Jehohanan

Jehohanan's heel bone.

Jehohanan (Hebrew: יהוחנן, romanizedYəhōḥānān) was a Judean man sentenced to death by crucifixion sometime in the 1st century CE. His ossuary was found in 1968 when building contractors working in Giv'at ha-Mivtar accidentally uncovered a Jewish tomb.[1] The stone ossuary had the Hebrew inscription of "Jehohanan the son of Hagkol" (Hebrew: יהוחנן בן הגקול, romanizedYehoḥanan ben Hagqol; the meaning of hgqwl is uncertain,[2] hence his name sometimes being given as Johanan ben Ha-galgula).

In his initial anthropological observations in 1970 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Nicu Haas concluded that Jehohanan was crucified with his arms stretched out and his forearms nailed, possibly on a two-beamed cross.[3] However, a 1985 reappraisal by Joseph Zias and Eliezer Sekeles of the Hebrew University found multiple errors in these observations.[4][5] Zias and Sekeles proposed that a horizontal beam was affixed to vertical stakes, with Jehohanan's arms tied and death occurring from asphyxiation.[6]

  1. ^ Tzaferis, V. 1970 Jewish Tombs at and near Giv'at ha-Mivtar. Israel Exploration Journal Vol.20 pp. 18-32.
  2. ^ Fant, C. E., Reddish, M. G. (2008:320). Lost Treasures of the Bible: Understanding the Bible Through Archaeological Artifacts in World Museums. United Kingdom: Eerdmans Publishing Company.
  3. ^ "Joe Zias, Crucifixion in Antiquity - The Evidence". Archived from the original on 2016-03-14. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
  4. ^ "Crucifixion – The Archaeological Evidence," Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 11 (1985), pp. 44-53
  5. ^ Fitzmyer, Yadin, "Epigraphy and Crucifixion," Israel Exploration Journal, Vol. 23(1973), pp. 494-498.
  6. ^ Zias & Sekeles 1985, p. 26.