1 00:00:02,002 --> 00:00:03,526 In the days before his death, 2 00:00:03,703 --> 00:00:06,399 Jesus began asking for trouble. 3 00:00:07,207 --> 00:00:10,267 And until now, scholars have wondered why. 4 00:00:11,244 --> 00:00:15,146 New historical evidence now sheds light on Jesus of Nazareth and... 5 00:00:15,315 --> 00:00:17,806 the crucial hours before his death. 6 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:24,281 And for the first time scientists can put a human face... 7 00:00:24,457 --> 00:00:26,220 on the person more than a billion people... 8 00:00:26,393 --> 00:00:29,829 around the world believe is the son of God. 9 00:00:45,512 --> 00:00:51,212 Every year Christians all over the world commemorate the death of Jesus, 10 00:00:53,186 --> 00:00:56,747 here in Jerusalem pilgrims reenact the last hours when... 11 00:00:56,923 --> 00:01:01,553 he carried his cross through the streets of the city to the place of his execution. 12 00:01:02,695 --> 00:01:06,256 The crucifixion is one of the best attested fact in history, 13 00:01:06,433 --> 00:01:09,834 not only is it mentioned in the Bible more than 80 times, 14 00:01:10,003 --> 00:01:14,372 it is also recorded by the first century historian Josephus. 15 00:01:16,509 --> 00:01:22,573 But Jesus's actions in the 24 hours before his death remain clouded in mystery. 16 00:01:23,383 --> 00:01:27,843 He has many chances to avoid execution yet he never took them, 17 00:01:28,588 --> 00:01:29,885 quite the contrary. 18 00:01:32,325 --> 00:01:36,728 Growing up in Galilee Jesus knew all about the risk of challenging... 19 00:01:36,896 --> 00:01:39,490 both the Jewish and Roman establishment. 20 00:01:40,533 --> 00:01:42,728 Herod Antipas the king of the Jews, 21 00:01:42,902 --> 00:01:46,235 the temple priests and Pontius Pilate the Roman governor, 22 00:01:46,406 --> 00:01:49,307 had sent many Jewish rebels to their deaths. 23 00:01:49,809 --> 00:01:52,744 Jesus had reason to fear them all. 24 00:01:55,882 --> 00:01:58,976 And yet he became convinced that he was the messiah, 25 00:01:59,419 --> 00:02:01,979 the savior that Jews had been longing for. 26 00:02:04,824 --> 00:02:08,817 Right away Jesus gathered around him 12 disciples and... 27 00:02:08,995 --> 00:02:12,829 launched a campaign that put him on a collision course, not with the Romans, 28 00:02:12,999 --> 00:02:15,593 but with the Jewish authorities. 29 00:02:17,637 --> 00:02:20,299 He began to reach out the outcasts, 30 00:02:20,473 --> 00:02:24,375 the people rejected as impure by the religious leaders. 31 00:02:24,978 --> 00:02:28,607 He healed the sick, he cured the blind and the lame, 32 00:02:29,349 --> 00:02:31,510 he forgave the sins of prostitutes, 33 00:02:31,751 --> 00:02:35,312 ands he welcomed into the Jewish faith long standing enemies... 34 00:02:35,488 --> 00:02:38,082 like the Samaritans and the Gentiles. 35 00:02:40,827 --> 00:02:43,887 But all that was in the safety of Galilee and... 36 00:02:44,063 --> 00:02:47,430 one day Jesus decided to come to Jerusalem and confront... 37 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:50,034 those responsible directly. 38 00:02:51,571 --> 00:02:53,539 That meant standing up to the high priests, 39 00:02:53,706 --> 00:02:57,335 the aristocratic elite who restricted access to the temple. 40 00:03:01,247 --> 00:03:04,978 Instead of walking he rode into the city through the East gate. 41 00:03:05,151 --> 00:03:09,349 Just as the prophesy in the book of Zacharia said the Messiah would. 42 00:03:10,123 --> 00:03:13,752 Then he went into the temple where the money changers were. 43 00:03:16,262 --> 00:03:20,995 It was protest against all the injustices the temple system stood for. 44 00:03:21,901 --> 00:03:23,994 But it was hardly going to bring it down 45 00:03:24,504 --> 00:03:26,301 Obviously many many people in the temple, 46 00:03:26,472 --> 00:03:28,736 would have been very proud of what he did. 47 00:03:28,975 --> 00:03:32,411 Probably some of them would have been soldiers that were guarding the temple. 48 00:03:33,112 --> 00:03:36,445 Certainly none of the priests, 49 00:03:36,616 --> 00:03:40,609 none of the soldiers in the temple did anything at that time to stop him. 50 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:43,946 What is in Jesus' mind why does he turn around now and walk out, 51 00:03:44,324 --> 00:03:46,588 what is going on Jesus. 52 00:03:53,700 --> 00:03:58,899 That night was the eve of the holiest day in Judaism, Passover. 53 00:03:59,772 --> 00:04:01,467 Missing another chance to escape, 54 00:04:01,641 --> 00:04:05,168 Jesus invited his disciples to celebrate the holiday. 55 00:04:07,113 --> 00:04:11,880 Passover was an uneasy time for both the Romans and the temple priests, 56 00:04:12,051 --> 00:04:15,282 for it commemorated the flight of the Hebrews from Egypt. 57 00:04:15,622 --> 00:04:18,557 It was an occasion when Jewish thoughts inevitably turned to... 58 00:04:18,725 --> 00:04:21,319 freedom from oppression and injustice. 59 00:04:21,728 --> 00:04:23,559 But the disciples couldn't have guess that... 60 00:04:23,730 --> 00:04:26,255 this was to be their last supper together. 61 00:04:28,801 --> 00:04:33,033 The meal was held in the guest room of a well to do house in Jerusalem. 62 00:04:38,778 --> 00:04:41,747 The last supper is an iconic scene in Christianity, 63 00:04:41,914 --> 00:04:45,077 but the historical evidence showed that it would have looked very different... 64 00:04:45,251 --> 00:04:49,347 to the familiar image immortalized by Leonardo Da Vinci. 65 00:04:51,357 --> 00:04:56,659 In every detail, how they sat, where they sat Da Vinci got it wrong. 66 00:05:02,935 --> 00:05:04,698 In this museum in Jerusalem, 67 00:05:04,871 --> 00:05:08,602 curators have recreated a typical Passover meal in a guestroom... 68 00:05:08,775 --> 00:05:11,209 as described in the writing of Josephus 69 00:05:12,111 --> 00:05:16,047 Historical sources tells us that important meals... 70 00:05:16,215 --> 00:05:18,615 would be eaten around 3 sided tables, 71 00:05:18,785 --> 00:05:20,616 pretty much like this one we have here. 72 00:05:20,787 --> 00:05:22,618 With mattresses and pillows. 73 00:05:27,026 --> 00:05:31,486 Josef also points out that the left side of the table, 74 00:05:31,664 --> 00:05:35,065 not the center of the table is the most important position. 75 00:05:35,234 --> 00:05:41,298 So lets place Jesus here on this left side where I'm sitting, 76 00:05:41,474 --> 00:05:45,706 and at that time you'd be reclining to eat your meals, 77 00:05:45,878 --> 00:05:47,778 I know that doesn't sound very comfortable today but... 78 00:05:47,947 --> 00:05:51,075 it would be back then, and you'd eat from the table 79 00:05:51,784 --> 00:05:55,311 The Gospels back up the idea of a Triclinium. 