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00:02Jesus' crucifixion ends with a stab of a simple wooden spear.
00:12For 2,000 years, some of the most powerful men in history covet its power.
00:18Could one of these three relics have pierced the side of Christ?
00:25At last, modern science provides answers to the legend of the Holy Spear.
00:49The legend of the Holy Spear begins at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
00:57The Bible tells us his death is mercifully quick.
01:02A Roman guard pierces Jesus aside with a spear to confirm that he is dead.
01:10It's a crucial moment in the Christian faith.
01:14Proof of Christ's death and what makes his resurrection possible.
01:24In the centuries that follow, the spear becomes a preeminent Christian relic.
01:30And assumes a legendary reputation.
01:37Emperor Constantine is said to hold the Holy Spear when he imposes Christianity on the Roman Empire.
01:46With the spear by his side, Charlemagne forges the first European Union out of the chaos of the Middle Ages.
01:54And both Napoleon and Hitler seek the spear's mythical power so they might rule the world.
02:01Today, there are three Holy Spears that are not known copies or fakes.
02:07One in Armenia, one in the Vatican, and the Vienna Spear.
02:15Could one of these be the spear of Christ, the relic of legendary power?
02:25Peter Owen Jones is a priest in the Church of England.
02:30He's embarking on a quest to examine the history of each spear and determine if it could have been present
02:37at the moment of Jesus' crucifixion.
02:39The spear, like many other Christian icons, is an incredibly important part, not just of Christian history, but of all
02:50history.
02:56Robert Feather, a specialist in ancient metals and artifacts, will assess each spear to determine its age and origin.
03:07The three spears, from a scientific and historical viewpoint, all have a strong indication that they date from a very
03:19early time in history, possibly close to the time of Jesus.
03:27After the crucifixion, the first report of the Holy Spear comes from Armenia.
03:35Where locals claim to still possess it.
03:40Here, Peter begins his search.
03:44This is Etchmeatzin Cathedral.
03:46It's the heart and soul of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
03:50And this is where they keep their Holy Spear.
03:53How it gets here is an amazing story.
03:57According to the Armenian Church,
03:59one of Jesus' twelve disciples brings the Holy Spear to Armenia.
04:05The Apostle Thaddeus arrives here just a couple of years after the crucifixion.
04:11He carries the Holy Spear.
04:13And the pagan priests feel very threatened by his presence.
04:17So they have him beheaded.
04:21But before he's killed, Thaddeus converts a few pagans to Christianity.
04:26They protect the Holy Spear.
04:28Possibly hiding it in a secret cave, which later becomes a monastery named Geyhard.
04:35Meaning spear in Armenian.
04:39It remains hidden for over 200 years.
04:43Until a local man named Gregory challenges the pagan priests by preaching the gospel in Armenia.
04:52But the pagans are powerful.
04:55And Gregory is soon imprisoned.
05:01In the shadow of Mount Ararat, where Noah's Ark is said to have landed, sits the ancient Armenian monastery of
05:09Hor-Varat.
05:13Here Peter uncovers the next chapter in Gregory's story.
05:17Gregory is tortured and thrown into a pit full of snakes, which was located here.
05:25And he's kept there for 13 long years.
05:35Miraculously, Gregory survives 13 years in a pit full of snakes.
05:42Legend says that he then recovers the Holy Spear.
05:47And with the Holy Spear in his hand, he defeats the pagan gods.
05:54He converts the king and all his court to Christianity.
06:00And in the year 301 AD, Armenia becomes the first Christian state.
06:09Relics have the power to draw people together under one belief system.
06:16The flag of faith, if you like.
06:19If you believe you are blessed, if you believe you have the all-powerful spear in your possession,
06:24then you're actually going to behave in quite a different way.
06:31The spear is placed in the heart of the Armenian Mother Church, the Etch-Meadzin Cathedral.
06:36It is one of the most sacred things we have as a church.
