Who were the first Norwegian crusaders?

Several thousand Norwegians answered the call of the Pope to undertake the perilous journey to Jerusalem.

What would eventually be known as the Crusades began in 1095 in Europe, at the unwitting behest of Pope Urban II.  The Pope asked Christians in Western Europe to help the Byzantine Empire in Eastern Europe. The empire was under pressure from Seljuk Turks, who controlled their own vast empire in the Middle East and Southwest Asia.

Pope Urban II’s call for help was presented at a church council in Clermont, France, and the message spread like wildfire. But this was not just about saving the Byzantine Empire. Jerusalem, the holiest city in the world, was also the target of this radical new form of pilgrimage—the First Crusade.

The first Norwegian believed to have set out on the long journey in response to the Pope’s call was Skofte Ogmundsson, who was said to have left from Norway’s west coast with five ships in 1101.

But who were Ogmundsson and his ilk, and what do we know about them?

The Crusades begin

In the years after Pope Urban II’s call for help, thousands of people from all walks of life—nobles, knights, priests, monks, the poor, sick and old—undertook the journey to Jerusalem. The First Crusade ended in success when Jerusalem was conquered in 1099.

This was the beginning of a Latin kingdom in the Middle East, which held sway until 1291.

But Norway, the little windswept country at the edge of Europe, was also involved in what became a huge European joint effort.

Pål Berg Svenungsen is a PhD candidate in history at the University of Bergen who has tried to collect what we know about Norway and the Crusades from 1050 and 1350.

“Although research on the Crusades is extremely popular in Europe, there has been very little research on the topic in Norway,” he said.

A pilgrimage, not a crusade

The Crusades were originally seen as pilgrimages. In the centuries before the Crusades there was a religious resurgence in Europe. Pilgrimages were an important part of religious life.

Initially these journeys were both short and local, but during the 11th century they became more extensive and lengthy. One important goal was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Many Scandinavians set off on pilgrimages to show their devotion to God. The most popular destinations in Europe were Santiago de Compostela in Spain, where the tomb of the apostle James was supposed to be. Rome was also a central goal, but Jerusalem became increasingly important over the course of the 11th century.

Although there are very few sources that shed light on the number of Scandinavian pilgrims and where they were going, about 750 Scandinavian names were recorded in the register of a German monastery in the 11th and 12th centuries, which noted these visitors were pilgrims passing through.

“Norwegian participation in the Crusades should be seen as a continuation of the tradition of making a pilgrimage,” Svenungsen said, with one important difference: These pilgrims had weapons.

Unreliable sagas

There are not many sources from which the story of Scandinavians in the Crusades can be pieced together, Svenungsen says.

“I've read everything I can get my hands on,” he said.

The most famous Norwegian crusader is King Sigurd I Magnusson. He was also called Jorsalfare, in recognition of the fact that he had travelled to Jerusalem.

But the first Norwegian credited with making the journey was Skofte Ogmundsson, a rich magnate from Giske in western Norway who was said to have gone to Jerusalem in 1101, two years after the city had been conquered by the first Crusaders.

Exactly why Skofte decided to take this trip is unclear, and the only source is Snorri Sturluson’s Old Norsk saga, Heimskringla, Svenungsen said.

It may be that Skofte was exiled by because of a dispute with King Magnus Barefoot over an inheritance or treasure, but Snorri’s accounts are somewhat unreliable, especially since they were written more than 100 years after Skofte’s journey.

Skofte never made it to Jerusalem, because he died in the Mediterranean on the journey there. But some of the people who travelled in the five ships he was said to have brought with him returned with news about the religious city, which in turn spurred the well-known journey of Sigurd in 1108.

Sigurd and the 60 ships

“Part of what is so interesting about Sigurd is that we have multiple, concurrent sources about his journey to Jerusalem,” Svenungsen said.

Sigurd, who shared the throne with two half-brothers, launched a much larger expedition than Skofte, with a total of 60 ships that sailed from Norway in 1108.

Various historians have estimated that anywhere from 2,000 to 10,000 men were on the ships, Svenungsen said.

Sigurd helped Baldwin I, King of Jerusalem, to consolidate his position in the Middle East, and he participated in the siege of Sidon in 1110. Sidon is located in today’s Lebanon, and the city was besieged by Sigurd from the sea and by Baldwin from the land.

But this was also a pilgrimage, and Sigurd visited all the holy places while he was there. He returned to Norway in 1111. Sigurd donated all his ships to the emperor Alexeios I of Constantinople, today's Istanbul, and then travelled along country roads through Europe to return home.

