Of Lead Codices and Crucifixion Nails
Actually the headline is just hype. I’m not going to say much about them. By the time things settle down to where I think I have something to say, somebody else has already said it. I guess I’m just slow.
But here’s a great quote from James McGrath at Exploring Our Matrix:
Even while the media has begun to take notice of serious doubts about the authenticity of the lead codices, a new story is circulating about the alleged discovery of the nails with which Jesus was crucified. I wonder if they are made of lead and have inscriptions upon them, and had earlier been used to hold Noah’s Ark together.
I think that just about tells the tale!
Leaden Books from Jordan
Is there anything new?
The recent uproar on the alleged discovery of the leaden book is a phenomenon West undergoes after every few decades. I have a long list of such discoveries which provoked utmost interest for a few days and then were silenced.
Studying all the material so far available on line makes it absolutely clear that for some years different interest groups were struggling with each other to secure their interests. It’s rightly been said by some one that it’s just the tip of the iceberg. While I’m writing these lines the couple has taken refuge in an unknown place after an alleged murder attempt. The couple was telling a lot of lies in past few days as they were seeing the credit for the discovery and the future financial gains slipping out of their hands. On the other hand different groups were becoming more and more desperate to get rid of situation which reached its peak in March this year since the discovery of the artifacts.
As an archaeologist and a student of early Christianity what strikes me most is the deliberate effort by every participant in this red-hot debate to avoid explaining the historical context of this forgery or discovery. I can’t believe for a single moment that all these seasoned scholars has no knowledge of the thousands of leaden tablets (the so-called curse tablets)and amulets including some Gnostic leaden books which are being reported continuously for past few centuries. The most one can say is that Jordan lead codices are forgeries or copies of such ancient texts if not the originals.
Another very important aspect totally neglected so far is the discovery of such leaden books from Granada in 15th and 16th centuries. The very Famous Arabic and Latin“Los Libros Plomo. These leaden books are still being criticized by a verity of scholars as forgeries . These scholars failed in my opinion to understand the continuation of translations and alterations in texts of these leaden books which continued for centuries.
I don’t want to go into further details at the moment. I just want to point out there is very strong evidence that there were texts engraved on leaden books by early Christians (there were several hundred such groups in first three centuries). This practice of engraving sacred texts on lead plates was continued by certain Gnostic sects well into the Muslim era. I also want to make it clear that such heated debate only help the text to be destroyed or disappear. They seemed to me no more than magical texts. If genuine and belong to the first centuries of Christianity, they will provide us a rare chance to study some aspects of the lives of people who wrote them. If they are copies or forgeries they still offer much for scholarship. This could only be possible if Jordanian and Israeli authorities realize the importance of being very careful to handle the situation . Hasan Sadia and the couple should be given more time to prepare their minds to tell the world the “whole truth”.
Muzaffar
Archeohistorian@gmail.com