80 00:05:55,955 --> 00:05:57,286 John's Gospel says that... 81 00:05:57,457 --> 00:06:01,052 the beloved disciple reclined his head on the master's chest. 82 00:06:02,662 --> 00:06:06,894 It was the only way he could have comfortably spoken to Jesus. 83 00:06:08,534 --> 00:06:11,162 Hannaniah Pinto believes it's also possible to tell... 84 00:06:11,337 --> 00:06:13,771 where some of the other disciples were sat. 85 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:19,703 The same Gospel tells us that Judas probably was to the left of Jesus, 86 00:06:19,879 --> 00:06:23,144 because he's dipping his food in Jesus' bowl. 87 00:06:26,052 --> 00:06:28,646 It was meant to be a festive meal. 88 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:37,093 Instead, Jesus startled his disciples, 89 00:06:37,263 --> 00:06:39,754 he said that one of them would betray him, 90 00:06:40,700 --> 00:06:45,728 before the disciples had taken in the news, Jesus made a cryptic remark, 91 00:06:45,905 --> 00:06:49,363 he told Judas to go and do what he has to do. 92 00:06:51,344 --> 00:06:56,372 The listener or reader of this story is meant to think that Judas was the trader, 93 00:06:56,549 --> 00:07:00,110 but that's no necessarily how the disciples would have seen it. 94 00:07:02,688 --> 00:07:05,179 The Gospel of Matthew says that Judas was... 95 00:07:05,358 --> 00:07:08,418 the only disciple Jesus called his friend. 96 00:07:09,195 --> 00:07:11,493 In fact a careful reading of the Gospel, 97 00:07:11,664 --> 00:07:14,098 show that none of the disciple's suspected Judas 98 00:07:14,567 --> 00:07:18,560 When Judas leaves, during the last supper, 99 00:07:18,971 --> 00:07:22,771 everybody in that room including the beloved disciple, 100 00:07:22,942 --> 00:07:24,603 think there are 2 options; 101 00:07:25,044 --> 00:07:28,502 he's going to give money to the poor so they can celebrate Passover, 102 00:07:28,948 --> 00:07:34,011 or he's going to make preparation for the Passover for Jesus' group. 103 00:07:34,387 --> 00:07:39,120 In any case everybody in the room thinks he's doing Jesus' will, 104 00:07:40,193 --> 00:07:41,217 what is going on 105 00:07:41,928 --> 00:07:44,362 The disciples would soon find out. 106 00:07:45,331 --> 00:07:47,595 After supper the group, minus Judas, 107 00:07:47,767 --> 00:07:49,325 made their way home. 108 00:07:53,039 --> 00:07:54,700 Being Passover night, 109 00:07:54,874 --> 00:07:58,207 Roman soldiers and temple guards may well have been on patrol, 110 00:07:58,377 --> 00:08:01,642 some of them perhaps even looking out for Jesus. 111 00:08:04,784 --> 00:08:07,378 On the way home to their lodgings in a nearby town... 112 00:08:07,553 --> 00:08:10,044 called Bethany they stopped for a rest on a garden... 113 00:08:10,223 --> 00:08:14,319 called Gesthemene on the mount of olives overlooking the city. 114 00:08:24,403 --> 00:08:26,303 Though the disciples soon fell asleep, 115 00:08:26,472 --> 00:08:28,804 Jesus was still up and about. 116 00:08:29,809 --> 00:08:31,902 Luke's Gospel portrays Jesus that night... 117 00:08:32,078 --> 00:08:36,014 as a man in crisis agonizing over what to do next. 118 00:08:46,692 --> 00:08:49,058 'ln his anguish', writes Luke, 119 00:08:49,228 --> 00:08:52,629 'his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood'. 120 00:08:53,566 --> 00:08:57,366 This evocative image is sometimes regarded as a figure of speech, 121 00:08:57,803 --> 00:09:01,705 but evidence shows that it may have been a very real experience. 122 00:09:01,874 --> 00:09:05,241 Giving us a glimpse into Jesus' state of mind. 123 00:09:15,821 --> 00:09:19,587 A similar phenomenon has been reported by doctors. 124 00:09:21,727 --> 00:09:24,719 Doctor Frederick Zugibe is the chief medical examiner of... 125 00:09:24,897 --> 00:09:26,888 Rockland county in the New York State. 126 00:09:27,500 --> 00:09:32,369 For nearly 30 years he's also taught forensic pathology at Columbia University, 127 00:09:32,538 --> 00:09:38,340 and in that times he's come across over 100 reports of people sweating blood. 128 00:09:38,511 --> 00:09:43,539 In each case the people believed they were about to suffer extreme pain or die 129 00:09:44,850 --> 00:09:48,445 For instance I have found 6 cases where the individual were... 130 00:09:48,621 --> 00:09:53,558 on their way to the gallows or to the guillotine that the sweating occurred. 131 00:09:56,062 --> 00:09:59,293 The condition is known as haematidrosis. 132 00:09:59,465 --> 00:10:05,199 Under extreme anxiety the arteries burst and blood seeps into the sweat glands. 133 00:10:09,241 --> 00:10:14,372 A case of a sailor in a storm, he thought he was going to die, 134 00:10:15,014 --> 00:10:16,003 and he sweat blood. 135 00:10:16,182 --> 00:10:19,208 A young girl from Britain during the blitz, 136 00:10:19,385 --> 00:10:21,615 every time the blitz came she would sweat blood, 137 00:10:21,787 --> 00:10:24,779 and the doctors could do nothing to help her. 138 00:10:35,167 --> 00:10:37,635 The forensic evidence strongly suggests that... 139 00:10:37,803 --> 00:10:41,569 Jesus was in anguish because he knew that the end was near. 140 00:10:44,877 --> 00:10:48,677 It was nearly dawn and Judas wasn't back yet. 141 00:10:55,488 --> 00:10:57,353 When Jesus returned to the disciples, 142 00:10:57,523 --> 00:10:59,957 he scolded them for not keeping guard. 143 00:11:01,727 --> 00:11:05,754 Then suddenly Judas appeared with some temple guards. 144 00:11:10,670 --> 00:11:13,264 They had come to arrest Jesus. 145 00:11:20,780 --> 00:11:25,774 The Gospels point the finger at Judas, 'after all', they say, 146 00:11:25,951 --> 00:11:29,648 'he admits he was paid 30 pieces of silver by the priest'. 147 00:11:32,958 --> 00:11:36,758 But a new theory suggest that no betrayal was actually involved. 148 00:11:38,698 --> 00:11:41,895 When William Klassen looked at the Gospels in the original Greek, 149 00:11:42,068 --> 00:11:45,333 he found that the word betrayal was a mistranslation 150 00:11:45,504 --> 00:11:47,563 Well the word Pottadidomy is the important one, 151 00:11:47,740 --> 00:11:50,641 that's the one that always used to describe what Judas did. 152 00:11:50,810 --> 00:11:54,405 And in all classical Greek in all New Testament passages, 153 00:11:54,580 --> 00:11:59,882 where it does not apply to Judas it's always translated as simply handover. 154 00:12:01,754 --> 00:12:07,090 William Klassen believes that Jesus chose Judas to hand him over to the priests. 155 00:12:07,259 --> 00:12:10,695 Judas's job was to pay the temple tax to the high priests whenever... 156 00:12:10,863 --> 00:12:12,353 the group came to Jerusalem 157 00:12:13,265 --> 00:12:15,529 Even in Galilee already he kept saying, 158 00:12:15,701 --> 00:12:19,193 'when I get to Jerusalem I'll have be to handed over to the high priests'. 