Subsequently, the Earl of Orkney, Ragnvald Kale Kollsson, embarked for the Holy Lands in 1153. The magnate Erling Skakke travelled there between 1153 and 1155.
But why did they go?

“Many of those who went from both Norway and Europe were not poor, they were among Europe's most powerful and richest men. They had much more to lose than to win,” Svenungsen said.

But seen in the larger context of religious movements across Europe, the Crusades make sense, he said.

“A crusade became a kind of alternative to entering a monastery, and knights could thus serve God in other ways,” he said.
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Reference:

Bazilchuk, Nancy. 2016. “Who were the first Norwegian crusaders?”. Science Nordic. Posted: March 22, 2016. Available online: http://sciencenordic.com/who-were-first-norwegian-crusaders

Rare Viking Crucifix Found with Metal Detector

A rare Viking crucifix pendant has emerged from a Danish field, brought to light by an amateur metal detectorist two weeks before Easter.

The small gold object, made in the shape of a man with outstretched arms — the image of Christ on the cross — is estimated to be Denmark’s oldest crucifix.

Dating from the first half of the 900s (10th century), the pendant has shed new light on Christianity in Denmark, according to experts at the Viking Museum at Ladby, where the crucifix is now kept.

“It’s older than Harald Bluetooth’s runic stone in Jelling,” the museum said in a statement.

The stones in the town of Jelling feature a figure on the cross and commemorate Harald Bluetooth’s conversion of the Danes to Christianity.

Until now, the massive runestones, estimated to date from 965 A.D., were believed to be the earliest depiction of Jesus on a cross in Denmark.

Representing the best-known religious symbol of Christianity, the newly found crucifix would show that Danes embraced Christian faith earlier than previously thought.

The precious object was found by amateur metal detectorist Dennis Fabricius Holm in the fields around a church in the village of Aunslev, on the Danish island Funen.

“It’s pure luck that the little jewelry has survived the last 1,100 years in the earth,” the museum said.

The figure measures 1.6 inches in height and weighs 0.45 ounces. While the back surface is smooth, the front is made of finely articulated goldthreads and tiny fillagree pellets. At the top a small eye for a chain is mounted.

“The cross looks a lot like the gilded silver cross found in 1879 in Birka near Stockholm in Sweden, in a female grave from the Viking Age,” the museum said.

Silver fragments of similar crosses were found in female graves dating to the first half of the 10th century, but the Aunslev cross is the first Danish specimen in full figure.

“It was probably worn by a Viking woman, but it cannot yet be decided, whether the cross was to show that she was a Christian Viking or was just a part of a pagan Viking’s bling-bling,” the museum said.

According to Swedish archaeologist Martin Rundkvist, who first announced the findings on his blog, the crucifixes are too similar for more than one or two people to have been making them.

“The first crucifix was found at Birka near Stockholm. But the second, third and fourth one have been found near Hedeby in Denmark. That is probably were they were made,” Rundkvist told Discovery News.

“Birka, Hedeby and a group of other towns in northern Europe shared an itinerant population of traders and craftspeople,” he said.

The Aunslev cross will be on exhibit at the Viking Museum in Ladby until the Easter holiday, then it will sent to a lab for preservation.

In the summer it will be part of an exhibition in the museum that will show some recent Viking Age finds made in eastern Funen with metal detectors.
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Reference:

Lorenzi, Rossella. 2016. “Rare Viking Crucifix Found with Metal Detector”. Discovery News. Posted: March 18, 2016. Available online: http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/rare-viking-crucifix-found-with-metal-detector-160318.htm

Local cults of saints played a role in Scandinavian Christianisation

There is a clear link between the celebration of native saints and the ecclesiastical organisation that emerged in Scandinavia in the 12th century. Yet, according to a new doctoral thesis in history from the University of Gothenburg, important differences can be noted between Sweden and Denmark.

Local cults of saints emerged during the Early Middle Ages in the area of Scandinavia that was separated into the ecclesiastical provinces of Lund and Uppsala, roughly corresponding to modern-day Denmark and Sweden. Dioceses and other institutions were established in both provinces in the 11th and 12th centuries.

A Scandinavian perspective

This first-ever comparative study of all 23 native saints in both provinces yields a comprehensive Scandinavian perspective that has been missing in previous research on European cults of saints.

‘These early cults of saints served several purposes. The celebration of local saints supported the Christianisation, but cults were also a way to confirm sacred places. It wasn’t unusual that churches and monasteries were built in these locations. New sacred places could also be used to support local leaders or to create new pilgrimage sites and thereby facilitate the undertaking of pilgrimages for the new Christians,’ says Sara Ellis Nilsson, author of the thesis.