06:44The Armenian Church only takes its Holy Spear out once every seven years.
06:49But Peter is granted special permission to see it.
06:54Did this spear pierce the side of Christ 2,000 years ago?
07:06Robert Feather has had a replica made of the Armenian spear.
07:11He shows it to Mark Hassel, an expert on Roman weapons.
07:15It's not the spear that went in the side of Jesus.
07:17It's not. Why not?
07:18Because it's not a Roman spear.
07:20The head is totally, totally different.
07:23Absolutely.
07:23Completely different.
07:24Totally different.
07:26The Armenian Church accepts that its spear is not a Roman weapon.
07:30But they say it's one used by Jewish soldiers of the time.
07:36Feather and Hassel conclude that the Armenian spear was likely not at Jesus' crucifixion.
07:42Nevertheless, legend says the power of its legacy helped convert a whole nation to Christianity.
07:54Another spear is also famous for its role in a religious power struggle
07:59between the two dominant religions of its day.
08:07Peter's investigation of the next spear, the Vatican spear, begins here,
08:12by the ancient walls of Constantinople, modern-day Istanbul.
08:19600 years after the crucifixion, Jerusalem is conquered by the Persians.
08:25Here the tale of the Vatican spear literally splits in two.
08:30Somehow around this time, the tip of the spear gets broken off.
08:35We don't know how, but it ends up here, in Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire,
08:43where it is set into a jewel-encrusted crucifix.
08:57It ended up here, in what was then the Christian Church of San Sophia, but it would be another 80
09:03years before the other part of the spear joined it.
09:07One can only imagine the negotiations, the horse trading, that must have taken place to prize such a valuable relic
09:17out of Jerusalem.
09:28Both parts of the spear remain in Constantinople for the next 600 years,
09:34until a French king, Louis IX, buys the spear tip.
09:41He believes that the important relic gives him a direct link to God, and therefore immense honor and prestige.
09:51The tip, in its bejewelled cross, is kept in Paris, until it disappears during the French Revolution.
10:04The rest of the spear blade remains in Constantinople until the city falls to the Muslims in the 15th century.
10:14The Western world is divided into these two enormous blocks, Christianity and Islam.
10:21The spear of Christ is also in two pieces.
10:25The tip is in Paris, and the main bulk of it is in Islamic Constantinople.
10:32In 1492, the Sultan gives the rest of the spear blade to the Pope,
10:39in exchange for him keeping his brother, who is claiming the Sultan's throne, locked up in Italy.
10:52It's an incredible pact between the leaders of two great warring religions.
10:58The spear, minus his tip, was put into St. Peter's Basilica, and seldom seen again.
11:06Today, the Vatican makes no claims to its authenticity.
11:11If this is the true spear, the authentic one,
11:15then it provides an understanding of the redeeming passion of Christ,
11:19and the mercy of God, who doesn't seek revenge for the wrong he was done.
11:26The Vatican will not show their spear, nor allow it to be scientifically tested.
11:35So Robert Feather tracks down the only existing images of the Vatican's spear,
11:39a set of drawings made in the early 1900s.
11:45He shows them to Mark Hassel.
11:49So, I mean, this could be a genuine Roman spear,
11:52if you can imagine there being this sort of collar at that stage, or rather here.
12:00Even though the Vatican and the Armenian Church greatly value their spears,
12:05Feather can't find any solid proof to link them to the crucifixion.
12:09So he and Peter turn their attention to the third and final spear,
12:14the famous Vienna spear.
12:17And their investigation soon reveals an astounding secret.
12:24Inside Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum is the Schatzkammer treasure house,
12:31home to the Vienna spear,
12:33and a collection of some of Europe's most fabulous jewels and relics.
12:40This is Peter's next port of call on the strange journey of this extraordinary relic.
12:47The history of the Vienna spear is a story of power, glory, and greed.
12:55Its reputation is astonishing, even if the legends surrounding it are partly true,
13:01that has helped shape the fate of mankind.
