Ancient Church Mosaic With Symbol of Jesus Uncovered in Israel

[Jamie D]

Ancient Church Mosaic With Symbol of Jesus Uncovered in Israel

Live Science | Megan Gannon

Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered intricate mosaics on the floor of a 1,500-year-old Byzantine church, including one that bears a Christogram surrounded by birds.

The ruins were discovered during a salvage excavation ahead of a construction project in Aluma, a village about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Tel Aviv, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced Wednesday (Jan. 22). Excavator Davida Eisenberg Degen said the team used an industrial digger to probe a mound at the site, and through a 10-foot (3 meters) hole, they could see the white tiles of an ancient mosaic....

At the time, Byzantine Christians wouldn't have put crosses on their mosaic floors so as to not step on the symbol of Christ, Degen explained. The Christogram in the mosaic may look like a cross, but it's actually more like a "chi rho" symbol, which puts together the first two captial letters in the Greek word for Christ, and often looks like an X superimposed on a P. There is an alpha and omega (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet) on either side of the chi rho, which is another Christian symbol, as Christ was often described as the "the beginning and the end." Four birds also decorate the mosaic, and two of them are holding up a wreath to the top of the chi rho.



Full article at the link

Interesting archaeology posted for my Christian friends - J