These saints were often individuals who had lived in the location in question, such as Elin of Skövde, Botvid of Södermanland, Thøger of Vestervig and Margareta of Roskilde. They were important role models for people in areas that had recently been Christianised. All saints were considered to have performed miracles, which were documented in their biographies. Some saints were martyrs, whereas others were canonised based on their good deeds. For example, Elin of Skövde collected money for the construction of a church.

Ellis Nilsson shows that Denmark was interested in papal canonisation much earlier than Sweden, indicating stronger ties to the Papacy.

‘In Denmark, the holy person had to be canonised by the pope in order to be officially celebrated by the church. That wasn’t necessary in Sweden,’ she says.

Medieval church books

Her research on local cults has at times consisted of meticulous detective work to sort through the remains of medieval church books. After the Reformation, these books were cut up in pieces and used as new book covers, often for 17th century account books. One hundred years ago, efforts to catalogue the fragments were initiated. This work has resulted in a digital catalogue of the Swedish fragments, which means that these valuable sources can be used once again.

Ellis Nilsson has studied parchment fragments of church books and other texts, which comprise the earliest preserved evidence of these cults.

‘One can find a lot of information in these texts. The native saints were venerated and celebrated in church and had their own days in the Calendar. For example, in dioceses where they were considered to be important, the saint’s feast day was for everybody to enjoy and not just the priests. This was the case for Elin, who continued to be venerated in the Diocese of Skara for a long time. In contrast, the status of the Danish female saints was not nearly as long-lasting, probably because they did not have enough support from wealthy families and the Church. They were never given their own official feast days,’ says Ellis Nilsson.
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Reference:

Past Horizons. 2015. “Local cults of saints played a role in Scandinavian Christianisation”. Past Horizons. Posted: March 25, 2015. Available online: http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/03/2015/local-cults-of-saints-played-a-role-in-scandinavian-christianisation

Preserving endangered Middle East cultures, including early Christian

Key moments in the development and interaction of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other religions are being preserved through Syriaca.org, an international collaboration edited by scholars at Vanderbilt and Princeton universities.

The Syriac Gazetteer, an online geographical dictionary, is the first in a series of reference works launched by Syriaca.org to document and save ancient and medieval Middle Eastern cultural heritage now threatened by civil war and political instability.

The Syriac language is a dialect of Aramaic once used widely throughout the Middle East and Asia. Syriac was an important language in the spread of Christianity, according to David A. Michelson, assistant professor of the history of Christianity at Vanderbilt and general editor of Syriaca.org. Jesus and many early Christians spoke a related dialect of Aramaic, and the Gospels were translated into Syriac at a very early moment in the history of Christianity. In the Middle Ages, Syriac-speaking communities could be found in what today would be Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Iran, India, Central Asia, Mongolia and China.

The Syriac Gazetteer contains descriptions of more than 2,400 places relevant to the study of Syriac. These entries, written in English, Arabic and Syriac, range from ancient centers of Syriac culture such as Edessa, located in what is modern-day Turkey, to Piscataway, N.J., where Syriac scholarship is still being produced by heritage communities.

Michelson uses the term "Syriac heritage communities" to refer to a number of different contemporary Aramaic minority populations who have connections to the historical Syriac cultures of the Middle East. These communities include ethnic and religious populations who identify variously as Syriac, Assyrian, Aramean, Maronite, St. Thomas Christians, Chaldean Catholic, Antiochian Orthodox, Syro-Malabar Catholic, the Church of the East, and a number of other groups.

"Although Syriac heritage communities have survived through the years as minority enclaves in the Middle East and Asia, these communities and their religious and cultural heritage remain relatively unknown in the West," Michelson said. "The study of Syriac has received little attention until now, but scholars are beginning to realize these sources hold immense value for increasing our understanding of the historical relationships among Jews, Christians and Muslims."

Researchers estimate that more than 10,000 manuscripts or manuscript fragments written in Syriac survive today around the globe. For much of the 20th century, Syria and Iraq were home to some of the largest Syriac communities in the region, but they have experienced significant displacement and destruction of their cultural heritage during the past decade.

"The current civil war in Syria has had a devastating toll on all segments of the Syrian population," Michelson said. "Many in Syria's minority communities have been forced to evacuate their homes in fear for their lives." Michelson described the situation as also perilous in Iraq. "Minority communities have become particularly easy targets for violence," he said. "These communities have increasingly turned to emigration in the face of these threats. With such disruption and migration, there is a real risk that minority communities will not be able to maintain their unique cultural identities."