13:08Unlike the other spears, this one doesn't belong to a church.
13:14The museum grants Robert Feather permission to test the spear.
13:20For an expert on ancient metals, this is as good as it gets.
13:25What he discovers sends Peter off on an astonishing journey through the ages,
13:30tracking the story of the spear as it crosses paths with some of the most powerful
13:34and terrifying characters of the last 2,000 years.
13:42Feather's investigation is a unique opportunity to test physical aspects of the priceless relic.
13:47I was offered special access to do non-destructive testing on the Vienna spear.
13:55And what I found was quite extraordinary.
13:59As we waited for the spear to be brought from the Schatzkammer Museum,
14:03I became more and more excited.
14:05Here was an opportunity to examine a relic of enormous historical significance.
14:17The spear was taken apart for cleaning in 1970,
14:21and the museum took a series of photographs.
14:24They show that the spear is made up of many different parts.
14:28The photos also reveal that beneath the outer golden sheath is a hidden silver one.
14:35With the inscription,
14:37Lancia Sancti Maurici Sanctus Mauritius.
14:42The Holy Lance of St. Maurice.
14:45Who is this St. Maurice?
14:51In a lakeside village, Peter unearths the answer.
14:56According to legend, in the years following the crucifixion,
15:00the Holy Spear is passed down among early Christians until it reaches Egypt.
15:06There, it finds its way into the hands of a Roman centurion named Mauritius, or Maurice.
15:18Maurice is Christian and commands a legion of Christian soldiers.
15:23It's the year 286, and Maurice is on the move.
15:32Roman Emperor Maximian orders Maurice and his legion to help him put down a violent uprising in Gaul,
15:41near Lake Geneva in present-day Switzerland.
15:44But by the time he gets there, the rebellion has already been violently crushed.
15:54Maurice is horrified to discover that the slaughtered men are fellow Christians.
16:07Now, Emperor Maximian orders pagan sacrifices for the success of the mission.
16:14And it's at that point that Maurice and his men respectfully refuse to take part.
16:25All the inhabitants of the Empire are supposed to sacrifice for the success of the Emperor and the Empire.
16:31And the fact that the Christians don't conform is treated as a crime.
16:37Infuriated, Emperor Maximian orders the execution of the entire legion.
16:43Over 6,000 men are slaughtered.
16:50Maurice's unswerving devotion to his faith in the face of certain death
16:55becomes the code of chivalry for medieval knights.
17:03St. Maurice is the patron saint of knights, soldiers, and armies.
17:18Whoever inscribed the silver sleeve obviously believed that St. Maurice once carried the spear.
17:24But exactly who carved the silver sleeve, and when, remains a mystery.
17:36From the photos, Feather discovers that at some point the spear head was broken in two.
17:43The silver sheath was added to strengthen the spear after it was broken.
17:50The spear was broken when a large hole was made in the blade in order to mount a kind of
17:55nail within it.
17:59Feather takes x-rays of the blade to get a better view of the mysterious nail.
18:10The nail has an unusual shape.
18:17And may have been placed by a man who shaped the destiny of the world.
18:33Rev. Peter Owen Jones is following the legend of the Vienna spear.
18:37And it's about to play a key role at a pivotal turning point in history.
18:48After the execution of St. Maurice and his legion,
18:52the spear finds its way into the hands of the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great.
19:01When Constantine appears, the Roman Empire is fatally divided, politically and religiously.
19:11The Western Empire is run from Italy, the Eastern Empire from Turkey.
19:18Constantine is powerful, but critically, he's ambitious.
19:22He wants to make the Roman Empire strong again.
19:25To do that, he'll need to unite it under one leader, himself.
19:37Legend has it that just before the decisive battle that gives Constantine control over the Empire,
19:44he sees a vision.
19:48A flaming cross appears above the sun, and the letters in this sign you shall conquer.