159 00:12:19,371 --> 00:12:23,865 When he came to Judas, I think because of Judas's reliability, 160 00:12:24,043 --> 00:12:26,273 because of his connection with the high priest, 161 00:12:26,445 --> 00:12:31,747 I think that he in effect had planned that Judas would do it. 162 00:12:31,917 --> 00:12:35,944 It certainly was not a betrayal in the sense that he snuck up on Jesus 163 00:12:37,656 --> 00:12:42,116 The 30 pieces of silver paid to Judas was only to be expected 164 00:12:42,294 --> 00:12:46,458 Anyone that did the handing over in the Jewish system had to be paid, 165 00:12:46,632 --> 00:12:48,156 there was no way around that, 166 00:12:48,334 --> 00:12:53,499 because the hands people over is the equivalent to our modern police. 167 00:12:53,739 --> 00:12:56,708 And if you don't pay the police, if you don't pay them well, 168 00:12:56,876 --> 00:12:58,707 you get bad police work. 169 00:13:01,447 --> 00:13:05,406 If Jesus had hatched a plan with Judas then it would help to make sense of... 170 00:13:05,584 --> 00:13:07,313 something that nobody disputes. 171 00:13:08,788 --> 00:13:10,653 Jesus had time to escape, 172 00:13:10,823 --> 00:13:14,054 just beyond the crest of the mount of olives was the desert, 173 00:13:14,226 --> 00:13:17,525 where he'd have been safe, but he stayed put. 174 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:25,464 It seems like madness, but it brought Jesus closer to his goal, 175 00:13:25,638 --> 00:13:30,075 a confrontation with the chief priest of the temple, Caiaphas. 176 00:13:39,018 --> 00:13:39,985 After the king, 177 00:13:40,152 --> 00:13:43,952 Caiaphas was the most important figure in the Jewish establishment, 178 00:13:45,357 --> 00:13:50,260 he had the final say over who was and wasn't entitled to enter the temple. 179 00:14:01,507 --> 00:14:03,975 Like modern Jerusalem at festival time, 180 00:14:04,143 --> 00:14:06,043 the city would have been heaving with pilgrims, 181 00:14:06,212 --> 00:14:11,411 soldiers on red alert, according to historians the last thing Caiaphas wanted, 182 00:14:11,584 --> 00:14:13,176 was a riot on his hands. 183 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:17,179 He would have to act decisively 184 00:14:19,291 --> 00:14:23,819 Caiaphas probably genuinely believed that Jesus was a trouble maker, 185 00:14:23,996 --> 00:14:27,762 genuinely believed that he was a false prophet who was leading the people astray... 186 00:14:27,933 --> 00:14:30,629 and genuinely thought that he should be got rid of 187 00:14:31,070 --> 00:14:34,801 Caiaphas wasn't the only official worried about security that week, 188 00:14:36,275 --> 00:14:40,006 the chief priest was ultimately answerable to Pontius Pilate, 189 00:14:40,179 --> 00:14:41,942 the ruthless Roman governor. 190 00:14:46,185 --> 00:14:50,053 Jesus wasn't the only rebel to cross his path 191 00:14:50,222 --> 00:14:54,750 There's actually another messianic pretender in the time of Pilate, 192 00:14:54,927 --> 00:14:56,258 this man was a Samaritan, 193 00:14:56,428 --> 00:15:00,091 he claimed to be the Samaritan Messiah or Taheb as he was known. 194 00:15:00,266 --> 00:15:05,067 And he gather a large of people to the foot of a mountain called Mt. Garism. 195 00:15:06,405 --> 00:15:07,770 Pilate heard about this, 196 00:15:07,940 --> 00:15:10,807 he heard that there was a great number of people all gathering in this... 197 00:15:10,976 --> 00:15:14,343 small town, and the people actually had weapons with them, 198 00:15:14,513 --> 00:15:15,810 so he sent in the cavalry, 199 00:15:15,981 --> 00:15:19,280 who executed lots of them and captured others. 200 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:23,317 Jesus was just a provincial, 201 00:15:23,489 --> 00:15:27,425 it wasn't worth it to allow a provincial to carry on, 202 00:15:27,593 --> 00:15:29,390 and possibly incite a rebellion, 203 00:15:29,561 --> 00:15:32,758 which then would have got to Rome and to would have looked bad on Pilate, 204 00:15:32,932 --> 00:15:35,560 it's much easier just to get rid of him straight away. 205 00:15:37,036 --> 00:15:40,995 But as Jesus was being led to meet Caiaphas the chief priest... 206 00:15:41,173 --> 00:15:45,906 would have know that Jesus was a popular figure, he would need a crime, 207 00:15:46,078 --> 00:15:50,208 he could sell to the people, preferably a confession. 208 00:15:55,421 --> 00:15:58,913 The Gospels contain revealing glimpses into the exchanges that... 209 00:15:59,091 --> 00:16:02,288 took place between Jesus and Caiaphas, 210 00:16:02,461 --> 00:16:06,454 the chief priest accused Jesus of acting like a Messiah and... 211 00:16:06,632 --> 00:16:08,623 a new king of the Jews. 212 00:16:10,169 --> 00:16:15,607 Both were charges that would make Jesus a criminal in the eyes of the Romans. 213 00:16:23,716 --> 00:16:26,685 Jesus could hardly deny the charge, 214 00:16:26,852 --> 00:16:29,844 but it hurt his case by adding the Caiaphas would... 215 00:16:30,022 --> 00:16:32,217 see him exalted on the clouds of heaven, 216 00:16:32,391 --> 00:16:34,621 sitting on the right hand of God. 217 00:16:35,127 --> 00:16:38,893 Outraged Caiaphas accused Jesus of blasphemy, 218 00:16:39,765 --> 00:16:42,199 in the Jewish faith no one, 219 00:16:42,368 --> 00:16:46,668 not even the Messiah could be identified so closely with God 220 00:16:47,373 --> 00:16:51,605 Caiaphas as a result of this onset has got 2 things that he wanted, 221 00:16:51,777 --> 00:16:56,476 on the one hand he can easily now hand Jesus over to the Roman authorities... 222 00:16:56,648 --> 00:17:00,812 and say, 'he thinks he's the king of the Jews you know what to do next, 223 00:17:00,986 --> 00:17:01,850 and the Romans did', 224 00:17:02,021 --> 00:17:06,549 on the other hand Caiaphas can put it out among the Jewish populace that... 225 00:17:06,725 --> 00:17:11,162 Jesus is a Blasphemer and therefore under Jewish law he deserves to die 226 00:17:13,732 --> 00:17:17,566 Jesus must have foreseen that his action might cost his life 227 00:17:18,370 --> 00:17:21,271 Most of the prophets paid the great price. 228 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:27,640 Jeriamah's stoned, Isaiah is sawed in 2, who was his teacher John the Baptist, 229 00:17:27,813 --> 00:17:31,544 he's beheaded, who was the great miracle worker just before him, Honi, 230 00:17:31,717 --> 00:17:35,949 he was stoned just outside of Jerusalem, not far from here. 231 00:17:41,794 --> 00:17:44,854 Stoning is probably what the priest had in mind for Jesus, 232 00:17:45,030 --> 00:17:46,827 scholars believe it's unlikely that... 233 00:17:46,999 --> 00:17:49,263 they would have expected him to be crucified 234 00:17:49,435 --> 00:17:54,498 If there were priests that turned him over to Pilate, 235 00:17:54,673 --> 00:17:58,234 they may have, in their mind, 'let's get this great man, 236 00:17:58,410 --> 00:18:02,540 this one is a trouble rouser, this one that has problems the and gathers crowds, 237 00:18:02,714 --> 00:18:04,341 let's put him with the high priest, 238 00:18:04,516 --> 00:18:06,848 let us put him with the Roman authorities for a day or 2', 239 00:18:07,886 --> 00:18:12,687 I don't think that the high priest thought that he might be crucified, 240 00:18:12,858 --> 00:18:18,387 would a Jew who was religious want that happen to another man that was religious 241 00:18:26,238 --> 00:18:29,435 Jesus' last hours are remembered every year by Christians... 