Megiddo Excavation

• In 2005 during the excavation for the expansion of an Israeli prison in Megiddo, a very early Christian church was discovered.
• Following are excerpts from an article entitled “Foundations of Christianity Unearthed” from the February 2006 issue of Discover magazine:

  Mosaic fish symbols and references to a table donated for “the God Jesus Christ” firmly identify the building, located near Megiddo, Israel, as a place of Christian worship. ...the phrasing and the lettering style of the inscriptions support the idea that the church predates Roman approval. Moreover, the use of a fish motif rather than a cross, which became the dominant Christian symbol under Constantine, also suggests the building is older... The most puzzling aspect of the find is an inscription identifying a Roman military man named Gaianos as the donor who paid for the mosaics.

• This find clearly supports Roman support in the early Christian movement.
• Scholars are perplexed that this finding appears to pre-date the traditional positive Roman involvement during Constantine. Prior to Constantine, it is well known that the Romans persecuted Christians in Rome.
• It is logical to speculate that the positive Roman support un-earthed in Megiddo pre-dates the period of Roman persecution. This would place the excavation during the earliest stages of Christianity.
• In an interview with MSNBC Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar and professor at the Holy Land University, states:

  This was a time of persectuion and in this way it is quite surprising that there would be such a blatant expression of Christ in a mosaic.

• National Geographic states:

  The experts add that it likely predates the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, when Roman Emperor Constantine I legalized Christianity across the Byzantine Empire.

• It is interesting to note that even today's most dominant symbol of Christianity (the cross) was a Roman adaptation under Constantine.