19:57Constantine is so moved by what he's seen that he has the first letters of Christ's name painted on his
20:04shield and those of his soldiers.
20:10Legend also says that he carries the Holy Spear with him into battle.
20:18Constantine wins the battle and embraces Christianity.
20:24He did not believe that as a Christian Emperor he could execute anyone.
20:30Therefore, he delayed his baptism because of the ancient belief that baptism wiped away previous sins,
20:40but not subsequent ones.
20:50Constantine sees in his new religion a way to unite his divided empire, so he takes a decision that changes
20:58the fate of mankind.
21:01Christianity becomes the religion of the Roman Empire.
21:10Legend says he's got the Holy Spear when he makes this decision.
21:15I mean, it's almost too good to be true.
21:19But then again, if he's carrying the spear that won him the battle,
21:24might he not also clasp it when it comes to this momentous decision?
21:35Once Constantine is emperor, he builds a new capital for his Christian empire, Constantinople.
21:44His mother, Helena, who had converted to Christianity long before Constantine, travels to the Holy Land in search of Christian
21:52relics.
21:56She returns with a rich array, including what she believes are remnants of the Holy Cross and actual crucifixion nails.
22:05She sets the nails in her son's armor to protect him.
22:13Did she also set a nail in the Holy Spear?
22:17Robert Feather continues his investigation by taking microscopic photographs of the spear.
22:23Under magnification, the nail appears even more intriguing.
22:28Now we can see that it's not actually a nail, it's a pin.
22:31And it has three bulbous lumps on it, marked with yellow crosses.
22:37What do they mean? Why are they there? Who placed them there?
22:42Feather is not allowed to carbon date the spear for fear of damage to the precious relic.
22:47But he uses x-rays, together with the old photographs, to create a virtual model of the spear to see
22:54how its many parts fit together.
23:01At the base of the spear are two blade-like wings which don't look Roman and appear to have been
23:07added later.
23:11Feather shows the x-rays to weapons expert Mark Hassel.
23:16You can see from this x-ray that the bottom base part is quite separate from the central shape.
23:25Right.
23:25So if you remove that part, are we back to a basic...
23:29If that's the original artifact, then that looks like a Roman spear.
23:35Why? But having this cross piece is the sort of thing that you wouldn't expect on a Roman spear,
23:40but you might get in post-Roman spears in the Dark Ages.
23:45The wing blades are probably from a dagger added in the 7th or 8th century AD.
23:56If some parts of the spear are from the Middle Ages, then perhaps the whole spear was made then.
24:03But Hassel still believes the spearhead may be Roman, perhaps even from the time of Christ,
24:10and may provide a direct link to the crucifixion.
24:21Rev. Peter Owen Jones picks the story of the Vienna spear back up at the dawn of the Middle Ages.
24:37476 AD. The Roman Empire in Europe collapses, overthrown by Germanic tribesmen.
24:48The order of the empire is replaced with chaos and violence.
24:55Many of the Vienna spear's parts are believed to have been added during this time of fear and uncertainty.
25:04Nothing has heard of the Holy Spear for 200 years.
25:10Till it surfaces in the hands of a powerful Germanic warrior king.
25:16The famous Charles the Great, otherwise known as Charlemagne.
25:24Charlemagne is a devout Christian who aspires to the power and glory of ancient Rome.
25:32Legend has it that he carries the Holy Spear with him as he manages to unite nearly 12 modern-day
25:39European countries,
25:41which at that time were almost in a constant state of war.
25:44In the year 800, the Pope crowns him emperor of this vast territory.
25:54Which becomes the Holy Roman Empire.
26:00Charlemagne is the most powerful man in Europe.
26:03Powerful enough to perhaps order these strange wings added to a priceless holy relic.
26:08Peter follows the spear's trail to the heart of the Holy Roman Empire, Nuremberg.
26:14This is the Nuremberg Castle.
26:17Up until the 1500s, it was home to the Holy Roman Emperors.