242 00:18:29,608 --> 00:18:31,132 all over the world 243 00:18:32,511 --> 00:18:35,036 here in Jerusalem pilgrims retrace the route that... 244 00:18:35,214 --> 00:18:38,149 Jesus took from his prison to the place of his execution. 245 00:18:46,458 --> 00:18:48,858 Some Christian go even further. 246 00:18:49,261 --> 00:18:51,889 Here in the Philippines in the town of San Pedro, 247 00:18:52,064 --> 00:18:55,966 young men commemorate the scourging the Romans inflicted on Jesus. 248 00:19:00,606 --> 00:19:03,404 San Pedro, is a poor but devout community, 249 00:19:03,575 --> 00:19:06,908 and the people here believe that their prayers for better times will be answered... 250 00:19:07,079 --> 00:19:09,604 if they endure this much pain. 251 00:19:18,790 --> 00:19:22,385 Many of them volunteer to be nailed to the cross. 252 00:19:31,470 --> 00:19:36,430 It's a powerful evocation of the scene in Jerusalem 200 years ago, 253 00:19:36,975 --> 00:19:39,739 but scholars have questioned some of the details, 254 00:19:40,979 --> 00:19:44,540 for years some have argued that Jesus must have been nailed through the wrists, 255 00:19:44,716 --> 00:19:47,276 as the weight of his body would have torn the hands. 256 00:19:48,487 --> 00:19:51,752 But now forensic tests reveal the traditional image may... 257 00:19:51,924 --> 00:19:53,721 have been right after all. 258 00:20:05,470 --> 00:20:07,870 This is the home of Dr Frederick Zugibe, 259 00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:11,339 forensic pathologist with Rockland County New York State. 260 00:20:15,881 --> 00:20:19,146 He's been applying his forensic knowledge of how people die to... 261 00:20:19,318 --> 00:20:22,446 analyze the circumstances of Jesus' death. 262 00:20:27,759 --> 00:20:31,923 In this experiment a volunteer puts on special protective gloves, 263 00:20:32,097 --> 00:20:33,758 then hangs from the cross. 264 00:20:35,601 --> 00:20:37,728 While his assistant monitors his heart rate, 265 00:20:37,903 --> 00:20:41,999 Dr Zugibe test whether the hand can support the weight of the body 266 00:20:43,408 --> 00:20:48,869 Now I'm going to let him suspend without any feet rests at all... 267 00:20:49,047 --> 00:20:52,016 over there, okay, now, 268 00:20:52,184 --> 00:20:55,017 another pain over there, what do you feel 269 00:20:55,187 --> 00:20:59,681 A lot of pain, pressure of the upper arms 270 00:20:59,858 --> 00:21:03,817 The pain is a measure of how much stress the body is applying on the hands, 271 00:21:03,996 --> 00:21:07,124 it would tear in a matter of minutes. 272 00:21:09,201 --> 00:21:13,137 Since the Gospels say that Jesus was up on the cross for 6 hours, 273 00:21:13,305 --> 00:21:16,968 it might seem as if the hand couldn't possibly support the body. 274 00:21:19,378 --> 00:21:20,743 But Dr Zugibe has found that... 275 00:21:20,912 --> 00:21:24,939 the stress is instantly relieved the moment the feet are supported 276 00:21:25,584 --> 00:21:29,281 Now what if the difference over there, how is it difference 277 00:21:29,454 --> 00:21:32,480 Tremendous difference, there's comparably very... 278 00:21:32,658 --> 00:21:34,285 little weight on the upper arms 279 00:21:34,459 --> 00:21:38,395 He said there's very little pull on the hands themselves, all of the weight, 280 00:21:38,563 --> 00:21:44,001 all of the weight is here, it's only is the legs are free standing that... 281 00:21:44,169 --> 00:21:46,069 the hands would not hold it 282 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:52,807 And the evidence suggest that Jesus' legs were not freestanding. 283 00:21:54,313 --> 00:21:59,580 In 1968 archeologists in Jerusalem found the remains of a crucified victim. 284 00:21:59,751 --> 00:22:03,687 One of the bones showed that the man's legs had been nailed to the cross. 285 00:22:04,523 --> 00:22:11,520 Here we have a cast of this, and this is the heel bone, now we see the nail here, 286 00:22:11,697 --> 00:22:17,158 and here it's perhaps somewhat clearer with this here, you see what they done, 287 00:22:17,336 --> 00:22:19,327 there's a piece of olive wood, here's the nail, 288 00:22:19,504 --> 00:22:22,803 they drove the nail through the plaque, it increases the diameter of the nail, 289 00:22:22,974 --> 00:22:25,374 they then drove the thing into the heel. 290 00:22:27,879 --> 00:22:31,610 Nailed to the side of the upright, the legs would have been able to take... 291 00:22:31,783 --> 00:22:33,273 the weight off the hands. 292 00:22:34,486 --> 00:22:36,818 Sometimes the Romans even nailed a piece of wood to... 293 00:22:36,988 --> 00:22:42,290 the cross for the victim to sit on, a man could be up on the cross for days. 294 00:22:46,698 --> 00:22:49,724 Another detail of the crucifixion questioned by scholars, 295 00:22:49,901 --> 00:22:51,300 is the cross itself. 296 00:22:51,737 --> 00:22:56,140 The conventional view is that Jesus was nailed to a specially made cross. 297 00:22:56,875 --> 00:23:01,107 But the historian Josephus reveals that this view need revising. 298 00:23:02,781 --> 00:23:07,616 With so many rebels to crucify, sometimes up to 500 a day, 299 00:23:07,786 --> 00:23:12,723 the Romans adapted old olive trees, roads into towns were often... 300 00:23:12,891 --> 00:23:16,884 lined with dozens of trees doubling up as crosses. 301 00:23:22,300 --> 00:23:25,599 It was also common practice for the victims to be offered something... 302 00:23:25,771 --> 00:23:28,137 to quench their thurst or dull the pain. 303 00:23:28,874 --> 00:23:33,243 The Gospels say a soldier gave Jesus a sponge soaked in vinegar, 304 00:23:34,413 --> 00:23:38,747 perhaps that's why he was able to stay alive for 6 hours. 305 00:23:42,387 --> 00:23:45,686 But as Jesus hung on the cross the Gospels report that... 306 00:23:45,857 --> 00:23:48,655 some of the crowd we mocking Jesus 307 00:23:50,262 --> 00:23:51,820 And then you could hear the mocking, 308 00:23:51,997 --> 00:23:55,933 'oh you who heal others, why don't you come down and heal yourself', the mocking. 309 00:23:56,902 --> 00:24:04,502 Powerless, the great powerful one is now left powerless 310 00:24:05,744 --> 00:24:09,942 The Gospels say that Jesus' mother and Mary Magdalene one of... 311 00:24:10,115 --> 00:24:12,845 his closest followers were also present. 