Syriaca.org's online tools serve a broad audience interested in the Syriac cultural heritage, including researchers and students in Middle Eastern studies, classics, medieval history, religious studies, biblical studies and linguistics. In addition, the online portal is available for use by Syriac heritage communities and the public. All resources of Syriaca.org are published in a free and open format using Creative Commons licenses.

Thomas A. Carlson, a postdoctoral research associate in medieval Middle East history at Princeton University, co-edits The Syriac Gazetteer with Michelson. Peter R. L. Brown, the Philip and Beulah Rollins Professor of History, Emeritus at Princeton chairs the editorial committee for Syriaca.org. Technical design of the project was completed by Winona Salesky, independent consultant, and Thomas Elliott, senior research scholar, New York University.

Vanderbilt Divinity students who have worked on Syriaca.org include Anthony Davis, Dan Greeson and Tucker Hannah, all second-year students pursuing a master of theological studies. Other participating students are Erin Minta Johnson, in her first year in the same master's programs, while Justin Arnwine is a first-year master's student in the Graduate Department of Religion.

The Syriac Gazetteer is funded as part of the "International Balzan Prize awarded to Peter Brown by the Fondazione Internazionale Balzan. Michelson was selected as a junior scholar to co-direct the project as a part of the award terms. The National Endowment for the Humanities and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation have also provided funding for Syriaca.org.

Interested individuals can explore The Syriac Gazetteer by browsing the interactive map. Readers can also search for specific types of places such as churches or topography.
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References:

Science Daily. 2014. “Preserving endangered Middle East cultures, including early Christian”. Science Daily. Posted: April 24, 2014. Available online: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140424143420.htm

Christian Ink: Mummy's 1,300-Year-Old Thigh Tattoo Revealed

A Christian tattoo has been discovered high on the inner thigh of a mummified Sudanese woman. New images released by the British Museum show the ancient ink, which dates back to 1,300 years ago.

The well-preserved corpse was discovered during a recent archaeological excavation in northern Sudan along the banks of the Nile River. CT scans allowed researchers to peek under the woman's skin and look at her bones, while infrared imaging showed her faint thigh tattoo more clearly.

Researchers at the British Museum have interpreted the tattoo as a monogram for the archangel Michael, stacking the ancient Greek letters spelling Michael (M-I-X-A-H-A), The Telegraph reported. Archaeologists have previously found the symbol emblazoned on church mosaics and artifacts, but never before on human flesh.

Curator Daniel Antoine told the paper that the ancient body art is the first evidence of a tattoo from this period, calling it a "very rare find."

Antoine doesn't know for sure what purpose the tattoo would have served, but speculated it might have been intended to protect the woman, The Telegraph reported.

The mummy is set to go on display at the British Museum in London in May as part of an exhibition called "Ancient Lives: New Discoveries."

The mummy is hardly the first, or even the oldest, to bear tattoos. It was common to get inked in many cultures around the world; mummies found in places like Peru, Egypt and the Philippines attest to a long and diverse history of body art.

At 5,300 years old, Ötzi the Iceman is Europe's oldest mummy and he may also hold the distinction of having the world's oldest surviving tattoos. The mummy was found frozen in the Alps in 1991 and he has several tattoos, mostly in the form of small lines and crosses, etched in soot around his joints. The markings are suspected to have been less decorative than therapeutic, since Ötzi is thought to have suffered from joint pain before he died.

Another notable frozen mummy discovered in the 1990s had tattoos, too. The 2,500-year-old body of a woman in her late 20s was found in 1993 in the permafrost of the Ukok Plateau in southwestern Siberia. She was tattooed with intricate animal motifs, abstract shapes and mythological creatures such as a deer with a griffon's head, according to The Siberian Times. Other mummies of the Siberian Pazyryk culture are inked with similar designs and animals like tigers, leopards and elk.
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References:

Gannon, Megan. 2014. “Christian Ink: Mummy's 1,300-Year-Old Thigh Tattoo Revealed”. Live Science. Posted: March 26, 2014. Available online: http://www.livescience.com/44403-christian-mummy-thigh-tattoo.html

Early Christians in Viking Denmark

Excavations at the Domskirke in Ribe, Denmark began in 2008 and analysis of the results lend new insight into early Christianity, where this may have been one of the first places in the country where a small enclave of Christians worshipped and died.

Studies have now shown that there may have been Christian Vikings in Ribe around AD865. Denmark officially became a Christian country around the year AD965 when Harald Bluetooth announced his deed on the Jelling stone (see below). It now seems possible that 100 years before this countrywide conversion, Christian Danish Vikings were living, dying and being buried in Ribe.