26:23According to the written account of the spear at the time of Charlemagne, it's very possible that the spear was
26:31in the possession of Constantine.
26:34A bishop called Louprand of Cremona, writing in the 10th century, said that Charlemagne's spear was once owned by Constantine.
26:48Charlemagne was very interested in having a connection with Constantine as the first Christian emperor.
26:58But if Charlemagne does own the real spear, why would he add anything to it?
27:04Perhaps he doesn't have the spear at all.
27:06Perhaps he just has a copy made that looks Roman and adds the trimmings, a few trimmings of his own.
27:15Possessing a powerful relic like the Holy Spear gives Charlemagne the legitimacy to unite the warring states of his empire.
27:27The lance functions both as a marker of God or Christ's support of this ruler, that this relic which touched
27:39the body of Christ should be in his possession.
27:41And also as an example of the divine right to rule and the divine right to conquer.
27:48Perhaps that's why the inscription is added to the silver sleeve.
27:52It strengthens the claim that this is the true Holy Spear.
27:59Feathery examines the silver sleeve to find out who put it there.
28:05Clavus Dominicus Henricus Dei Gracia Tertius, Romano Imperato Augustus.
28:12Henry, by God's grace, the third Roman emperor, ordered this silver band to be made in order to strengthen the
28:19nail of the Lord and the lance of Saint Maria.
28:23The silver sheath.
28:24Henry the third is a descendant of Charlemagne.
28:27He is crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1046, helping Feather to date the sleeve.
28:33The silver sheath dates from the 11th century AD.
28:40There is a golden sleeve placed over the silver one.
28:44It also carries a Latin inscription.
28:50Lancia e clavus Domini.
28:53Spear and nail of the Lord.
28:56Perhaps a later addition by yet another owner of the spear.
29:03In the Nuremberg Castle, Peter discovers that the next verifiable owner of the Holy Spear is a powerful ruler of
29:10the 14th century.
29:12In the mid-1300s, Charles IV is the king of Germany.
29:17He wants to become the next Holy Roman Emperor.
29:21But he will need some major relics to give him power and credibility.
29:26He gets hold of the Holy Spear.
29:30To house his relics, Charles builds an impenetrable fortress outside Prague in the heart of the Czech Republic.
29:38Castle Karlstein.
29:42Within its walls, he builds a beautiful chapel adorned with precious gems and priceless works of art.
29:49The spear of Christ and other relics are kept in a secret chamber behind the altar.
29:56He believes it gives him a direct link to all the saints in heaven who, come Judgment Day, will return
30:04to earth and reclaim their relics.
30:07And also, look favorably on those who have looked after them well.
30:13It's believed that Charles is the one who covers over Henry's silver sleeve with a gold one of his own,
30:21probably to better impress the saints.
30:24The gold sleeve clearly dates to the 14th century AD.
30:30Both sleeves on the famous Vienna spear share the same phrase, the nail of the Lord.
30:38Can science prove these words true?
30:45Reverend Peter Owen Jones has followed the tale of the Vienna spear down through the centuries as it passes from
30:51one powerful ruler to the next.
30:55Now comes its terrible fall from grace.
31:02The early 1400s, a descendant of Charles IV, needing money, sells the Holy Spear to the Nuremberg Town Council.
31:13In their hands, the powerful relic becomes a main attraction in one of the most lucrative trades of the Middle
31:19Ages.
31:20The relic business.
31:23One of the primary uses of relics in the 15th century is to attract offerings, money offerings.
31:33The spear is brought out only once a year for the Feast of the Holy Lance.
31:41Pilgrims from all over Europe come to venerate it.
31:45Throughout the Middle Ages, relics are incredibly popular.
31:50They're popular because they give direct access to all the faithful to heaven.
31:56One doesn't need to be literate.
31:58You don't have to learn sacred books.
31:59You just engage with a relic.
32:03In the city centre, a specially constructed temporary chapel is prepared.