312 00:24:13,752 --> 00:24:16,550 It must have seen to all those there the mission Jesus had... 313 00:24:16,721 --> 00:24:21,090 launched back in Galilee was ended in humiliating failure. 314 00:24:21,827 --> 00:24:24,853 But some scholars believe that suffering on this scale may... 315 00:24:25,030 --> 00:24:27,760 well have been part of Jesus' plan 316 00:24:27,933 --> 00:24:32,165 Well we do have evidence in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls of... 317 00:24:32,337 --> 00:24:36,899 martyrs by the time of Jesus and before the time of Jesus, 318 00:24:37,075 --> 00:24:43,105 believing that their death, their suffering will help atone for some of... 319 00:24:43,281 --> 00:24:44,942 the problems in the land. 320 00:24:47,018 --> 00:24:50,385 Some texts said that salvation would only ever come through... 321 00:24:50,555 --> 00:24:52,386 the suffering of the Messiah. 322 00:24:53,358 --> 00:24:56,794 He must have often asked himself whether he was out to lunch on this, 323 00:24:56,962 --> 00:24:59,692 I mean his own family say he was mad, and he must have sometimes... 324 00:24:59,865 --> 00:25:02,333 wondered if they were right, but we mustn't think of Him, 325 00:25:02,501 --> 00:25:06,267 as though he was just some crazy suicide bomber or Kamikaze pilot or... 326 00:25:06,438 --> 00:25:07,462 something like that. 327 00:25:09,274 --> 00:25:15,736 Jesus' glimpsed in the Jewish scripture that the way that God will defeat evil, 328 00:25:15,914 --> 00:25:21,443 is not by fighting it but curiously by leting it do it's worst to... 329 00:25:21,620 --> 00:25:23,383 God's anointed one, 330 00:25:23,555 --> 00:25:28,788 so that through his suffering the force of evil may be exhausted 331 00:25:30,929 --> 00:25:34,797 But Jesus was not immune to human emotions, 332 00:25:35,734 --> 00:25:39,534 'in his final hours', said the Gospels, 'he cried out to God'. 333 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:45,367 'My God My God why have you forsaken me', 334 00:25:45,944 --> 00:25:51,211 it seems that he's a little bit frustrated, 335 00:25:51,383 --> 00:25:55,547 'where the hell are you now God, when I need you', 336 00:25:55,921 --> 00:25:58,890 I think he's simply in a dialogue with God as he always had been, 337 00:25:59,057 --> 00:26:00,752 'God where are you now' 338 00:26:13,338 --> 00:26:18,298 Jesus' mission had followed the tragic past of other messianic uprisings, 339 00:26:18,476 --> 00:26:20,376 the minute the movement threatens disorder, 340 00:26:20,545 --> 00:26:23,480 it's leader is picked out and eliminated. 341 00:26:24,049 --> 00:26:27,712 Normally a dead Messiah led to the collapse of the movement. 342 00:26:29,421 --> 00:26:33,983 With the crucifixion it's over, it's completely over, it's no more hope. 343 00:26:34,159 --> 00:26:37,686 Well Christianity's around, what happened? 344 00:26:39,698 --> 00:26:43,725 There is something that happens, there is something that happens 345 00:26:45,136 --> 00:26:50,039 After 2000 years Christians from all over the world still make a pilgrimage to... 346 00:26:50,208 --> 00:26:53,541 the Church of the Holy Sephulcre, the place where Christianity believes... 347 00:26:53,712 --> 00:26:56,875 Jesus was crucified and buried. 348 00:26:58,083 --> 00:27:01,746 Pilgrims still come here because they believe that the crucifixion... 349 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:04,582 was not the end of the story. 350 00:27:04,756 --> 00:27:07,224 It's now one the great mysteries of history. 351 00:27:08,326 --> 00:27:11,386 Somewhere on this spot where a church now stand a small... 352 00:27:11,563 --> 00:27:16,762 first century Jewish sect, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. 353 00:27:18,069 --> 00:27:21,527 Dan Bahat is one of the Archeologists who've been trying to establish... 354 00:27:21,706 --> 00:27:25,437 what the area here was like at the time of Jesus' death. 355 00:27:27,345 --> 00:27:30,542 He's discovered that the church of the Holy Sephulcre was originally... 356 00:27:30,715 --> 00:27:32,307 built on an old quarry. 357 00:27:32,717 --> 00:27:34,912 You can see that actually it's an old quarry, 358 00:27:35,086 --> 00:27:40,080 you can see the incisions of the stone everywhere, of the nature of rock, 359 00:27:40,258 --> 00:27:44,285 because it was a quarry, and a quarry was always outside the city wall 360 00:27:45,196 --> 00:27:50,190 The archeologists had also found several tombs inside the church dating back... 361 00:27:50,368 --> 00:27:51,801 to the first century. 362 00:27:52,537 --> 00:27:56,997 Archeologists are now able to strip away 2000 years of building history, 363 00:27:57,175 --> 00:28:00,076 and get back to the time of Jesus. 364 00:28:07,185 --> 00:28:10,279 During the first century when the population was smaller, 365 00:28:10,455 --> 00:28:14,721 the city walls were less than 100 yards further back then where they are today. 366 00:28:15,994 --> 00:28:20,226 Quarries had many uses, organic remains found under the church reveal that... 367 00:28:20,398 --> 00:28:22,662 the quarry would have been used as a garbage dump. 368 00:28:23,802 --> 00:28:26,771 Quarries were also the place where criminals were executed. 369 00:28:27,072 --> 00:28:31,236 Jesus would have been crucified on an outcrop of rock somewhere here. 370 00:28:32,911 --> 00:28:36,779 In Jewish law, a corpse was the most impure thing, 371 00:28:36,948 --> 00:28:40,850 so tombs were also built in quarries outside the city wall. 372 00:28:44,923 --> 00:28:49,917 This first century tomb hewn into the rock in Jerusalem is typical of the tombs... 373 00:28:50,095 --> 00:28:51,460 in the time of Jesus. 374 00:28:52,330 --> 00:28:56,892 His burial in a tomb like this should have been the end fo the story, 375 00:28:57,535 --> 00:29:00,971 but it's here that it developed a surprising twist. 376 00:29:01,506 --> 00:29:03,940 The Gospels say that Jesus was resurrected, 377 00:29:04,109 --> 00:29:06,270 physically brought back to life. 378 00:29:06,978 --> 00:29:09,276 Did it happen, there are Christian Bishops who say, 379 00:29:09,447 --> 00:29:10,471 'this is an ancient myth, 380 00:29:10,648 --> 00:29:15,210 we have to get rid of it', but most Christians say the heart of Christianity... 381 00:29:15,386 --> 00:29:20,085 is the absurd claim that this man who was crucified was raised by God, 382 00:29:20,258 --> 00:29:24,194 yes it is not a rational claim, it is an expression of belief. 383 00:29:29,100 --> 00:29:33,093 The strength and depth of that belief is testified by the fact that... 384 00:29:33,271 --> 00:29:36,763 billions of people around the world believe in resurrection, 385 00:29:39,344 --> 00:29:43,576 but in fact the Gospels do attempt to marshal some evidence. 386 00:29:44,616 --> 00:29:48,052 They claim that Jesus appeared to his disciples. 