this form of the name no one other than Mary Magdalene turns up. I think this fact should give us a bit of pause. Whether the Talpiot tomb can ultimately be identified with that of Jesus and his family or not, what an odd turn of events that the odd and completely rare occurrence of “Mariamne” spelled with an “N” would turn up in a 1st century tomb containing these other names–including Jesus son of Joseph. That Rahmani and Di Segni read the name in that way, and still do, without the least inclination to connect it to Jesus of Nazareth, seems to be all the more telling in terms of an honest linguistic reading. However, given this result, perhaps all the criticism that Jacobovici received for “jumping” from a 1st century tomb with the name Mariamene to a 4th century “gnostic” text like the Acts of Philip, should be reconsidered.