32:09The noblemen and the clergy solemnly gather to take their part in the display of relics.
32:16There is a tooth belonging to John the Baptist.
32:19Then a sliver of wood from the manger, an arm bone of St. Man.
32:23And finally, the Holy Spear itself.
32:35The church is making vast profits at the expense of the faithful.
32:40Understandably, people are getting tired of being exploited.
32:44And as the movement for reformation gathers pace, the fortunes of Nuremberg begin to decline.
32:52The spear is locked away in an ornate silver casket, and virtually forgotten for the next 400 years.
33:04Back in the lab, Robert Feather continues searching for any clue that might shed light on the mysterious pin mounted
33:12in the blade.
33:13He turns to an X-ray fluorescence gun to analyse the spear's metal composition.
33:21The X-ray can't date the iron in the spearhead precisely.
33:25So Hassel is called in to give his expert opinion.
33:29He believes the spearhead is probably Roman, from between the first and fourth century.
33:35But the X-ray gun does come back with an intriguing reading from the pin.
33:42Peter now follows the Holy Spear into the turbulence of the late 18th century, when another conqueror craves its power
33:50and glory.
33:52It's 1796, and Napoleon is rampaging through Europe.
33:56He's also closing in on Nuremberg.
33:59And the city counsellors there are terrified that if he seizes the Holy Spear, he'll become invincible.
34:07The spear held this dark promise that he who has it in his possession will rule the world.
34:14And if you believe that, and more importantly, if you can get other people to believe that,
34:21then that gives you a terrifying amount of power.
34:27The Nuremberg counsellors decide to hide the spear in Vienna.
34:31The Viennese promise to return it as soon as peace is restored.
34:36Ten years later, Napoleon has conquered most of Europe, including Germany.
34:42And in doing so, he brings to an end the 1,000-year rule, the Holy Roman Empire.
34:48During the chaos and confusion that follows, the spear remains in Vienna.
34:57Feather is examining the pin's round discs, or roundels, when he notices something strange.
35:11When you look at a higher magnification of these rondelles that appear to be quite separate from the pin itself,
35:18under the microscope, you can see that the two metals are separate.
35:23And you can see the differentiation, the line separating the two types of material.
35:30The round bits must have been hammered on at some time, onto the pin.
35:35The X-ray fluorescence results confirm it.
35:41The iron compositions are different, and the round will contain significant amounts of cobalt,
35:47while the pin has none.
35:50The pin is really rather intriguing.
35:55It probably was attached at the time of Henry III in the 11th century, but we can't be sure.
36:05It's quite apparent from the XRF analysis and the X-ray pictures that we took,
36:12that the lumps, the rondelles, are quite separate from the pin.
36:16They've been added at some stage.
36:19When is not easy to say.
36:25Feather now conducts the ultimate test.
36:28He measures the metal composition of a first century Roman nail for comparison.
36:35If the results match, it could mean that the Vienna spear includes fragments of crucifixion nails.
36:43Perhaps the ones that Helena brought back from the Holy Land for the Emperor Constantine.
36:49While Feather's experiment brings him closer and closer to the crucifixion,
36:54Peter arrives at the most recent and darkest hour in the Holy Spear's history.
37:03For over 100 years, the spear remains in Vienna.
37:11Then, in 1933, Adolf Hitler seizes power.
37:16Five years later, he annexes Austria.
37:21The first move towards realizing his vision of a Nazi empire.
37:25The Third Reich.
37:27A reinvention of the Germanic Holy Roman Empire created by Charlemagne.
37:34Hitler wastes no time in appropriating the jewels and relics of the empire's glorious past.
37:42The spear of Christ now passes into the hands of one of history's most infamous dictators.
37:50If you have a weapon as an icon, it's not surprising that warriors, those who want to conquer and control,
37:59are going to want to possess it because they're going to believe that once it's in their possession, they will
38:05be better able to practice those very dark arts.
