"Christ" Inscription in Egypt.
An English translation of the original article, written in Spanish,
found
here.
Translation by Bryan Dubuc.
22 September 2008
Madrid- A team of archaeologists and Egyptologists
have just discovered,
among the ruins of the mythical city of Alexandria a ceramic vase with
an enigmatic Greek inscription that could be the oldest reference in
existence to Jesus Christ.
As Franck Goddio, one of the most prestigious
underwater archaeologists in the world, and the man responsible for the
discovery, explained to Elmundo.es, the object shows an inscription in
Greek that is interpreted
as saying, "for Christ, the magician."
Among the theories that have emerged, "It very well
could be a reference
to Jesus Christ, who in that time was the epitome of White Magic," says
the French investigator.
The validity of this discovery is supported by the
old age of the vase. Already Egyptologists have studied the piece and
assure that the vase,
coming from Asia minor, is of the first century and the inscription in
question was made in 50 AD. This could be the oldest discovery
and the
first reference to the messiah that we know of, beating a letter from
Saint Paul of the year 51AD that speaks of "his teacher."
Although, this is only one of two or three theories
that have emerged
from experts about the origin and significance of the valid piece.
The discovery was made this past June when a team was working in on
site situated in the oriental zone of Port Magnus, Alexandria, solidly
inside of a temple near the island of Antirhodos, very
close to the coast. "The excavations are present in various
stratum that coincide with
concrete dates in time. the vase was discovered in the shelf
corresponding to the first century AD, even though prior tests have
confirmed that its age situates it in the century before this era. it
was found among various other objects and columns on the temple",
explains Goddio.
During the last few months, the best Egyptologists
in the world have
been working with the piece and have given various theories about it.
They believe that the vase was used in oracle rituals. They used to
pour
oil into it which gave off smells that were interpreted by a mage, or
magician, as predictions of the future.
Elmundo.es was witness, in a private event, to the
arrival of this
object to Madrid, where it will remain in a public exhibit called
"submerged treasures of Egypt" until November 26th.
Amongst strong security measures and the supervision of Egyptologists
and
representatives of the Egyptian government, proprietor of the piece
Franck Goddio took the piece out of a safe and placed it in a crystal
urn at the end of the final corridor of the exhibit, which has over 500
pieces coming from 3 submerged sites of Ancient Egypt.
The inscription in Greek, "Dia Chrstou o goistais,"
the word "goistais"
means magician, while Chrstou is distinguished as the name of he who
received the piece, although it could also signify the Messiah. In this
case, the vase was probably used by a magician, who, in order to
legitimize his supernatural powers, had invoked it to Christ.
"It is not crazy to think that, already there are artifacts of this era
that we speak of, in the first century of our era, the communication
between Port Magnus of Alexandria and the region of Palestine was very
fluid, with ships arriving there daily. It is very probable that in
Alexandria it was ordinary to accept the existence of Jesus and his
miracles not too far away and the magicians of the area did rituals in
his name." explains Goddio.
While the vase is in Madrid for this exposition, a
great team of expert
investigators continues to look into the piece and its origin and it is
likely that in the next few months, much more will be known about the
inscription and the theories will simplify a bit.