←back to thread

75 points aguaviva | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
lubujackson ◴[] No.41843700[source]
Not to get all Indiana Jonesy about it, but 12 skeletons? From right around year 0? And they even show a picture of a weathered, ceramic cup?

The article plays it straight, but I'm pretty sure this = Holy Grail confirmed.

replies(9): >>41843745 #>>41851333 #>>41851660 #>>41851807 #>>41851862 #>>41851898 #>>41852588 #>>41852754 #>>41853822 #
kelnos ◴[] No.41851898[source]
The cup they show isn't dated; it just says, "An ancient ceramic item discovered at the Treasury site". It's not even clear the cup was discovered during this particular expedition, or where it was found. It could be newer or older, and need not be related to the 12 skeletons.

If the 12 apostles existed, it seems unlikely that they'd all be buried in the same place, in what may have been a "prestigious" tomb. Jesus isn't exactly described as a particularly popular figure in his time when it came to the authorities, and I would expect the 12 apostles would have died at different times, in different places, and wouldn't have been buried together.

The time range is pushing it, too: between 400 BCE and 106 CE, though that's just the roughest of estimates based on when the city was founded and when it was annexed by the Romans, not based on any inspection of the remains. It feels more likely that this tomb was built, used, and sealed up well before Jesus and the disciples/apostles supposedly lived.

Even if we assume the religious fairy tales are true, this doesn't pass the smell test: it's vanishingly unlikely that these are the remains of those men, or that any of this is related to the Holy Grail mythology.

replies(5): >>41851982 #>>41852055 #>>41852244 #>>41852574 #>>41853826 #
chasil ◴[] No.41851982[source]
They are not all buried in the same place. Mark is famously in Venice.

https://www.ncregister.com/blog/where-are-the-12-apostles-no...

replies(3): >>41852024 #>>41852338 #>>41852491 #
ccakes ◴[] No.41852338[source]
Peter is apparently underneath the Vatican. I’m not religious but I love history - they run a tour under the current city and it’s really quite cool if you’re into that sort of thing

http://www.scavi.va/content/scavi/en/ufficio-scavi.html

replies(1): >>41853750 #
dylan604 ◴[] No.41853750[source]
Isn't it thought that Peter never went to Rome? Did they collect his remains and move them?
replies(2): >>41853794 #>>41853801 #
1. shakna ◴[] No.41853801[source]
Catholic tradition has always held that Peter moved to Rome, taught there as a teacher, and then died there.

Other Christian circles, and a large swathe of historians, disagree on this front. However, it is one of the founding points of the Petrine Primacy, or the reason that Saint Peter is seen as the First Pope of the Catholic Church.

replies(1): >>41854120 #
2. dylan604 ◴[] No.41854120[source]
Any history touted by the Church should be taken with a grain of salt. There are plenty of examples of how they manipulated things in their favor, and are prime examples of history written by the winner theory