38:13Ironically, Nuremberg is the spiritual home of the Nazis.
38:18This is where Hitler delivered his rousing speeches.
38:25And this is where he brings the spear.
38:28In a strange twist of fate, Hitler returns the Holy Spear to Nuremberg, its home for nearly 400 years.
38:38But Hitler's dream of a Nazi empire is short-lived.
38:42By the end of April 1945, the Russian army takes Berlin.
38:48With Germany defeated, the Americans set about trying to recover all the valuable artworks and relics plundered by the Nazis
38:57from across Europe.
38:59They find the Holy Spear in here, in this bunker underneath Nuremberg Castle, along with countless other pieces of art.
39:12They return it to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, where it remains to this day.
39:21The results of Feather's X-ray fluorescence test on the Roman nail are in.
39:29The nail contains cobalt, just like the roundels.
39:34Could this mean that the roundels, which appear to be hammered onto the pin, come from a first-century Roman
39:39nail?
39:45If that's the case, then one has to reconsider the whole possibility that while the rest of the spear might
39:54well be 7th, 8th century AD,
39:58we have a fragment in it that was placed there because it was a much earlier piece and perhaps a
40:07part of the crucifixion nail.
40:10After taking a closer look, Feather discovers something even more startling.
40:16Something that may provide a definitive link to the crucifixion.
40:27Having completed a detailed examination of the pin mounted in the Vienna spear,
40:33Robert Feather is finally ready to reveal what he's found.
40:38Evidence that may bring the spear closer to the crucifixion.
40:47It's quite extraordinary. There's something here which is just truly amazing.
40:53You can see an image on the rondelle of the outline shape of a fish.
41:00It's clearly defined. It's not a scratch mark.
41:07The fish was the secret symbol. It was the secret symbol used by Christians before the Roman Empire adopted Christianity
41:17as its religion.
41:20And they used the symbol because at times, before Constantine, they were in fear of their lives.
41:27There was the real danger that they would be tortured and executed.
41:34Feather also finds two curious letters next to the fish.
41:41Inscribed behind the fish are the two Roman letters, the I and the R,
41:47in double-outlined letters, which again reflects the kind of writing that you'd see at a very early period in
41:54history of Roman writing.
41:57What they mean is a question of speculation, but I believe they stand for Aiesus Rex, Jesus the King.
42:07Over the cross, the letters Inri were inscribed, Aiesus Nazarenes Rex, Judeaorum, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.
42:18And Aya was sometimes used as a shortened version of that.
42:25The tiny fish in letters can only be seen through a microscope.
42:30Inscribing them would have been a great technical feat during the early years of Christianity.
42:39The Petrie Museum in London houses an important collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts.
42:45Among them is a surprising miniature painting.
42:49It's of the goddess Nebke, who became the protector of the pharaoh.
42:55I mean, even with a magnifying glass, it's not easy to see.
42:59This is a Roman period lens.
43:01It's gone opaque, but it would have been clear.
43:04But it's clearly been ground and used as a magnifying glass.
43:09And it's well over 2,000 years old.
43:11So the technology was there to see and engrave at this microscopic level.
43:20This supports the theory that the mysterious roundels could come from early Christian times.
43:27Someone has gone to the trouble of inlaying these crosses on each of them, clearly to mark them with some
43:34significant value.
43:36Whether it was a fragment of a nail used in the crucifixion of Jesus is a remote possibility, but one
43:48you cannot rule out.
43:51With Feather's investigation concluded, this discovery may tie the Vienna Spear closer to the crucifixion than ever before.
43:59An achievement of great significance to Christians of yesterday and today.
44:04The true worth of this object for us is that it is a touchstone of faith.
44:11It allows us into the mentality of what belief was.
44:18It enables us to see just how powerful that belief system was.
44:28The Holy Spears are each part history and part legend.
44:33But to Christians everywhere, they're a powerful cornerstone of the faith.
44:38And their true value cannot be measured.
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