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Artifact reveals different view of crucifixion • Replica of nail-pierced heel suggests victim’s legs straddled cross rather than hanged straight down.
By Karin Laub Associated Press JERUSALEM — The Gospels offer few details on how Jesus was crucified, but an archaeological find that went on display in the holy city Thursday raises questions about the traditional depiction of his crucifixion. On view at the Rockefeller Museum was the replica of a heel bone pierced by a 6-inch nail that belonged to Yohanan, a Jew crucified by the Romans in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus. The nail was hammered into the bone side ways, suggesting Yohanan’s legs straddled the cross on either side, rather than hanging straight down, said Joe Zias, curator at the Israel Antiquities Authority. Zias, who reconstructed Yohanan’s crucifixion, said the victim’s hands apparently were forced back over the horizontal beam of the cross and then tied with a rope, a position that would lead to a quick death as the body went into shock. Errant depictions? Another possible reconstruction has Yohanan’s arms, palms out, nailed to the cross and both legs bent and swinging toward the left, said curator Omit Ilan, who prepared the exhibit. Traditional depictions of Jesus on the cross usually show him with one nail piercing each palm and a third nail hammered through crossed feet extended straight down. “When you are looking at crucifixion scenes, you are looking at theology, not history. Why do you use three nails? It’s because of the Holy Trinity,” said Zias, a native of Ypsilanti, Mich. Zias cited research which showed that nails driven through the palms could support a weight of no more than 88 pounds. However, he said not all of those crucified may have been killed the way Yohanan was. “There is no standard way of crucifixion. There are different types of crosses. You can do it with nails, or without nails,” he said. Ilan said that even though the Romans crucified tens of thousands, the Yohanan exhibit was the only physical evidence of this type of execution ever found. Never displayed The first depiction of Jesus’ crucifixion dates to 586 as part of an illustrated Gospel found in North Mesopotamia, now Iraq, she said. In the picture, a copy of which is in the exhibit, nails are driven through Jesus’ palms and each foot. Yohanan’s bones were discovered in 1968 during a salvage dig in the Givat Hamivtar neighborhood in northern Jerusalem, but were never displayed before in Israel, said Efrat Orbach, spokeswoman for the Antiquities Authority. The bones were reburied after analysis in order not to offend ultra-Orthodox rabbis in charge of burial procedures in Israel. This isn’t the first time questions have been raised before about the accuracy of depictions of Christ’s crucifixion. Christian clerics said they weren’t upset by the idea that the statues and pictures of the crucifixion revered by faithful around the world may be inaccurate. “If somebody says Jesus was not crucified, this would upset me, but if there are different ideas about the way of crucifixion, this doesn’t matter to me,” said Adib Zoomit, an aide to Michel Sabbah, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. Associated Press
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