Fake: Seventy metal books found in cave in Jordan labeled most important find in Christian history

[CENTRO ANTI-BLASFEMIA]

Fake: Seventy metal books found in cave in Jordan labeled most
important find in Christian history
Posted in Religious Matters, Scammers

Posted by Abeo April 2, 2011 at 12:47 pm



BBC news reported recently: They could be the earliest Christian
writing in existence, surviving almost 2,000 years in a Jordanian
cave. They could, just possibly, change our understanding of how Jesus
was crucified and resurrected, and how Christianity was born. A group
of 70 or so “books”, each with between five and 15 lead leaves bound
by lead rings, was apparently discovered in a remote arid valley in
northern Jordan somewhere between 2005 and 2007. A flash flood had
exposed two niches inside the cave, one of them marked with a menorah
or candlestick, the ancient Jewish religious symbol.

A Jordanian Bedouin opened these plugs, and what he found inside might
constitute extremely rare relics of early Christianity. The director
of the Jordan’s Department of Antiquities, Ziad al-Saad, says the
books might have been made by followers of Jesus in the few decades
immediately following his crucifixion. “They will really match, and
perhaps be more significant than, the Dead Sea Scrolls,” says Mr Saad.
”Maybe it will lead to further interpretation and authenticity checks
of the material, but the initial information is very encouraging, and
it seems that we are looking at a very important and significant
discovery, maybe the most important discovery in the history of
archaeology.”

However it turns out they are FAKE.

Peter Thonemann at Oxford has staked his career on the conclusion that
the lead codices being discussed recently are forgeries executed
within the last 50 years. The following is what he wrote to Elkington
in an email after he was asked late last year to comment on the
authenticity of the plates based on some photos:

A surprisingly easy task, as it turns out! The Greek text at the top
of your photo no. 0556 reads: ΛΛΥΠΕΧΛΙΡΕΛΒΓΛΡΟΚΛΙΕΙΣΙΩΝ, followed by
ΛΛΥΠΕ in mirror-writing.

This text corresponds to ΛΛΥΠΕ ΧΛΙΡΕ ΛΒΓΛΡ Ο ΚΛΙ ΕΙΣΙΩΝ, i.e. ἄλυπε
χαῖρε, Ἀβγαρ ὁ καὶ Εἰσίων, followed by the word ἄλυπε again, in mirror
writing. The text at the bottom of your photo no. 0532 is the first
part of the same text again: ΛΥΠΕΧΛΙΡΕΛΒΓ, i.e. [ἄ]λυπε χαῖρε, Ἀβγ…

The text was incised by someone who did not know the Greek language,
since he does not distinguish between the letters lambda and alpha:
both are simply represented, in each of the texts, by the shape Λ. The
text literally means ‘without grief, farewell! Abgar also known as
Eision’. This text, in isolation, is meaningless.

The original News article at the BBC here.

Peter Thonemann on the Lead Codices refutation here.



http://derrenbrown.co.uk/blog/2011/04/fake-seventy-metal-books-cave-jordan-labeled-important-find-christian-history/