A 2,000-year-old bone box etched with the name of Jesus Christ’s brother, discovered in Israel, is now on display in the US.
The limestone box has the words ‘James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus,’ inscribed on it in ancient Aramaic.
And with the names on the box being the ones of Jesus of Nazareth’s brother and father, many people believe that the box once held the remains of James the Just, who was the first leader of the Jerusalem Church of the Apostolic Age.
The box, now empty, is on display as part of the Discovering the World of Jesus exhibit at Pullman Yards in Atlanta.
The exhibit features 350 historical items from the time of Jesus, but according to the exhibit, the ancient box is described as “the most significant item from the time of Christ.”
The owner of the ossuary, Oded Golan, told Crosswalk Headlines: “We proved that the entire inscription is authentic – it was engraved several thousand years ago”. If so, the box would be the oldest physical evidence of Jesus.
The ossuary’s discovery was first made in 1976 and revealed to the public in 2002 but shortly was met with some backlash.
Oded Golan, who bought the burial box while studying engineering in Israel, was accused of forging the inscription, with experts claiming that he added the words ‘brother of Jesus’ to the limestone.
Following a ten-year trial during which he fought to clear his name and was acquitted, the mystery around the box remained.
Despite the collecter being cleared of all charges, the judge stated that the verdict “does not mean the inscription on the ossuary is authentic or that it was written 2,000 years ago.”
Some theologians who believe Mary remained a virgin her entire life also question the box’s authenticity and believe it could be a forgery.
With all the questions surrounding the James Ossuary, in 2015 a study was carried out to find out whether the box may have come from a tomb believed to belong to Jesus’ family.
The Talipot tomb was discovered south of the Old City in East Jerusalem in 1980. It contains six burial boxes with the names of Jesus’ brother, father and mother and after chemical analysis conducted by researchers on the James Ossuary, they found it contained signatures from boxes found in the family tomb.