387 00:29:48,586 --> 00:29:52,989 On one occasion Jesus' uncle Clepoas and a friend are walking on the road to... 388 00:29:53,158 --> 00:29:55,922 Emmaus when Jesus suddenly appears to them. 389 00:29:56,628 --> 00:30:01,156 Strangely, at first Jesus' followers don't recognize him. 390 00:30:02,734 --> 00:30:06,761 Now apparitions are sometimes experienced by bereaved people. 391 00:30:07,405 --> 00:30:11,774 Grief stricken, they imagine their loved are alive again. 392 00:30:22,887 --> 00:30:26,687 According to Dr Mark Goodacre, in such trick of the mind, 393 00:30:26,858 --> 00:30:30,350 the bereaved have no difficulty in recognizing their loved one. 394 00:30:31,830 --> 00:30:35,698 But the appearances reported by disciples and others in the Gospel are... 395 00:30:35,867 --> 00:30:37,334 unlike normal visions 396 00:30:37,936 --> 00:30:42,930 Now this means that somebody is seeing Jesus, who is a family member, 397 00:30:43,107 --> 00:30:46,702 who knows what Jesus look like, and yet somehow he doesn't recognize him, 398 00:30:46,878 --> 00:30:52,282 so this in a way also stands against this kind of hallucination idea. 399 00:30:54,319 --> 00:30:58,779 And you also find there are quite a number of different recipients of... 400 00:30:58,957 --> 00:31:02,950 these vision including women, you know it's well know that if you want... 401 00:31:03,127 --> 00:31:08,429 to make up some sort of tradition, you don't pin it on women... 402 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:11,228 in the ancient world, because they're not reliable witnesses, 403 00:31:11,402 --> 00:31:14,929 so it's not the kind of thing that you make up. 404 00:31:15,707 --> 00:31:19,438 There should be no room in a rational world for the apparition stories... 405 00:31:19,611 --> 00:31:21,101 reported in the Gospels. 406 00:31:21,980 --> 00:31:25,609 Yet science can not explain them away convincingly. 407 00:31:26,150 --> 00:31:31,247 For the time being they must remain a matter of faith, but the Gospels... 408 00:31:31,422 --> 00:31:33,720 do offer some other evidence. 409 00:31:39,530 --> 00:31:44,331 They say that some women, came to visit the tomb 3 days after his death. 410 00:31:56,981 --> 00:32:00,417 They found the tomb empty and fled terrified. 411 00:32:03,788 --> 00:32:08,748 Since then people have tried to find a rational explanation for the empty tomb. 412 00:32:13,765 --> 00:32:17,633 One possibility is that the body was never taken down to the tomb 413 00:32:18,236 --> 00:32:21,501 A lot of times when you were dead, the body was not taken down... 414 00:32:21,673 --> 00:32:24,642 from the cross, it's that the body stayed there on the cross, 415 00:32:24,809 --> 00:32:32,477 the animals took it down, the jackals the wolves, the dogs, birds, vultures. 416 00:32:32,650 --> 00:32:35,278 And then a lot of times, and most of the time when the body... 417 00:32:35,453 --> 00:32:39,048 was taken down from the cross you ended up on the dump, on the city dump. 418 00:32:40,591 --> 00:32:45,654 But the Gospels do say that the body was taken down and placed in a tomb, 419 00:32:47,332 --> 00:32:51,291 so could Jesus' body have been stolen from the tomb. 420 00:33:01,479 --> 00:33:05,472 Gloria Moss is the latest in a long line of authors who have claimed that... 421 00:33:05,650 --> 00:33:07,675 some people may have had very good reason... 422 00:33:07,852 --> 00:33:09,717 for wanting to remove the body 423 00:33:10,655 --> 00:33:13,419 You could see that the apostles might wanted to have stolen the body... 424 00:33:13,791 --> 00:33:17,227 in order to simulate a resurrection. 425 00:33:17,395 --> 00:33:22,731 But quite apart from that, there's another much more mysterious reason why... 426 00:33:22,900 --> 00:33:27,928 the body might have disappeared, and that is quite simply that Jesus... 427 00:33:28,106 --> 00:33:31,007 might not have been dead, might still have been alive and... 428 00:33:31,175 --> 00:33:33,370 simply walked out of the tomb. 429 00:33:34,579 --> 00:33:39,812 This theory is a extraordinary as the resurrection, how could Jesus have... 430 00:33:39,984 --> 00:33:43,476 possibly survived the traumatic injuries suffered on the cross, 431 00:33:44,222 --> 00:33:48,488 this is the Chelsea Physic Garden, a botanical museum in London. 432 00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:52,290 Here there is evidence of a primitive form of anesthetic... 433 00:33:52,463 --> 00:33:54,397 used in the time of Jesus. 434 00:33:54,932 --> 00:33:58,424 It's called Mandrake, a plant which grows in Israel and... 435 00:33:58,603 --> 00:34:00,230 elsewhere in the Mediterranean 436 00:34:01,472 --> 00:34:04,566 There's a very important ingredient mainly in the root, called Hyacine... 437 00:34:04,742 --> 00:34:08,200 which is one of the major pre-meds to be used nowadays. 438 00:34:08,379 --> 00:34:11,610 And it has an extremely powerful effect on the central nervous system, 439 00:34:11,783 --> 00:34:17,187 and renders people as if they are dead, makes them completely insensible to pain. 440 00:34:17,722 --> 00:34:22,182 A text from the first century written by Discorsi, a doctor who traveled... 441 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:27,559 with the Roman army, shows that Mandrake was in use at the time of Jesus. 442 00:34:31,836 --> 00:34:36,102 The anesthetic was prepared by soaking a sponge with mandrake solution, 443 00:34:36,274 --> 00:34:39,732 the sponge was allowed to dry out, and then the whole thing was done again... 444 00:34:39,911 --> 00:34:43,540 until the sponge was absolutely saturated with the drug 445 00:34:45,483 --> 00:34:48,646 That sponge would have been moistened and would have released the hyacine... 446 00:34:48,820 --> 00:34:53,848 under the nose of the intended victim, and would have been breathed in 447 00:34:55,159 --> 00:35:00,290 But how could the drug, have been given to Jesus, ancient records show that... 448 00:35:00,465 --> 00:35:02,729 vinegar was used to dissolve medicines. 449 00:35:07,004 --> 00:35:11,964 Perhaps the Mandrake solution was hidden in the vinegar offered to Jesus. 450 00:35:12,143 --> 00:35:16,307 Certainly there are reports a people surviving crucifixion. 451 00:35:16,481 --> 00:35:20,918 We know from Josephus he had 3 friends near Bethlehem who had been crucified, 452 00:35:21,085 --> 00:35:23,246 he came to Jerusalem spoke to the rulers, 453 00:35:23,421 --> 00:35:26,652 he then when back to Bethlehem and took him out of the cross... 454 00:35:26,824 --> 00:35:30,351 one of the men lived, happily ever after. 455 00:35:31,462 --> 00:35:36,695 But even if an anesthetic was offered to Jesus many scientists believe that... 456 00:35:36,868 --> 00:35:39,200 this idea is deeply flawed. 457 00:35:41,105 --> 00:35:43,005 It overlooks the repeated injuries and... 458 00:35:43,174 --> 00:35:46,405 massive loss of body fluids the Jesus would have sustained. 