Lead books, found in Jordan, will reveal the secrets of Christianity.
It has long been known to mankind that in ancient times books were written on clay tablets covered with wax, papyrus and plaques covered with copper. But in 2007 the world was shocked by a new discovery: it turns out that religious writings took the form of heavy lead books and were carefully hidden from prying eyes! Who and why hid them from mere mortals?
How did you find the lead books?
No one could at least open the veil of secrecy concealing the author or the first owner of strange books that have no analogues in the world. The history of numerous attempts to unravel their essence begins in 2005. Then in the north of Jordan there was a strong flood, after which there was an ebb.
Two years later, a local shepherd examined a cave that had been liberated from the water, divided into two parts. One of them served as a kind of entrance to the second. It attracted the attention of the peasant, because on the stone that covered it, an ancient religious Jewish symbol was carved. The Bedouin shepherd came up with the idea of pushing the stone door - and he was stupefied when he did it!
In pitch darkness, he could not see anything except the gleaming pieces of metal. On closer inspection it turned out that these are books of lead - only about 70 pieces. The size of the pages of each of them is equal to the modern cover of the passport or credit card. They are connected by metal rings to 5-15 pieces. Shocking is not so much the appearance, as the inner content of books. The letters on the pages are not engraved, as was customary in ancient times, but are welded. How did the masters of antiquity come to mind? Who taught them this technique?
Bedouin immediately realized that you can earn good money on the find. He asked for a huge sum for them, which was easily agreed by the Israeli antiquity lover, Hasan Sayda. The seller and the buyer hit on the hands, after which the Israeli illegally exported artifacts from Jordan. Whether the peasant, or the rich man could not keep his mouth shut: friends of the participant in the transaction told all the press and scientists. A major political scandal broke out: Israel did not want to give the lead scrolls, and Jordan insisted on committing a crime - smuggling.
Did scientists get access to 70 books?
Apparently, the Israeli government pressed on Hassan, and he unexpectedly agreed to share some of the lead books with employees of the Oxford and Zurich universities. For five years they studied the presented plates before they ventured to make any official statements. What did they learn about the mysterious relic?
On metal sheets symbols and signatures to drawings in Aramaic, Ancient Greek and Hebrew languages are smelted. Corrosion of metal is so neglected that it gives reason to think that the books were written at least in the 1st century AD. Not far from this region of Jordan, other objects from the same era were previously discovered. Some of the scientists who believed in God were frightened by the fact that several of the scrolls were tightly sealed with iron fasteners. They can be understood: The Book of Revelations in the Bible tells us about some lost codes that only the Messiah will open when he comes to Earth.
Assumptions about the finding were expressed by Dr. Margaret Barker, who worked as President of the Society for the Study of the Old Testament:
"The Book of Revelation speaks of closed books that will be opened only by the Messiah. There are also other texts relating to the same period of history that speak of the great wisdom locked in sealed books. Allegedly these books contain secret rites, which were transferred by Jesus to their closest disciples "
Striking discoveries of lead books
The most logical hypothesis is that the sacred artifacts were hidden by runaway Christians who fled to these caves after Jerusalem fell. If initially scientists thought that before them - Jewish books, now the whole scientific world is inclined to the authorship of early Christians.
Margaret Barker believes:
"We know that two groups of Christians fled from the persecution in Jerusalem, and they crossed the Jordan River near Jericho, and then proceeded east very close to the place where books are said to have been found. Another circumstance, which with a high probability indicates early Christian origin, is that these are not scrolls, but codes (practically familiar books with pages). Writing texts in the form of a code is a distinctive feature of early Christian culture. "
On miniature pages there was a place not only for inscriptions, but for drawings. Images of crosses, images, symbols - all this is found on most of the studied plates. One of the illustrations depicts the exact plan of the ancient Jerusalem, the other depicts the execution of Christ and the robbers. All other images fade in front of one, storing the face of an unknown man. However, everything says that this is the image of Christ.
First, in the same book, you can find a miniature from the drawings of the tomb with a cross behind the back wall of which is Jerusalem. Secondly, facial features in a detailed comparison coincided with the first images of Christ on icons and a description of his appearance in the lives of saints.
"When I saw the plates, I was dumbfounded. I was struck by this image, so distinctly Christian. In the foreground we see a cross, and behind it is located what seems to indicate the burial place of Jesus. This small structure with a hole in the open, behind which the city walls are visible. They are also present on other images, and undoubtedly, these are the walls of Jerusalem. "
This is what Professor Philip Davis from Sheffield University remarked.
Unfortunately, not all scientists are sure that lead books are a valuable monument of antiquity. Letter letters in them can not be deciphered, and no one can form an impression of their content according to the drawings. The opinions of scientists are constantly changing, and the fact that still no museum has decided to take responsibility for codes, makes you think. The last examination could only confirm that the books are really about 2000 years old. But is there anyone who can understand what they are willing to tell us?