A new discovery by Israeli archaeologists suggests that, perhaps, discovered the tombs of ancient Jewish heroes, known as the Maccabees.
The probable key to unlocking called one burial from the Byzantine Christians.
The Maccabees take pride worthy of a place in Christianity, and archaeologists believe that the ancient Christians also tried to find an ancient tomb of the Maccabees.
Though this is not said in the Bible, but Mattityahu kind of the Hasmonean and his five sons led a revolt against the Greek rulers in approximately a hundred and sixty years before the birth of Jesus. They purified the Jewish temple in Jerusalem from idolatry. Hanukkah serves as a reminder of their victory. This discovery was made about a kilometer from the modern Israeli city of modi’in, in the area where the suspected and lived the Maccabees.
Dan Shahar of the Israel antiquities authority, says: “We found the burial niche with a mosaic floor. And this mosaic floor is laid out cross. We don’t often face such findings”.
This means that the burial was of particular importance for the Byzantine Christians of the sixth century of our era. But why it was exactly in this place? Archaeologist Dan Shahar explains: “the Maccabees freed from the power of the Hellenistic Empire on the territory of modern Israel and established an independent Jewish state, which is of great importance both for Judaism and for Christianity. Maccabees books were recognized as deuterocanonical by Catholic and Orthodox churches, but not included in the Canon of the Jewish Bible.”
According to the archaeologist Amit Reema, Byzantine Christians found the original grave and adorned it with mosaics: “I’m an archaeologist not a bit surprised to find here such a unique cross. It is a symbol. It indicates that here are buried some outstanding, unique personality”.
The Jewish historian Josephus wrote about the tombs of the Maccabees in two ancient texts. He described them as impressive structures built of thin stone and is surrounded by columns with a pyramidal roof.
Dan Shahar explains: “There is a lot of circumstantial evidence, geographical location, descriptions of ancient historians such as Josephus. In fact, this stone can also be found a lot of evidence that tell us that maybe it was something monumental. Maybe it was just described of the pyramid.”
Shahar believes that when we can figure out what was the importance of the Byzantines, will be revealed and the Jewish mystery of the location of the graves of the Maccabees.