459 00:35:46,577 --> 00:35:47,771 Okay. 460 00:35:48,946 --> 00:35:52,245 It also ignores the fact that the Romans had plenty of... 461 00:35:52,416 --> 00:35:54,646 practice at crucifying people. 462 00:35:55,286 --> 00:35:57,846 They were professionals, they were experts. 463 00:35:58,022 --> 00:36:03,050 They had a team of 4 individuals and the exactor mortis who... 464 00:36:03,227 --> 00:36:06,993 went right around doing nothing but crucifixions, 465 00:36:07,165 --> 00:36:12,432 one of the items in their protocol was to use a spear to make sure that... 466 00:36:12,603 --> 00:36:15,037 they were dead, if there was any doubt 467 00:36:15,940 --> 00:36:23,176 John's Gospel confirms this practice, a soldier pierced Jesus' side with a lance. 468 00:36:24,215 --> 00:36:28,982 Most experts agree that in the end it is a matter of faith 469 00:36:29,153 --> 00:36:34,386 Belief is not based upon proof or a stone or a prescribed statement, 470 00:36:34,559 --> 00:36:38,962 it comes from the human heart, and it can never be reduced to... 471 00:36:39,130 --> 00:36:41,724 the minimum in the human, and that is reason 472 00:36:47,205 --> 00:36:51,073 Many expert do believe however, that Jesus' followers themselves... 473 00:36:51,242 --> 00:36:54,769 must have been convinced that he'd been raised from the dead. 474 00:36:55,446 --> 00:37:00,179 Without that belief it's impossible to explain the rise of early Christianity, 475 00:37:00,351 --> 00:37:04,082 we can imagine a messianic sect going on for a few years, 476 00:37:04,255 --> 00:37:06,655 but if they wanted to continue as such they would... 477 00:37:06,824 --> 00:37:08,792 certainly have got themselves another messiah, 478 00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:12,589 James, Jesus' brother was a great leader in the early church, 479 00:37:12,763 --> 00:37:14,355 but nobody said James was the Messiah, 480 00:37:14,532 --> 00:37:17,023 but you'd expected them to do that if they knew that... 481 00:37:17,201 --> 00:37:19,032 Jesus' body was still in the tomb. 482 00:37:33,584 --> 00:37:39,113 Jesus is now the icon of the religion which has nearly 2 billion converts. 483 00:37:44,028 --> 00:37:46,462 Even amongst people who don't worship him, 484 00:37:46,631 --> 00:37:49,464 his face is one of the most recognizable in the world. 485 00:37:51,235 --> 00:37:54,830 But are we sure in our view of what he looked like. 486 00:37:59,210 --> 00:38:02,407 One would expect the Gospels to provide the clues, 487 00:38:03,047 --> 00:38:06,710 but surprisingly for a set of 4 biographies, the Gospels don't say... 488 00:38:06,884 --> 00:38:09,318 a word about Jesus' face. 489 00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:13,117 So it's pretty strange that so many people think they know... 490 00:38:13,291 --> 00:38:14,724 what Jesus looked like. 491 00:38:19,630 --> 00:38:25,034 In this Jerusalem bazaar, tourists can chose portraits of Jesus as souvenirs. 492 00:38:28,039 --> 00:38:31,270 In an upstairs room, this bazaar hold literally hundreds... 493 00:38:31,442 --> 00:38:36,277 more portraits of Jesus, but unlike other images of Jesus, 494 00:38:36,447 --> 00:38:39,439 these are thought to be amongst the most authentic. 495 00:38:39,617 --> 00:38:44,486 They are know as icons, a word that means faithful portraits of Jesus. 496 00:38:46,090 --> 00:38:48,456 The first icons were painted in the fifth century, 497 00:38:48,626 --> 00:38:53,893 that's 400 years after Jesus died, there's a legend that the Gospel... 498 00:38:54,065 --> 00:38:58,525 wrier Luke painted a portrait of Jesus which inspired all the others, 499 00:38:58,703 --> 00:39:00,466 but it's just a legend. 500 00:39:02,239 --> 00:39:06,232 Now there may be a better way of finding out what Jesus looked like. 501 00:39:09,780 --> 00:39:12,010 The icons were not painted in Israel, 502 00:39:12,183 --> 00:39:16,244 but in the Eastern Mediterranean in countries like Greece and Turkey, 503 00:39:16,420 --> 00:39:19,787 they don't reflect the face typical in ancient Israel. 504 00:39:23,994 --> 00:39:28,795 Jesus was a Jew who lived all his life in a Jewish environment, 505 00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:31,668 his people remained apart from other ethnic groups... 506 00:39:31,836 --> 00:39:34,327 there was little or no intermarriage, 507 00:39:35,673 --> 00:39:40,736 so it's in Jesus' homeland that clues to his true likeness must be found. 508 00:39:47,251 --> 00:39:51,210 This is one of Israel' leading centers of Forensic science, 509 00:39:53,090 --> 00:39:56,218 these boxes here are full of skulls and bones unearthed by... 510 00:39:56,394 --> 00:40:00,296 archeologists in they land, they'll be given a proper burial once... 511 00:40:00,464 --> 00:40:02,398 the experts have finished studying them. 512 00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:05,234 But what's in these boxes may tell a story that... 513 00:40:05,403 --> 00:40:08,702 should get us closer to the face of Jesus. 514 00:40:10,307 --> 00:40:13,765 Joe Zias, has found the face in the icons corresponds to... 515 00:40:13,944 --> 00:40:16,435 a type a skull not found in Israel. 516 00:40:20,284 --> 00:40:25,449 These 3 skulls on the other hand, are Jewish skulls found in Jerusalem, 517 00:40:26,157 --> 00:40:30,253 they date to the first century, the same period as Jesus. 518 00:40:31,462 --> 00:40:37,332 Here's proof that the long thin face associated with Jesus is not accurate. 519 00:40:38,202 --> 00:40:39,999 If you look at the skull here, these things, 520 00:40:40,171 --> 00:40:43,163 rather than being long headed which many of the skulls are, 521 00:40:43,340 --> 00:40:47,936 these things are very very wide here in terms of the parietals, narrow over here, 522 00:40:48,112 --> 00:40:50,546 sometimes these things are even almost round. 523 00:40:50,714 --> 00:40:54,912 Joe Zias has found that non Jewish skulls are quite different. 524 00:40:56,187 --> 00:40:58,712 And if you look at this, notice how this is very long and... 525 00:40:58,889 --> 00:41:03,326 this is very very narrow, it's a complete complete different type, if we put, 526 00:41:03,494 --> 00:41:07,225 particularly these next to each other, perhaps you can see clearly... 527 00:41:07,398 --> 00:41:08,729 what I'm talking about. 528 00:41:10,801 --> 00:41:14,635 The one on the right, the Jewish skulls is clearly rounder and... 529 00:41:14,805 --> 00:41:16,898 wider than the one on the left. 530 00:41:18,542 --> 00:41:23,206 This is much more gracile, much more fine, as compared to this one here, 531 00:41:23,380 --> 00:41:26,645 this one's much more robust, even in terms of weight. 532 00:41:28,352 --> 00:41:32,584 There are of course many other faces used to represent the man many believe... 