Early Christian burials

In the excavations conducted by the Southwest Jutland Museums between 2008-2012 around the Domskirke, the archaeologists found over 70 burials from the earliest period of activity. The tombs provide a unique insight into the early Christian burial customs, and have become be a major source of debate in Denmark.

Pagan Vikings were buried with grave goods such as weapons, food, animals, slaves, etc., and their social rank was often marked with pit construction. The burials found at the Cathedral site had no grave goods and were without any indication of social rank. In addition, the dead had been buried east-west and both children and adults were found in the graves surrounded by a cemetery ditch. All this evidence points to the graves being Christian.

Additional examination of the skeletal material using isotope analysis revealed that the vast majority of the buried were local Jutes or newcomers from Zealand/Skåne region. They were interred in this enclosed area during a period between AD 850 years to AD 1050 – making the earliest burials of great significance.

Jelling stone

The large Jelling stone is sometimes referred to as “The Birth Certificate of Denmark”. It has many Christian symbols contained in it such as a Christ figure and Harold Bluetooth erected it around 965 in memory of Gorm the Old, and Thyra Danebod. The figure of Christ on the stone shows that the new faith had finally come to Denmark. Up until then, the Church frequently sent envoys to the Danish kings, but not until Harold became King in 958 did the church see a major result. However, the Ribe excavations show that Christianity may have taken root in small enclaves earlier than previously thought.
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References:

Past Horizons. 2014. “Early Christians in Viking Denmark”. Past Horizons. Posted: February 23, 2014. Available online: http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/02/2014/early-christians-in-viking-ribe

Long Pilgrimages Revealed in Ancient Sudan Art

Excavations of a series of medieval churches in central Sudan have revealed a treasure trove of art, including a European-influenced work, along with evidence of journeys undertaken by travelers from western Europe that were equivalent to the distance between New York City and the Grand Canyon.

A visit by a Catalonian man named Benesec is recorded in one of the churches, along with visits from other pilgrims of the Middle Ages, according to lead researcher Bogdan Zurawski of the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

The discoveries were made at Banganarti and Selib, two sites along the Nile that were part of Makuria, a Christian kingdom ruled by a dynasty of kings throughout the Middle Ages.

The art there tells stories of kings, saints, pilgrims and even a female demon, said Zurawski, who presented his findings recently at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.

Inside medieval churches

Zurawski said the most recent of the churches uncovered in Banganarti, built nearly 1,000 years ago, is unique. "It has no parallel in Nubia and elsewhere," he said. [See images of Banganarti church discoveries]

The church contains 18 square rooms, two staircases and, at its center, a domed area that probably contained holy relics. The team believes the building was dedicated to the archangel Raphael and was used for healing rituals. "The multitude of inscriptions addressed to this archangel are more than suggestive" that the church was dedicated to him, Zurawski said.

Beneath this building lies a structure, built about 300 years earlier, which also appears to have been dedicated to Raphael. This lower church, as the archaeologists refer to it, contains a ninth-century mural depicting "the Harrowing of Hell," which shows Jesus visiting the underworld to rescue the firstborn. [See images of the lower church]

A Catalonian journey

The team uncovered numerous inscriptions at the two sites, many left by pilgrims visiting the churches in hopes of being healed.

One of the inscriptions at Banganartiis written in Catalonian and appears to have been inscribed sometime in the 13th or 14th century by the man named Benesec. It reads: "When Benesec came to pay homage to Raphael."

Zurawski told LiveScience that "Benesec" was a very popular name in 13th- and 14th-century southern France. This particular Benesec had probably traveled some 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) from southern France or northern Spain. The journey took him east across the Mediterranean Sea and far up the Nile into the interior of Africa.

The inscription and a Catalonian playing card found downriver by another team, which may or may not have been left by Benesec, were the only traces found of these visitors from Europe.

Zurawski said Benesec may have been a trader who, along with other Catalonians, received permission from the Mamluk rulers of Egypt to pass through their territory. "The Catalonians were granted trade privileges, trade rights, to exchange goods and to trade with Egypt, and apparently they also came to Nubia," he said.

Krzysztof Grzymski, a curator at the Royal Ontario Museum, said at the symposium that evidence of contact between central Sudan and the Mediterranean world goes back to antiquity. At the site of Meroë, which reached its peak around 2,000 years ago, Grzymski said, he studied the sculpture of a head that has Greek traits. "This head is clearly Hellenistic or Hellenized, and yet it certainly was made by local artists from Meroë."

