The Talpiot Tomb is significant because of
its associations with biblical archaeology.
The tomb was excavated in spring of 1980 on a westward-facing slope of a
hill, in the area of East Talpiot, two km. south of ancient Jerusalem (Gibson).
In the first century CE, a common Jewish burial practice involved a cave or
tomb cut into a rock. Each tomb had
chambers surrounded by rows of loculi, which are burial compartments the length
of a body. Shrouded bodies were placed in the tomb and left to decompose for
one year, then would later be gathered and put into ossuaries to be reburied.
Ossuaries of this kind were only in use for approximately a hundred years. This type of burial was reserved for wealthy
families, and each tomb belonged to an extended family where the dead would be
buried over several generations. Often, more than one person was buried inside
the ossuary box, which complicated the identification process; furthermore,
only a quarter of the time are names inscribed on the box. In the case of the Talpiot Tomb, ten
ossuaries are found, but only six inscriptions have been identified (Gibson).
1. “Mariamenou Mara”. This is a Greek inscription; “Mara”
means honorable lady, although the corrected term for honorable lady should be
Martha, a title given to the Virgin Mary and female saints. It has been
suggested that Mariamne was a name for Mary Magdalene, which is based on the
readings in the Acts of Philip, dating to the 4th century CE. The
only other reference is in the writings of Hippolytus from the 2nd
century CE.
2. “Yehuda Bar Yeshua”. This is written in Hebrew
script; Yehuda meaning Judas and Yeshua meaning Jesus. Both were popular named
in 1st century Jerusalem.
3. “Matya” and “Mata”. This is again written in Hebrew script and
both names are contractions of the name Matutyahu, meaning Matthew.
4. “Yeshua son of Yehoset”. Written in Hebrew
script.
5. “Yose”. Written in Hebrew script, meaning
Joseph. Joseph was also a popular name in the 1st century CE.
6. “Marya”. Hebrew script.
These names are suggestive of the biblical family of Jesus,
however, they could simply be a group of ossuaries bearing common Jewish names
from the 1st century CE. Gibson suggests that it is conceivable that
the family tomb of Jesus would be situated within the vicinity of Jerusalem,
since it was customary of Jewish burials to be placed near where they lived.
The Gospel tells us that Jesus’ brothers, notably James, died in Jerusalem, and
this is also where Jesus was last physically seen. The Talpiot Tomb is not
within the vicinity of Jerusalem (Gibson 126).
Christopher A. Rollston makes another
argument against the inscriptions on the ossuaries. Of the six inscribed names,
there is no mention of martial status, or fraternal or sororal relationships,
and without such data, it is impossible to determine kinship relationships (127). These rock-cut tombs were family tombs, but
to assume that it was a nuclear family without clear evidence is problematic.
The ossuaries that come from the Jewish
context are not the same kind that we see in the massive Christian cathedrals
or even in Italian catacombs; these kinds refer to containers that collected
the decomposed remains of an individual and placed within a rock-cut tomb
(Magness 121). They first appear around 20-15 BCE, and disappear from use after
70CE (Magness 129). They can be plain or decorated, often with incised designs
and painting. Most inscriptions say only
the name of the individual in Aramaic, Hebrew or Greek. The significance of
ossuary use comes from the Jewish belief of physical resurrection. Before
ossuaries were in use, bodies were placed in pits or repositories, and they
were susceptible to separation or damage. The ossuaries keep the remains in one
place, so that when the individual resurrected, they would be restored to life
with all their body parts (Magness 131).
Scholars have argued this interpretation however, on the basis that more
than one body was often placed inside an ossuary. The practice of recording
names on ossuaries can reflect the concern for recording and preserving the
memory of the deceased (Magness 136). Here we see a difference between Jewish
ossuaries and Christian ossuaries. The ossuaries you see in Christian churches
exhibit bones architecturally, and rarely do you see any record of which bone
belongs to which individual. The body parts of one individual are also sometimes
not kept together. For example, you may see rows upon rows of skulls, with the
rest of the body placed elsewhere. This is a direct dissimilarity to Jewish
ossuaries, and their belief in keeping the bones together for the sake of
resurrection.
The use of rock-cut tombs vs. pit dug graves
correlated with the economy of the family. Jodi Magness’ interpretation of
Jesus’ tomb is as follows:
"Jesus came from a family of modest
means that presumably did not own a rock-cut
Tomb. Because Jesus died and was removed from the cross on the eve of the
Sabbath, there was no time to dig a trench grave for him. For this reason,
Jesus’ body was placed in the rock-cut family tomb of a wealthy follower (named
Joseph of Arimathea)" (122).
Joseph of Arimathea was not part of Jesus’ family, but had
offered a spot in his tomb because there was no time to prepare a grave for
Jesus. Therefore, this is not Jesus’ family in the tomb (Magness 147). We could
assume that the family of Jesus was buried together, except for the fact that
they were probably of modest means, and could not have afforded a family
rock-cut tomb. Therefore, the Talpiot Tomb is probably not the family tomb of
Jesus.
The Talpiot Tomb is an example of how Jewish
ossuaries differ from Christian ossuaries. They are boxes in which the remains
of one or more individuals are kept, instead of being put on display as they
are in the Christian context. Many have speculated that the Talpiot Tomb is the
family tomb of Jesus, based on the inscribed ossuaries, but many scholars have
agreed that the evidence to back up this theory is insufficient. Regardless of the biblical connotations, the
Talpiot Tomb is an example of Jewish burial practices and their use of
ossuaries in the first century CE.
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