(In Pics) Five Tombs where Jesus was Buried

After the crucifixion and before the eve of the Sabbath, the body of Jesus Christ who had died on the cross was placed in a tomb by a Jewish elder and member of the Sanhedrin council named Joseph of Arimathea. All four gospels give an account of these events although there are variations.

Mark, perhaps the earliest gospel narrative, has Joseph do this because of Jewish law, not any particular concern for the body of Jesus. It was the Sanhedrin after all who had condemned him to death.

Matthew and Luke make him into a figure more sympathetic to Jesus and his teachings, whereas John offers little more than a name check and a couple of details on what spices to use on the body. But all four confirm Jesus was taken to a tomb.

However the search for Jesus’s tomb is not so straightforward. For a start, the Biblical tradition is of course that he is no longer in his tomb, which makes the archaeology a little trickier. But other tombs exist, where he still might be. Is he still in Jerusalem? Kashmir? Or did he die in Japan aged 106?

Here are five candidates for the tomb of Jesus.

1. Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

*The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in* *Jerusalem* *is the most established site on the list, and in fact offers a two-for-one, claiming to be the location of both the* *crucifixion* and the tomb of Jesus, the latter contained within this inner shrine. The tradition associated with this location however only appears in the 4th century, and is otherwise controversial. as it appears to be within the ancient walls of Jerusalem and the Bible is clear Jesus was buried outside the walls. But then the dating of the walls of Jerusalem themselves is uncertain, and may postdate the crucifixion. (Jlascar / *CC BY 2.0*)

2. The Garden Tomb, Jerusalem

Another Jerusalem candidate, this rock-cut tomb certainly looks the part. Discovered in 1867, the tomb backs onto a rocky outcrop named “Skull Hill” (Golgotha, where the crucifixion occurred, was called “the place of the *skull*”) and the surroundings would also fit with the “Garden of Joseph” where the Bible sites the tomb. The main problem for this tomb is the dating, which has varied from the 8th century BC to perhaps two centuries before Jesus, and which some say has nothing to suggest a first century AD dating. *Tombs* *were reused, of course, but then the Bible says the tomb of Jesus was new (Gary Todd /* *Public Domain*)

3. The Talpiot Tomb

*The final* *Jerusalem* candidate. Yes, that unassuming concrete slab in a Jerusalem garden might cover the tomb of Jesus. Known as the Talpiot Tomb and discovered as late as 1980, the interior contained ten ossuaries, some with inscriptions. One of them read “Yeshua bar Yehosef “ which translates to “Jeshua [Jesus], son of Joseph”. Based on this finding, a 2007 movie produced by *James Cameron* *proposed this as the tomb of Jesus. There are, however numerous problems with this location with regards to the Biblical accounts, not least that Jesus here is still in his ossuary (Mujaddara /* *CC BY-SA 3.0*)

4. Roza Bal

*The “Tomb of the Prophet” in Srinagar, Kashmir, had long been held to be the final resting place of a prophet or holy man. But in 1899 the founder of the* *Islamic* (and decidedly Messianic) Ahmadiyya movement named Mirza Ghulam Ahmad made an extraordinary claim for the occupant actually being Jesus. And his followers maintain this belief to this day. There are, however, problems: the Sunnis who actually manage the shrine do not agree. Nor does Islam in general, who consider the idea of corporeal remains of *Jesus* *as blasphemy (Indrajit Das /* *CC BY-SA 4.0*)

5. Shingo Village, Japan

Is *Japan* the land of the resurrected Jesus, the land (quite literally) of the rising Son? In the village of Shingō can be found the Kirisuto no haka, another final resting place of Jesus. Apparently, Jesus swapped in his twin brother Isukiri on the cross and fled, crossing *Siberia* and arriving in 1st century Japan. There he changed his name to Torai Tora Daitenku, became a rice farmer, married a twenty-year old named Miyuko, and raised three daughters. Dying at the age of 106, he is buried under this mound (ウィキ太郎(Wiki Taro) / *Public Domain*)

Top Image: There are several candidates for the Tomb of Jesus, ranging from the entirely possible to the thoroughly implausible. Source: Tim Reid / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

By Joseph Green

References

Joseph Green

Joseph Green is editor for Historic Mysteries, which combines his background in English Literature with a lifelong fascination for the strange and the unexplained. Read More