Freethought & Rationalism Archive

jonesg · 07-28-2005, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

I This article was the major source of the Wikipedia article on Graves.

http://www.livescience.com/imageofth...od_050728.html

jonesg · 07-28-2005, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wdog

are you sure? did you apply the chi-2 test?

searching for him.............. and in His name goddammit

Nice to hear the hounds of heaven all still howling at the moon.

http://www.livescience.com/imageofth...od_050728.html

Toto · 07-28-2005, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonesg

Nice to hear the hounds of heaven all still howling at the moon.

http://www.livescience.com/imageofth...od_050728.html

Quote:

This “Jesus coin�? was dug up during excavations of Tiberias, an ancient town located along the coast of the Sea of Galilee in present-day Israel.

The town was named in honor of the Roman Emperor Tiberius and was built by Herod Antipas, a son of Herod the Great, during a time when Jesus was still just a teenager.
. . .

This coin is believed to have been brought to Tiberias from Constantinople where it was minted[,] by a Christian pilgrim around the 11th century. It’s backside bears the inscription “Jesus Christ King of Kings.�?

From the first few paragraphs of this, I was anticipating an ancient fraud. But an 11th c. coin from Constantinople mentioning Jesus is rather unremarkable.

ETA from here:

Quote:

This coin is one of a series of coins that were issued in Constantinople (present day Istanbul) in celebration of the First Millennium of Jesus' birth.

It is not uncommon to find this coin in neighboring countries of Israel, such as Turkey, but this is the first time that it has ever been discovered at an Israeli archaeological site.

Prof. Yizhar Hirschfeld, Director of this excavation, which is sponsored by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Brown University, in association with the City of Tiberias and the Israel Antiquities Authority, explains that this coin was brought to Tiberias by Christian pilgrims. Tiberias and the other sites around the Sea of Galilee were the desired destination of Christian pilgrims during the time of Muslim rule in Israel from the 7th to 11th centuries CE.

Toto · 07-28-2005, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonesg

http://www.livescience.com/imageofth...od_050728.html

Jones: that's a coin from the 11th century, minted in Constaninople. It has nothing to do with Kersey Graves or a possible historical Jesus - it was minted in commemoration of the millenium after Jesus' reputed birth.

More on those coins:

Byzantine Coins

Quote:

Although there were a few issued in the 8th century (I have none to show), coins bearing portraits of Christ became popular following the iconoclast period which ended with the death of Theophilius in 842 AD. Our first example is a fourree (my collecting budget does not make room for solid gold coins) stamenon nomisma of the Y1K emperors Basil II and Constantine VIII (976-1025 AD). The haloed bust of Christ is shown facing and holding a book of Gospels. This pose with halo and book became standard for all later issues. Tiny letters around the edge spell out 'Jesus Christ, King of Kings' in a mixture of Latin and Greek. The brothers are shown on the reverse holding a long patriarchal cross and named in the same tiny Greek letters. The relatively thick fabric and 21mm diameter suggests this coin was from early in the reign. Later specimens of the same denomination were broader and thinner. It is interesting that the Sear catalog of Byzantine Coins specifically mentions the existence of gilded bronze contemporary forgeries of this type. Collectors paying for solid coins should examine purchases carefully to ensure their coin is indeed gold.

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