The Harrowing of Hell

The team uncovered numerous works of art at Banganarti, among them the ninth-century painting of "the Harrowing of Hell."

"The masterpiece of lower-church painting, decoration, is this 'Harrowing of Hell'; it is absolutely unusual," said Zurawski. It shows "Jesus Christ just descended to hell to trample Hades, liberating the firstborn, who are shown naked. Also, the common dead are shown naked."

The dead are also shown in anguish. "The common dead [are] screaming, crying with outstretched fingers," said Zurawski. He said that the emotion of the dead, and the depiction of them and the firstborn being naked, were very odd.

"That is purely a European way of inscribing the Harrowing of Hell," he said. "In Byzantine tradition, the firstborn and the dead in the harrowing scene are shown in stiff hieratic postures, totally clothed."

King David … of Nubia

There are many other features of art and architecture at these two holy sites.

Banganarti contains several images of kings, most of them anonymous because of the lack of an accompanying inscription.

However, one exception shows a 13th-century ruler known as King David, possibly named after the biblical figure. An inscription, found nearby, reads: "O God of Michael [or "O Saint Michael"], cause Arouase to live through the savior of King David." Arouase appears to be a reference to a person.

Another work of art is an image of St. Damianos, a third-century physician who, with his brother Cosmas, practiced in Cilicia in southeastern Turkey. They were known asanargyroi, doctors who treated patients for free. During a series of Christian persecutions brought about by the Roman Emperor Diocletian, they were rounded up, tortured and beheaded.

Zurawski said the saint appears to have been held in particularly high regard at this site. For instance, one inscription mentions a wealthy person named Teita who came to Banganarti to mark Damianos' life.

The church image of Damianos' brother did not survive.

A female demon

The artwork is rich in both religious and mythological lore. For instance, at the same church the team discovered a depiction of Sideros, a female demon, naked and bound up while being trampled by St. Abbakyros, a medical saint, on a horse.

Sideros in medieval mythology was a demon that preyed on women during childbirth.

Another scene at Banganarti depicts the legend of a third-century Roman soldiernamed Mercurius who converted to Christianity and was executed for it.

"The Passio recounts that Mercurius lived under the emperors Decius and Valerian. ... He saw in a vision an angel who presented him with a sword, promising him victory and telling him not to forget his God," writes Christopher Walker in the book "The Warrior Saints in Byzantine Art and Tradition" (Ashgate publishing, 2003). (Passio is a Latin word for passion.)

When he refused the emperor's invitation to make an offering to Artemis, Mercurius refused, professing his new faith. He was tortured and killed.

According to the picture discovered at Banganarti, Mercurius reappeared as a sort of spirit almost 100 years later, after Christianity had been declared legal throughout the Roman Empire.

At the time Rome had an emperor, Julian, who made offerings to the old Roman gods instead of observing Christian rites. The emperor was campaigning in the Middle East against the Persians when, according to legend, Mercurius appeared and stabbed him with a spear, killing him.

"On the south wall [at Banganarti there is] a very interesting mural representing Saint Merkurios killing Emperor Julian the Apostate," said Zurawski. An image of the praying Virgin Mary is also shown in the scene.

A blind visitor

Another interesting image is that of an apparently blind individual who visited Banganarti in hopes of a cure, possibly because the church was dedicated to the archangel known to be a patron of the blind.

"One of the ophthalmological patients who came to Banganarti with eye problems was not Christian but was Muslim," Zurawski said.

His name was written as "Deif Ali," Arabic for "Ali the guest." In a drawing of him in the church, he is shown with a walking stick and what looks like a bag. He wears a kilt-like dress and appears to be struggling to get his footing right. “His blindness is shown in the way he was painted,” said Zurawski.

Selib

A few miles to the east of Banganarti is Selib, which holds four churches, built one on top of the other. They date from the sixth century, a time when people in Nubia were beginning to convert to Christianity, and the buildings were in use throughout the Middle Ages. [See images of medieval church Selib]

There are also remains of Meroitic columns and reliefs dating to around 2,000 years ago, when the city of Meroë was the center of an empire that stretched from southern Egypt to central Sudan.

Work at the site began in 2008 and resumed, after a brief hiatus, in 2010. Much remains to be done, but the team already has unearthed some interesting finds, among them a baptistery dating back nearly 1,500 years.

The team also found an inscription that indicates that one of the churches was built by a seventh-century king named Zacharias. It reads, "Zacharias basileus Mena hagios," which means that the king dedicated the church to St. Mena, a third-century Egyptian hermit.

