Error in Tomb of Jesus Documentary Cited

Paleographer and textual scholar Stephen Pfann of the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem says in a recently published paper that the claims made in the documentary "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" which aired on the Discovery Channel were mistaken when it was said that one of the ossuaries found in a cave, which was supposedly the tomb of Jesus, belonged to Mary Magdalene.

According to Pfann, the scholars who first studied the inscription of the said ossuary read it as Mariamene e Mara which meant "Mary the teacher" or "Mary the master." Pfann believes it does not read as Mariamene at all and that it is made of two names etched by two different hands: the first, Mariame, was inscribed in a formal Greek script. Later, the bones of another woman were added and an extra inscription using a different cursive script added the words kai Mara, meaning “and Mara.'' Pfann says Mara is a different form of the name Martha.

"The ossuary did not house the bones of "Mary the teacher,'' says Pfann, "but rather of two women, "Mary and Martha.''

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