Bible Synapse
Caiaphas ossuary
Object · 1st century AD · Time of Jesus · also called Ossuary of Joseph son of Caiaphas
See it on the map and timeline
- Date
- 1st century AD (the ossuary)
- Found
- Peace Forest, North Talpiot, Jerusalem, 1990. Workers building a park broke into a burial cave in November 1990; Zvi Greenhut of the Israel Antiquities Authority excavated it and found twelve ossuaries.
- Now
- Israel Museum, Jerusalem
- Passages
- Matthew 26:3, Matthew 26:57, Luke 3:2, John 11:49–53, John 18:13–14
What it is
A richly decorated limestone box for the bones of the dead, about 75 cm long, from a family burial cave in south Jerusalem. It is inscribed twice in Aramaic, “Yehosef bar Qayafa” and “Yehosef bar Qafa”, that is, Joseph son of Caiaphas. It held the bones of six people, among them a man of about sixty.
How it connects to the Bible
The Gospels name Caiaphas as the high priest of Jesus' trial; Matthew says Jesus was led away “to Caiaphas the high priest”, where the council had gathered. Many scholars identify this as the ossuary of the high priest's family, and the man of about sixty as possibly Caiaphas himself.
What scholars debate
Some scholars doubt the identification, pointing to the spelling of the name, the absence of any priestly title and the plainness of the tomb.