Nearby, the team encountered an intriguing mystery. The archaeologists excavated a well and found the bottom to be beautifully decorated.

"At the depth of 5 meters, the regular bond of brick, the so-called English bond, is interrupted," said Zurawski during his museum lecture. In place "a zig-zag pattern made with oven-fired bricks" appears.

"There is no technical, structural reason for such a changing of the pattern of the brick. The only reason is aesthetical, but what aesthetics stand for in a well at the depth of five meters, I cannot ascertain," he said.

Only a few miles east of Banganarti, the inhabitants apparently decided that even the bottom of a well should be beautiful.
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References:

Jarus, Owen. 2011. "Long Pilgrimages Revealed in Ancient Sudan Art". Live Science. Posted: November 3, 2011. Available online: http://www.livescience.com/16854-sudan-yields-medieval-art-signs-long-pilgrimages.html

British Museum in battle with Iran over ancient 'charter of rights'

The discovery of fragments of ancient cuneiform tablets – hidden in a British Museum storeroom since 1881 – has sparked a diplomatic row between the UK and Iran. In dispute is a proposed loan of the Cyrus cylinder, one of the most important objects in the museum's collection, and regarded by some historians as the world's first human rights charter.

The Iranian government has threatened to "sever all cultural relations" with Britain unless the artefact is sent to Tehran immediately. Museum director Neil MacGregor has been accused by an Iranian vice-president of "wasting time" and "making excuses" not to make the loan of the 2,500-year-old clay object, as was agreed last year.

The museum says that two newly discovered clay fragments hold the key to an important new understanding of the cylinder and need to be studied in London for at least six months.

The pieces of clay, inscribed in the world's oldest written language, look like "nothing more than dog biscuits", says MacGregor. Since being discovered at the end of last year, they have revealed verbatim copies of the proclamation made by Persian king Cyrus the Great, as recorded on the cylinder. The artefact itself was broken when it was excavated from the remains of Babylon in 1879. Curators say the new fragments are the missing pieces of an ancient jigsaw puzzle.

Irving Finkel, curator in the museum's ancient near east department, said he "nearly had a coronary" when he realised what he had in his hands. "We always thought the Cyrus cylinder was unique," he said. "No one had even imagined that copies of the text might have been made, let alone that bits of it have been here all along."

Finkel must now trawl through 130,000 objects, housed in hundreds of floor-to ceiling shelving units. His task is to locate other fragments inscribed with Cyrus's words. The aim is to complete the missing sections of one of history's most important political documents.

The Iranians have been planning to host a major exhibition of the Cyrus cylinder ever since MacGregor signed a loan agreement in Tehran in January 2009. I was in Iran with the museum director, reporting for BBC Radio 4 on his mission of cultural diplomacy.

Six months before pro-democracy protests were met with violence in the wake of the presidential election, tea and sweet pastries were offered to the British guests at the Iranian cultural heritage ministry. MacGregor was there to meet Hamid Baqaei, a vice-president and close ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Their friendly discussion was a significant diplomatic breakthrough at a time when tensions between Britain and Iran had been strained to breaking point after the expulsion of British Council representatives from Tehran. The recent launch of the BBC Persian television service had also been interpreted as a provocation by London.

With even the British ambassador in Tehran struggling to maintain a dialogue, MacGregor was the sole conduit of bilateral exchange in January 2009. The sight of a miniature union flag standing alongside the Iranian flag on the table between the British Museum boss and his Iranian counterparts boded well for an amicable meeting. In previous weeks, the only British flags seen in public in Tehran were those being burned on the streets outside the embassy.

MacGregor's objective was to secure the loan of treasures from Iranian palaces, mosques and museums for the museum's exhibition on the life and times of 16th-century ruler Shah Abbas. Discussions over the loan of treasures relating to one great Persian leader prompted the suggestion that another – Cyrus – could play a part in a reciprocal deal.

MacGregor may have been put on the spot by Baqaei, but he agreed to a three-month loan by the end of 2009. A year later, Baqaei's tone towards MacGregor is not so friendly. Quoted by the Fars news agency in Iran, he accused the museum of "acting politically". Further "British procrastination" would result in a "serious response" from Iran.

The Cyrus cylinder remains a compelling political tract more than two and half millennia after its creation. Accepting her Nobel peace prize in 2003, the Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi cited Cyrus as a leader who "guaranteed freedoms for all". She hailed his charter as "one of the most important documents that should be studied in the history of human rights".

