arcticpenguin
6th July 2003, 04:43 PM
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2003-07-06-tomb_x.htm
"This is the tomb of Zachariah, martyr, very pious priest, father of John," the inscription of 47 Greek letters reads. (father of John the Baptist)
...
The inscription probably does not mean that the father of the biblical figure is actually buried in the 60-foot-high funerary monument at the foot of the Mount of Olives, say the text's discoverers. But it does give new insight into the local lore surrounding the early figures of the Christian Church.
Scholars say the words were probably written several hundred years after Zachariah's death — and after the tomb's construction — by Byzantine Christians.
...
But even such second hand references are important, scholars say, because they confirm the traditions among early Christians and because there are so few artifacts directly relating to biblical narrative.
"We actually have contact with ancient history through Byzantine Christians," said Jim Strange, a New Testament scholar at the University of South Florida.
"Our lies are one and a half millenia old", is that the sort of importance they're talking about?
"This is the tomb of Zachariah, martyr, very pious priest, father of John," the inscription of 47 Greek letters reads. (father of John the Baptist)
...
The inscription probably does not mean that the father of the biblical figure is actually buried in the 60-foot-high funerary monument at the foot of the Mount of Olives, say the text's discoverers. But it does give new insight into the local lore surrounding the early figures of the Christian Church.
Scholars say the words were probably written several hundred years after Zachariah's death — and after the tomb's construction — by Byzantine Christians.
...
But even such second hand references are important, scholars say, because they confirm the traditions among early Christians and because there are so few artifacts directly relating to biblical narrative.
"We actually have contact with ancient history through Byzantine Christians," said Jim Strange, a New Testament scholar at the University of South Florida.
"Our lies are one and a half millenia old", is that the sort of importance they're talking about?