It has been demonstrated that there is no reliable textual evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ and that, in fact, his existence and the historicity of the gospel tale were denied from the earliest times by Pagans and Christians (“heretics”) alike. What about the physical remains? What does archaeology tell us about the historicity of the Christian story? In order to determine the evidence, we must look to architecture, monuments, coins, medals, inscriptions, pottery, statues, frescoes and mosaics, among other things. Unfortunately, much of the evidence has been completely destroyed, mostly due to “religious” fervor; however, there remains enough to reveal the conspiracy and fraud.
Jesus’s Physical Appearance
There is no physical description of Jesus in the New Testament, other than that which resembles the sun, such as at his transfiguration at Matthew 17:2: “And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light,” a fitting description for the “light of the world that every eye can see.”
The androgynous character at Revelation 1:13-15 has also been interpreted to refer to Jesus: “And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man, clothed in a garment down to the foot, and girt about his paps [breasts]. His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow . . .” A number of people have claimed that the “wooly” hair reference means Christ was a black man, and they cite black crucifixes and bambinos as evidence. As can be seen, the scriptural “evidence”
of Jesus’s physicality creates more problems than it solves.
In fact, early Christian fathers admitted that Jesus’s appearance was unknown.
For example, as St. Augustine said of Christ, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia,
“in his time there was no authentic portrait of Christ, and . . . the type of features was still undetermined, so that we have absolutely no knowledge of His appearance.”clxix This deficiency would appear to be very strange, particularly since it was claimed that Jesus was “known throughout the world.” How, pray tell, did anyone recognize him? Despite the lack of any gospel description, Jesus was alternately described by the early Christian fathers as either “the most beautiful of the sons of men” or “the ugliest of the sons of men”—another highly strange development, if this character were real. But, as Augustine admitted, this debate existed before the “type of features” was determined, i.e., fabricated and standardized. Fox relates the ambiguity of Christ’s appearance:
Nobody remembered what Jesus had looked like. Citing Isaiah, one wing of Christian opinion argued that he had chosen a mean and ugly human form. By c. 200, he was being shown on early Christian sarcophagi in a stereotyped pagan image, as a philosopher teaching among his pupils or a shepherd bearing sheep from his flock.clxx It is beyond belief that had Jesus existed and been seen by “the multitudes,” no one would remember what he looked like. The authors of the gospels, pretending to be the apostles, professed to remember Jesus’s exact deeds and words, verbatim, yet they couldn’t recall what he looked like!
Many people think that the standard image with the long, dark hair is how Jesus’s early followers saw him. In reality, the earliest images of Christ portray a young, beardless boy, at times with blond hair. As Carpenter relates:
The Christian art of [the first three to four centuries] remained delightfully pagan. In the catacombs we see the Saviour as a beardless youth, like a young Greek god;
sometimes represented, like Hermes the guardian of the flocks, bearing a ram or
lamb round his neck; sometimes as Orpheus tuning his lute among the wild animals.clxxi
Of these early depictions of Christ, Doane states:
One of the favorite ways finally, of depicting him, was, as Mr. Lundy remarks: “Under the figure of a beautiful and adorable youth, of about fifteen or eighteen years of age, beardless, with a sweet expression of countenance, and long and abundant hair flowing in curls over his shoulders. His brow is sometimes encircled by a diadem or bandeau, like a young priest of the Pagan gods; that is, in fact, the favorite figure. On sculptured sarcophagi, in fresco paintings and Mosaics, Christ is thus represented as a graceful youth, just as Apollo was figured by the Pagans, and as angels are represented by Christians . . .”clxxii
According to the gospel story, Jesus disappeared between the ages of around 12 and 29 before he began his ministry, so this depiction of him at “about fifteen to eighteen years of age” certainly would be odd, since his followers never saw him at that age.