In 2006, the then foreign secretary, Jack Straw contrasted the freeing of Jewish slaves by Cyrus with Ahmadinejad's "sickening calls for Israel to be wiped from the face of the map".

David Miliband, the current foreign secretary, has yet to reflect on the contemporary resonance of Cyrus in a country in which human rights have been violently curtailed of late. But a spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: "It is a shame that the British Museum has felt compelled to make this decision." She added that "we share the British Museum's concern that this would not be a good time for the cylinder to come to Iran" owing to the "unsettled" situation in the country.

Last week MacGregor presided over a launch, at the British Museum, of the History of the World in 100 Objects, his collaborative project with the BBC. The director is presenting a 100-part series on Radio 4, in which the story of mankind is told through individual artefacts. The Cyrus cylinder was considered for inclusion, but did not make the final hundred.

Some guests at the launch, when told how the discovery of the new fragments had delayed the loan of the Cyrus cylinder, were suspicious. "Fancy that, what a stroke of luck," said one. "That gets Neil out of a jam for now."

The director himself says he is determined that the cylinder will eventually be lent to Tehran, along with the newly discovered fragments, to tell a better story about Cyrus. He says he can understand the frustration and anger in Tehran, but it will be worth their wait.

They may well be getting more than they bargained for. To the Ahmadinejad regime, the cylinder is an iconic object, one that fuels collective pride in national heritage. But to those who are fighting for freedom of expression in Iran in the face of violence, the return of Cyrus could offer a potent new rallying point.
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References:

Wilson, John. 2010. "British Museum in battle with Iran over ancient 'charter of rights'". Guardian. Posted: January 24, 2010. Available online:http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jan/24/cyrus-cylinder-iran-museum-row

'Jesus-Era' Burial Cloth Casts Doubt on Turin Shroud

An international team of researchers has found fragments of a burial shroud that cast serious doubt on the Turin shroud, the controversial linen cloth venerated by many Catholics as the proof that Christ was resurrected from the grave.

Discovered in a Jerusalem cemetery known as Akeldama, or "Field of Blood," where Judas Iscariot is thought to have committed suicide, the shroud fragments were found around the remains of a man buried in a sealed chamber.

Probably a Jewish high priest or member of the aristocracy, the man suffered from tuberculosis and leprosy, as DNA of both diseases was found in his bones.

"This is the earliest case of leprosy with a confirmed date in which M.leprae DNA was detected," the researchers, from Israeli, Canadian, Australian, U.S. and U.K. institutions, wrote in the journal PloS ONE.

Although the molecular identification of these diseases is significant for the geographical and temporal distribution of tuberculosis and leprosy in the past, "what marked this tomb as unique from the other tombs in the Akeldama cemetery was the discovery of degraded shroud textile," said the researchers.

The first of their kind discovered in Jerusalem, the shroud fragments date from the same time of Christ's death, but are very different than the Shroud of Turin.

One of the most controversial relics in Christendom, the Turin linen features an intricate twill weave. The newly found cloth is made up of a simpler two-way weave.

Moreover, the Jerusalem garment is in two pieces -- one for the head and one for the body -- while the Turin shroud is a single piece of fabric.

If the remains in the Jerusalem tomb represent typical burial shrouds widely used at the time of Jesus, this casts strong doubt that the Turin Shroud originated from Jesus-era Jerusalem.

Scientific interest in the Turin Shroud began in 1898, when it was photographed by lawyer Secondo Pia. The negatives revealed the image of a bearded man with pierced wrists and feet and a bloodstained head.

In 1988, the Vatican approved carbon-dating tests. Three reputable laboratories concluded that the shroud was medieval, dating from 1260 to 1390, and not a burial cloth wrapped around the body of Christ.

The radiocarbon dating did not prevent many scholars from formulating various hypotheses on the shroud’s authenticity.

Last month Barbara Frale, a Vatican researcher, said she had found faint letters scattered on the cloth and claimed that was basically the burial certificate of a man named "Yeshua Nazarani."

Shroud skeptics quickly dismissed Frale's claim.

Kept rolled up in a silver casket, the Turin linen has survived several blazes since its existence was first recorded in France in 1357, including a mysterious fire at Turin Cathedral in 1997.

It has been on display only five times in the past century. When it last went on display in 2000, more than three million people saw it. The next display will be from April 10 to May 23, 2010 in the Cathedral of Turin.
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References:

Lorenzi, Rossella. 2009. "'Jesus-Era' Burial Cloth Casts Doubt on Turin Shroud". . Posted: December 17, 2009. Available online: http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/jesus-era-burial-shroud-casts-doubt-on-turin-shroud.html