Category Archives: Nazareth

Nazareth, the Caesarea Inscription, and the hand of God—Pt. 2

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by Enrico Tuccinardi Translated from the French and edited by René Salm Eleazar ha-Kalir         To understand the significance of Avi-Yonah’s reconstruction, we must briefly consider the oldest previous mention of Nazareth in the literature. This was the Lamentation for the 9th of Ab by the poet Eleazar ha-Kalir. Kalir is one of the most ancient and celebrated Jewish liturgical poets. He lived in Israel at an undetermined date in Byzantine times (VIII-IX CE) and authored over two hundred hymns serving as ritual synagogal prayers. The piyyoutim,6 especially those of Kalir, frequently refer to numerous midrashim and were often written in an allusive and even cryptic style.         In the mid-19th century, Rabbi Y. S. Rapoport (1790-1867), a learned Jew, made a … Continue reading →

Nazareth, the Caesarea Inscription, and the hand of God—Pt. 1

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by Enrico Tuccinardi Translated from the French and edited by René Salm First published in the Cahiers du Cercle Ernest Renan, 2010. Note: Bibliography is at the end of this series of posts. Summary. On 14 August 1962, a promising archaeological discovery in Caesarea Maritima provided a breakthrough regarding the Galilean town of Nazareth, a village whose early existence is unknown in non-Christian sources. This article explores the remarkable circumstances which ensured that, from a small marble fragment containing about a dozen letters, the Nazarene’s hometown was “proven” to be in existence from the first century of our era—according to some conservative Christian scholars. However, a series of coincidences and anomalies attending this discovery occasion suspicion, including the fact that the … Continue reading →

Is the Caesarea inscription a forgery?

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Note: For much more extensive information on the Caesarea Inscription, see my 2015 book NazarethGate, Chapter 12, “The Forgery of the ‘Caresarea Inscription.’” (pp. 314-76). Select bibliography is at the end of this series of posts. Synopsis of this series: (1) The so-called “Caesarea Inscription” is three stone fragments that do not match in orthography or line-spacing. They patently come from three different hands and from three different inscriptions, at least one of which was forged. (2) The discoverer of the Caesarea Inscription, in 1962, was Dr. Jerry Vardaman, the notorious forger of microletter infamy who was arrested at least twice in the Levant in relation to archaeological digs. (3) In fact, Vardaman was arrested on the very day and … Continue reading →

Just a Head’s Up: The Salm-Carrier exchange (May 1-2, 2013)

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I feel compelled to defend myself against a cavalier and condescending review by Richard Carrier on his blog. The review deals with the recently published book, Bart Ehrman and the Quest of the Historical Jesus of Nazareth, a collection of contributions from leading Jesus mythicists—including myself and Richard Carrier. Several bloggers have quickly commented, including Neil Godfrey who refers to Carrier’s “Salm-bashing.” Indeed, I find Carrier’s review unprofessional and unjustifiably offensive towards me (“One of the worst contributions is by Salm”…“disorganized argumentation against Nazareth”…“many errors of logic”…). But the main problem is not my work—over which I have no reservations—but Carrier’s penchant to throw stones without taking better aim. In fact (and this rather surprises me), he doesn’t seem to … Continue reading →