The tomb appears to be much older then previously believed. Image Credit: CC BY 2.0 israeltourism
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is now thought to date back more than 1,700 years.
The tomb, which many believe to be the final resting place of Jesus himself, was previously thought to date back around 1,000 years to the time of the Crusades.
Now though, new tests carried out by researchers at the National Technical University of Athens have revealed that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre actually dates back to around 345 CE.
Although the findings do not prove that Jesus really was buried at the site, the date seems to conform to the belief that the Romans built a monument on the site around 300 years after his death under the rule of Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome.
"This is a very important finding because it confirms that it was, as historically evidenced, Constantine the Great responsible for cladding bedrock of the tomb of Christ with the marble slabs in the edicule," said Antonia Moropoulou, chief scientific coordinator of the tomb's restoration works.
First things first. There is little or no credible evidence that Constantine was ever a Christian. If he did join, then tradition has it that he was dunked on his death bed (on the other hand, "death bed conversion" is a Christian literary form in its own right, generally shelved under Fiction). What he did was to make all religions legal to practice in his Empire, and so Christianity became legal to practice there. That worked out neatly, because Constantine's mother, Helena, was a devout Christian. In the 320's, she made a grand tour of the Holy Land, wishing to see for herself the actual pl... [More]
Eight Bits, you are well informed and I enjoyed your thesis. On that basis then, it seems likely that this was a monument to the acceptance of religious diversity, with Christianity being very topical at that time, but not necessarily, wholly about Christianity.
herbygant Thank you for the kind words. I wouldn't be surprised if Constantine and his mother saw that issue differently. Helena seems all about promoting Christianity, while her son may have been thinking "good government" according to Roman traditions of civic virtue, which included a fair degree of religious toleration.
Ancient ROME likes and accepts all kinds of deities and religion. Just another and more reasons to have festive banquets and orgies I guess, not so much the Judaism or early Christians though, what with the monotheistic insistence, which to the Romans seems to be quite intolerant of other religions ... among other things ... While we are on this track of little Constantine and how Christianity beat that overall ban on them by the Empire ...
Yeah they accepted everyone, all their religion and beliefs, became too soft and got owned by invaders and it was the end. looks like history is going to repeat itself...
Not really ... if anything it was their incessant need to War just to keep the Aristocrats and Nobles well fed and wealthy that stretched them out thin ... not to mention the Insane Rulers and Dictators splitting up the Empire when it was nothing left but an empty shell ... those early Christians just took advantage by being more true to the Roman creed and greed than the Romans themselves ... Hmmmm maybe you do have a point there ... ~
Please Login or Register to post a comment.