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 The Jesus family tomb documentary takes another hit as expert says his analysis of the wording on the ossuary claimed to belong to Mary Magdalene reveals a different owner.
Dr. Stephen Pfann is an archaeologist, paleographer and textual scholar at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem. In an article published on the University's website, he states closer examination of the wording on the ossuary -- said to belong to Mary Magdalene in the documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus -- shows the wording was in fact a reference to two separate people.
The documentary was produced by James Cameron, the Oscar winning director of the Titanic and Simcha Jacobovici a Toronto documentary director. In it they claim a tomb discovered in 1980 is the family tomb of Jesus containing the ossuaries or coffins of Jesus, Mary (Jesus' mother), a second Mary (who they suggest is Mary Magdalene the wife of Jesus), Judah the supposed son of this union) and two relatives Mathew and Josa (who they claim is Jesus brother).
The ossuary said to be Magdalene's coffin plays a major role in the documentary's story line which says Mary and Jesus were married and had a son from this union.
On the ossuary reputed to belong to Mary Magdalene, the Titanic duo claim the etching reads "Mariamene e Mara" which can be interpreted as "Mary the master" or "Mary the teacher." They imply the four Gospel writers had Mary Magdalene's name wrong. Instead they suggest the name Mariamene used in an obscure writing called the Gospel of Philip is actually the correct rendering of Magdalene's name.
However, the Gospel of Philip -- which was long ago discredited as a fourth century hoax --- nowhere connects the Mariamene in its story with Mary Magdalene.
However, Pfann, who was briefly interviewed in the "Lost Tomb of Jesus" as an ossuary expert, says the Titanic duo did not even interpret the name scratched on the ossuary correctly. He says the wording on the ossuary actually reads "Mariame and Mara" -- Mary and Martha two common names during this era.
The letters Jacobovici and Cameron added to end of the first person's name is simply the word "kai" in Greek -- in English the word "and." Pfann adds the obvious space between the first name and the word "kai" shows the writer was adding a second name to the coffin indicating another person's bones had been placed inside.
It was common, Pfann states, for ossuaries to house more than one set of bones as a cost saving measure. This was usually indicated by adding additional names to the coffin. He notes one ossuary had five names inscribed on it with each representing the different people interred inside.
According to Pfann, finding these particular names on a coffin is not surprising since the name Mary and its other renderings was the most popular female name of this era used by 20% to 25% of the women and Martha the eighth.
It was even obvious from his analysis the second name was etched by a different person. He said the first name was written in "common Greek documentary script" and the second phrase "and Mara" written in a script with a distinct cursive style.
With this obvious discrepancy, Pfann added the other ossuaries examined in the documentary should be analyzed as well, rather than going simply on the word of the Titanic duo.
Nevertheless, despite its shortfalls, the documentary was viewed by four million people when it first aired on the Discovery Channel in early March. The book "The Jesus Family Tomb" published in conjunction with the documentary had climbed to 6th place on the New York Times' nonfiction category during March as well.
Source: Mary Magdalene is now missing: A corrected reading of Rahmani ossuary 701 by Dr. Stephen J Pfann: www.ulh.ac/MariamemAndMartha / Jesus: Dead or Alive by David Dolan (www.worldnetdaily.com: March 15, 2007) /Scholar rejects key 'Jesus Tomb' claim by Michael Foust (www.sbcbaptistpress.org: March 14, 2007) /Scholar: 'Jesus Tomb' documentary got it wrong: (www.cnn.com)
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