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AP – The Franciscan friars of Jerusalem opened a new museum filled with artifacts related to daily life in the time of Jesus.
The new wing of the Terra Sancta Museum, integrated into the ruins of the Mameluke and Crusader buildings along the Via Dolorosa in the Old City, features artifacts discovered during excavations of biblical sites in the last century.
The Custody of the Holy Land – the organ of the Franciscan Order in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon and Cyprus – has carried out several archaeological excavations around the region, focusing on sites related to the Bible.
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Most of the exhibits in the new exhibit, titled "The House of Herod: Life and Power at the Time of the New Testament," have never been shown to the public.
Coins, ceramic fragments, ossuaries and stone slabs bear inscriptions in Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Samaritan, illustrating the kaleidoscopic variety of cultures present in the Holy Land during the first centuries. The artifacts include elegant Corinthian columns from Herod's Palace up to the humble objects of the Galilean houses.
Fr Eugenio Alliata, director of the museum, said that it was important to "present something of the real life of people at that time," given that Jesus' teachings "are so interspersed with the common life of people. "
Among the highlights of the exhibition are one of two known half-shekel silver coins struck by Jewish rebels in the first year of the revolt against Rome in 66 AD. A shard with the word Herod, the famous king of the gospels, was found during excavations at the monumental tomb of the Judean monarch south of Jerusalem.
An aerial view of Herodium, the site of King Herod's palace and the funerary tomb of the king, near Bethlehem in the West Bank. (photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Shimon Gibson, an archaeologist from the University of North Carolina excavating Jerusalem in the Roman era, said that the Franciscans' contribution to the field of archeology in Holy Land was "crucial" and their collections were ""
"The treasures that they have accumulated over time in connection with their work, their mark on the study of the Holy Land, are reflect in their representations, "he said – weights and scales, hooks, dice, lamps, and kitchen utensils – give life to the New Testament verses. A small silver coin bearing the face of Augustus is the same kind that causes Jesus to say, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar" in Matthew 22.
Like contemporary rabbis, Alliata said, "Jesus taught life every day, how to manage in everyday life," and spoke in familiar terms to ordinary people.
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