These depictions demonstrate that Jesus’s appearance was arbitrary, allegorical, unhistorical and not based on a single individual. Dujardin says:
As to archaeological evidence, the oldest paintings in the Catacombs not only display no features that confirm the gospel legend, but represent Jesus under forms that are inconsistent with it.clxxiii
Furthermore, the Christian crucifix originally held the image of a lamb instead of a man, up until the eighth to ninth centuries, at which time Christ was nevertheless depicted as a young, pagan god:
The earliest artists of the crucifixion represent the Christian Saviour as young and beardless, always without the crown of thorns, alive, and erect, apparently elate; no signs of bodily suffering are there.clxxiv
Moreover, some of the earliest images associated with Christ include not only a lamb but also a fish, rather than a man:
The fish, in the opinion of antiquarians generally, is the symbol of Jesus Christ. The fish is sculptured upon a number of Christian monuments, and more particularly upon the ancient sarcophagi. It is also upon medals, bearing the name of our Saviour and also upon engraved stones, cameos and intaglios. The fish is also to be remarked upon the amulets worn suspended from the necks by children, and upon ancient glasses and sculptured lamps.
Baptismal fonts are more particularly ornamented with the fish. The fish is constantly exhibited placed upon a dish in the middle of the table, at the Last Supper, among the loaves, knives and cups used at the banquet.clxxv The fish is in fact representative of the astrological age of Pisces, symbolized by the two fishes.
In addition, the archaeological evidence reveals the existence of the dark-haired and bearded “Jesus” image long before the Christian era. Indeed, Higgins describes a medal of “the Savior” found in pre-Christian ruins with the image of a bearded man with long hair on one side and an inscription in Hebrew on the other. He then exclaims:
And now I wish to ask any one how a coin with the head of Jesus Christ and a legend, in a language obsolete in the time of Jesus Christ, should arrive in Wales and get buried in an old Druidical monument?clxxvi
The image held today of a white man with long, dark hair and a beard is also that of Serapis, the syncretic god of the Egyptian state religion in the third century BCE, who was by the fourth century CE the most highly respected god in Egypt. Serapis was in fact considered to be the “peculiar god of the Christians.” As Doane relates:
There can be no doubt that the head of Serapis, marked as the face is by a grave and pensive majesty, supplied the first idea for the conventional portraits of the
Saviour.clxxvii
Coins
Coin evidence is one of the more underrated methods of archaeology, yet it provides a superior dating system for a number of reasons, including that coins do not disintegrate over time. Unfortunately for Christian propagandists, the coin evidence for early Christianity is nil:
“[T]he close consideration of coin evidence may shake the foundations of the literary narrative. This is because coins are produced with immediacy in response to events, whereas the literary record is composed after the event, often much after, and can suffer from bias if not outright distortion or suppression of facts.” Why, no Christian coins [dating to the] 1st, 2nd, 3rd centuries C.E.? Because the “events,” were literary events (Fiction!)only!clxxviii
Birth Caves, Tombs, Sundry Sites
Many people point to “Calvary Hill,” Jesus’s tomb, the stations of the cross, and other tourist spots in Jerusalem and Israel as evidence that there must have been somebody there and some drama must have taken place. It is an unfortunate fact that, because of this belief, hundreds of unstable people have been running about these so-called sacred sites trying to get themselves “crucified” even to this day. It is this same religious madness that has allowed to flourish not only stories such as the Christian myth, et al., but also the booming business of relics, holy sites, etc. Of these purported sacred sites, Wells says:
There is not a single existing site in Jerusalem which is mentioned in connection with Christian history before 326, when Helena (Mother of Constantine) saw a cave that had just been excavated, and which was identified with Jesus’ tomb.clxxix
Indeed, it is reported that when Helena’s representative inquired in Jerusalem as to the “Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” no one had ever heard of him except, reputedly, one old man, who promptly showed Helena’s envoy a field of buried crucifixes, which was apparently evidence satisfactory enough for these great minds and honest characters to settle the matter, such that they claimed to have found the
“true cross.”
