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Considered “the greatest discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls,” the oldest inscription announcing Jesus as God was found under the floor of an Israeli jail and is currently on exhibit in America.
An prisoner of the Megiddo jail found the 1,800-year-old mosaic, which bears the ancient Greek inscription, ‘The god-loving Akeptous has donated the table to God Jesus Christ as a memory.’
In 230 AD, the 581-square-foot mosaic adorned the earliest prayer hall in history, reaffirming Christians’ early belief that Jesus was the divine son.
Experts think that the Megiddo Mosaic’s early depictions of fish are a reference to Luke 9:16, where Jesus fed a 5,000-person multitude by multiplying two fish.
Since its discovery in 2005, the floor has been concealed beneath the jail; nevertheless, it is currently on loan to a museum in Washington, DC, till July 2025.
‘The biggest find since the Dead Sea Scrolls,’ said museum CEO Carlos Campo, while his colleagues called it.
‘The most important archeological discovery for comprehending the early Christian church.’ At the exhibition’s inauguration, Campo remarked.
“We are really some of the first people to ever see this, to experience what was put together nearly 2,000 years ago by a man named Brutius, the incredible craftsman who laid the flooring here.”
‘The mosaic reveals breakthrough tangible proof of the behaviors and beliefs of early Christians, including.
The earliest archeological instance of the words, ‘God Jesus Christ,” stated Alegre Savariego, curator of the show.
Christians believe the last battle of the biblical Armageddon described in the Book of Revelations will take place in the Jezreel Valley, where the Megiddo Mosaic was discovered.
The 581-square-foot mosaic floor was recovered after four years of excavation by archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).
During the Roman conquest of Judea, the mosaic featured the name of the Roman officer who ordered the tile.
Despite the many accounts of bloodshed and conflict at the period, researchers hypothesized that may demonstrate that Romans and Christians coexisted to some extent.
“Gaianus, a Roman officer, seeking honor, has made the mosaic from his own money,” the mosaic’s inscription said.
Additionally, the crew discovered a Roman camp nearby, which strengthened the case for harmony between the two factions.
Because the Sixth Legion of the Roman Empire was moved to Transjordan, which is east of the Jordan River, the prayer hall, or church, was probably abandoned and hidden.
The names of five women were also included in the mosaic, underscoring the significance of women in the church.
In addition to mentioning Akeptous, who donated a table to the prayer hall, the inscription on the mosaic also urges us to “remember Primilla and Cyriaca and Dorothea, and lastly, Chreste.”
“This is arguably one of the most important archaeological discoveries for understanding the early Christian church,” stated Bobby Duke, director of the Museum of the Bible’s Scholars Initiative.
“For instance, the mosaic highlights the important role of women in the early church by mentioning five women by name,” he added.
“In fact, the mosaic offers church historians a plethora of fresh information, much like the Dead Sea Scrolls did for Bible scholars.”
There is no evidence explaining why these ladies were addressed, according to the IAA, but it is quite rare as God wasn’t usually requested to remember specific people.
“The inscription does not tell us whether they were patrons of the community (like Akeptous), martyrs, or honored for some other reason, even though they were obviously important to the community,” the Bible Museum stated.
The IAA’s conservation department cleaned and stabilized the mosaic following the significant archaeological discovery, filled in any gaps with mortar, grouted and re-laid any loose tesserae, and reburied the mosaic while they conducted their investigation.
For the display called “The Megiddo Mosaic: Foundations of Faith,” IAA had to divide the floor and arrange the pieces in 11 containers that were delivered to the US earlier this year.
Duke said, “You couldn’t just lift the entire floor up.”
Therefore, in order to preserve all of the artwork, they carefully cut off various mosaic pieces. As a result, not every piece was the same size.
Accordingly, one of the cartons that entered this gallery weighed around a thousand pounds.
After the show is complete, the Megiddo mosaic will be returned to Israel and placed on permanent display at the precise location where it was found. When the mosaic is returned, the prisoners from Megiddo will be sent to another jail.
The IAA came under fire for permitting a significant piece of Christian history to be on exhibit at the museum in the year before the mosaic was moved to the Museum of the Bible.
The museum has had to return thousands of objects since it opened in 2017, including thousands of clay scrolls that were stolen from Iraq and an old tablet from Mesopotamia.
Additionally, it was compelled to acknowledge that a number of the parts of the Dead Sea Scroll on exhibit in its collection were contemporary fakes.
“I don’t think a ‘purist’ agenda is very helpful here,” Prof. Aren Maeir, an archaeologist at Bar-Ilan University, told Haaretz.com, despite.
The fact that some of the museum’s founders and acts are dubious and that the institution obviously has a strong ideological objective. “I don’t see any issues as long as everything is done in accordance with the letter of the law.”