Doherty addresses the problem of these so-called sacred sites:
In all the Christian writers of the first century, in all the devotion they display about Christ and the new faith, not one of them ever expresses the slightest desire to see the birthplace of Jesus, to visit Nazareth his home town, the sites of his preaching, the upper room where he held his Last Supper, the tomb: where he was buried and rose from the dead. These places are never mentioned! Most of all, there is not a hint of pilgrimage to Calvary itself, where humanity’s salvation was consummated. How could such a place not have been turned into a shrine? Is it conceivable that Paul would not have wanted to run to the hill of Calvary, to prostrate himself on the sacred ground that bore the blood of his slain Lord? Surely he would have shared such an intense emotional experience with his readers! Would he not have been drawn to the Gethsemane garden, where Jesus was reported to have passed through the horror and the self-doubts that Paul himself had known? Would he not have gloried in standing before the empty tomb, the guarantee of his own resurrection? Is there indeed, in this wide land so recently filled with the presence of the Son of God, any holy place at all, any spot of ground where that presence still lingers, hallowed by the step, touch or word of Jesus of Nazareth? Neither Paul nor any other first century letter writer breathes a whisper of any such thing.
It is in reality inconceivable, particularly in consideration of the religious
fanaticism evident even today, that such zealots as Paul and the other early Christians who were purportedly “dying for the faith” in droves were completely disinterested in such sacred sites and relics.
As to the value of the present sites claimed to provide evidence of the Christian story, it should be noted that, much to the dismay of the Christian orthodoxy, the Kashmir vale in India lays claim to the grave sites of both Moses and Jesus, who, as the wandering prophet Yuz Asaf, allegedly lived there for many years following his resurrection. The evidence may seem convincing to the uninitiated; however, “Yuz Asaf” is basically the same as “Joseph,” which was often a title of a priest and not a name. In addition, some have attempted to place Jesus’s “lost years” in India and/or Tibet, where the traveler Nicholas Notovitch purportedly received a text by Tibetan monks concerning Jesus’s life and times. Notovich claimed that the contents of this text were written “immediately after the Resurrection.” The manuscript itself was purported to date from the second or third century after the Christian Era and was certainly was not composed “immediately after the Resurrection.” Even if it genuinely dated from the early centuries, the text itself says at the beginning, “This is what is related on this subject by the merchants who have come from Israel,” thus demonstrating not that “Jesus”—or “Issa,” as he is called there—lived in India but that the Jesus tradition was brought to India and Tibet by the extensive trading and brotherhood network that readily allowed for such stories to spread. The Notovich text has a cheery view of the Jews, throws the entire onus of the crucifixion on Pilate and the Romans, and was apparently written as not only Jewish but Buddhist propaganda, as evidenced by the following passage, designed to elevate Buddha above Jesus: “Six years later, Issa, whom the Buddha had chosen to spread his holy word, could perfectly explain the sacred rolls.” One notable aspect of the text, however, is its pro-women exhortations, which are surely neither Jewish nor Christian.
Furthermore, it should be noted that there were innumerable “traveling prophets” throughout the ancient world, spouting the same parables and platitudes and doing the standard bag of magic tricks as Jesus, as do the countless Indian yogis of today. It is difficult to believe that the Indians or Tibetans would be very impressed by such stories, since their own traditions are full of countless such godmen. Nor is it possible that the Hindus would not have recognized in the “life of Christ” that of Christna/Krishna; indeed, they did.
In addition, concerning the Indian “grave of Moses,” the name “Mousa,” or Moses, is common in Kashmir, as are graves. Along with the Moses and Jesus graves, there are also at least two tombs of the apostle “Thomas” in India.
In fact, over the millennia, the establishment of such revered tombs has been routine. Japan also lays claim to the tombs of both Moses and Jesus. The villagers of Shingo insist that Jesus and his brother were buried there, and they have the graves to prove it. As do the Indians and Tibetans with their nations, the Shingoese assert that Jesus was educated by religious masters in Japan during his “lost years.” The Japanese tale goes further than the Indian and maintains that, after escaping crucifixion when his brother was mistakenly executed in his place, Jesus fled with the remains of his brother and with followers to Shingo, where he married a Japanese woman, fathered three daughters and lived to be 106. Although some locals will swear the story is true, it turns out that the Shingo graves are those of Christian missionaries dating from the 16th century.
This type of confusion between the gods and their messengers is behind many of the tales about this or that god or godman having been real, and having walked or lived here or there. Often the person who is preaching about the foreign or “alien”
god is called by the same name as the god; hence, his exploits are confused with the
mythology he is presenting. For example, a “priest of Apollo,” becomes “priest Apollo” and may then be shortened to “Apollo.” In cases of culture clash, an entire culture or place may be called by the name of a god. When there are migrations, tradition may be garbled such that it seems to be that of an individual rather than a whole culture. Confusion happens as well when a number of individuals hold the same name or title, as in Buddhism, where the exploits and sayings of many Buddhas, mythical and historical, are rolled into one.
The existence of “tombs” or other sacred sites proves little in itself, since it is a common practice to set up symbolic sites, the symbolism of which no doubt becomes lost to the masses. Sacred site-making is also great business—imagine owning the piece of property where God himself was born, walked and died! Providing an example of this type of profiteering, Fox states:
. . . just outside [Athens], they claimed, was the very cave in which the infant Zeus had been nursed. Claiming the infant Zeus, the city gained honour, visitors and a temple of particular design. The claim, naturally, was contested by other cities that had caves: Zeus’s birthplace, like his tomb, became a topic of keen intercity rivalry . . .clxxx
The island of Crete also laid claim to both Zeus’s birth and death caves. At Delphi, Greece, there are purported graves of Dionysus and Apollo, and Osiris had his tomb at Sais in Egypt. Orpheus had his tomb in Thrace. There are also several places where the Virgin Mary rested and/or died, including Bethlehem, Ephesus and Gethsemane, the latter of which did not even exist at the time. Just recently a place in Nepal laid claim to being “Buddha’s birthplace.” Are we to suppose these deities were really born or buried in these places? The pillars of Hercules are celestial, yet they were given geographical location. Does this mean that Hercules was a real man?
In the case of the various gods and their locations, the abstract is first, the historical second.
Again, sites where this god or that allegedly was born, walked, suffered, died, etc., are found around the world, revealing a common and unremarkable occurrence that is not monopolized by and did not originate with Christianity. As Walker states:
All over India the “footprints of Buddha” are still worshipped at holy shrines; but some of these Buddhist feet were originally worshipped as the feet of Vishnu. Even earlier, some may have been the red, henna-dyed feet of the Goddess. In antiquity, stones dedicated to Isis and Venus were marked with footprints, meaning “I have been here.” The custom was copied later on Christian tombs, where the footprint bore the legend In Deo.clxxxi
Such footprints are found over the purported grave of Jesus in Srinagar, India, as well.
If proof of the historicity of a god lies in graves, birthplaces and such, then all of these gods must also have been historical, which would mean that Jesus is a johnny- come-lately in a long line of historical godmen. In reality, this relic- and site- fabrication is standard behavior in the world of mythmaking and is not indication or evidence of historicity. As noted, these birthplaces, graves and relics of gods, godmen and saints have been hyped in fact for purposes of tourism, i.e., for money.
The Shroud of Turin and Other “Holy Relics”
In its quest to create a religion to gain power and wealth, the Church forgery mill did not limit itself to mere writings but for centuries cranked out thousands of phony
“relics” of its “Lord,” “Apostles” and “Saints.” Although true believers desperately keep attempting to prove otherwise, through one implausible theory after another,