533 00:41:32,756 --> 00:41:38,456 is the son of God, but they too reflect the cultures of their artists. 534 00:41:42,066 --> 00:41:46,867 Now using the first century skull, it may be possible to get even closer... 535 00:41:47,037 --> 00:41:49,699 to the face of the Jesus of history. 536 00:41:51,275 --> 00:41:53,641 What can scientists deduce. 537 00:41:54,378 --> 00:41:58,041 Richard Neave for the Unit of Art and Medicine at the University of... 538 00:41:58,215 --> 00:42:02,345 Manchester in England is one of the world's leading forensic artists. 539 00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:05,921 Using forensic skills he can reconstruct the face of... 540 00:42:06,090 --> 00:42:08,581 an average first century Jewish male. 541 00:42:08,993 --> 00:42:14,590 The basic face, basic shape the general configuration of the face is... 542 00:42:14,665 --> 00:42:19,102 determined by the skull and the face that will immerge from... 543 00:42:19,370 --> 00:42:23,602 this reconstruction will be broadly similar to the kind of face that... 544 00:42:23,774 --> 00:42:25,833 this man had when he was alive 545 00:42:33,350 --> 00:42:37,810 The face Neave constructs will be that of a first century middle eastern man. 546 00:42:37,988 --> 00:42:43,517 Weathered by desert life and hard work, probably one that was old before it's time. 547 00:42:43,694 --> 00:42:46,424 Much like the face of Jesus would have been. 548 00:43:02,146 --> 00:43:07,209 This certainly doesn't look anything like the images that one associates with Him, 549 00:43:07,384 --> 00:43:11,377 and I think it's much more likely to be a accurate reflection of... 550 00:43:11,555 --> 00:43:14,422 a majority of people who would've been around at that time 551 00:43:14,592 --> 00:43:18,358 It looks like an older man than Jesus, but Neave argues that it... 552 00:43:18,529 --> 00:43:22,590 easily fits the profile of a man in his mid 30s for that part of the world. 553 00:43:22,766 --> 00:43:27,294 Especially at the time the average life expectancy was well below 50 554 00:43:27,571 --> 00:43:31,769 With an archeological reconstruction, that is a fair thing to do, 555 00:43:31,942 --> 00:43:39,110 for somebody who you know has probably been living fairly hot climate, 556 00:43:39,283 --> 00:43:43,652 with lots of bright sunshine, which does tend to make the brows... 557 00:43:43,821 --> 00:43:46,847 become more furrowed and the skin more creased and wrinkled. 558 00:43:47,591 --> 00:43:51,357 It's very much the kinds of face that you see in parts of the world today. 559 00:43:51,528 --> 00:43:58,696 In parts of North Africa and Egypt and around into parts of Jordan and Israel. 560 00:44:01,639 --> 00:44:05,769 But this face still leaves many question unanswered. 561 00:44:05,943 --> 00:44:11,472 What kind of hair did Jesus have? how long was it? Did he have a beard? 562 00:44:11,649 --> 00:44:16,416 How would he have worn it? and what was the color of his skin? 563 00:44:21,492 --> 00:44:26,486 To find the answers the reconstructed face was first scanned into a computer. 564 00:44:33,237 --> 00:44:36,434 Biblical scholar Dr Mark Goodacre has discovered a number of... 565 00:44:36,607 --> 00:44:39,075 historical clues which, when fed into the computer, 566 00:44:39,243 --> 00:44:42,940 could get us even closer to the likely face of Jesus. 567 00:44:45,249 --> 00:44:49,982 One of the most telling clues are these images from a Jewish synagogue in Syria, 568 00:44:50,521 --> 00:44:55,185 they were painted in the third century, less than 200 years from the time of Jesus. 569 00:44:55,993 --> 00:44:58,860 They are the earliest pictures of Jewish people in the world, 570 00:44:59,029 --> 00:45:03,090 and they provide an insight into Jewish styles of beard and hair. 571 00:45:04,001 --> 00:45:07,027 They kind of hair style that you get, it's short it's curly, 572 00:45:07,204 --> 00:45:11,334 if you like Afro in style, and this seems to be almost uniform in the way that... 573 00:45:11,508 --> 00:45:12,907 Jesus is depicted there. 574 00:45:13,077 --> 00:45:16,376 Moreover it's likely that Jesus would have had a short cropped, 575 00:45:16,547 --> 00:45:20,881 kind of black sort of beard, something a little bit like this. 576 00:45:48,045 --> 00:45:51,276 This length of hair is confirmed by Saint Paul, 577 00:45:51,448 --> 00:45:56,044 in his letter to the Corinthians composed barely 20 years after the time of Jesus. 578 00:45:57,187 --> 00:46:01,248 He write, that it's disgraceful for a man to have long hair. 579 00:46:02,392 --> 00:46:04,485 And what's interesting about this is that, 580 00:46:04,661 --> 00:46:07,061 Saint Paul knew members of the family of Jesus, 581 00:46:07,231 --> 00:46:09,461 he knew the disciples of Jesus, it's unlikely that Paul... 582 00:46:09,633 --> 00:46:12,500 would have be able to say something like this if it was well known that... 583 00:46:12,669 --> 00:46:14,261 Jesus himself had long hair. 584 00:46:15,339 --> 00:46:18,331 Dr Goodacre, believes that the traditional depictions of... 585 00:46:18,509 --> 00:46:21,808 Jesus' skin color may also need revising. 586 00:46:22,246 --> 00:46:26,273 Firstly, most historians would assume that in Jesus' part of the world, 587 00:46:26,450 --> 00:46:28,247 people would be darker skinned. 588 00:46:28,418 --> 00:46:32,252 In addition, Dr Goodacre has now found supporting evidence... 589 00:46:32,422 --> 00:46:34,185 in the Gospels themselves. 590 00:46:34,358 --> 00:46:38,852 Matthew writes that when Herod order the massacre of children under the age of 2, 591 00:46:39,029 --> 00:46:42,590 Mary and Joseph escaped with Jesus to Egypt. 592 00:46:42,766 --> 00:46:46,793 Now it's very unlikely that Jesus would have been able to be hidden in Egypt... 593 00:46:46,970 --> 00:46:51,236 if he had a very different color skin from the people that were in Egypt. 594 00:46:53,410 --> 00:46:57,938 Intrigued by this possibility, Dr Goodacre investigated further. 595 00:46:58,916 --> 00:47:01,783 He looked again at Mathew's and Luke's Gospel and... 596 00:47:01,952 --> 00:47:03,647 found some unexpected clues. 597 00:47:03,821 --> 00:47:07,484 Detailed genealogies or records of Jesus' ancestry. 598 00:47:07,658 --> 00:47:11,560 There are quite a good number of people of Afro-asiatic origin, 599 00:47:11,728 --> 00:47:16,131 in particular you see women of Afro-asiatic origin, people like Rahab, 600 00:47:16,300 --> 00:47:20,737 people like Ruth and so on, who if you like, 601 00:47:20,904 --> 00:47:23,464 would have been much more likely to have dark skin tones. 602 00:47:33,217 --> 00:47:37,711 Although this is not the actual face of Jesus, it does takes up beyond the... 603 00:47:37,888 --> 00:47:41,585 idealized images of the last 1500 years and closer than... 604 00:47:41,758 --> 00:47:44,921 ever before to the real Jesus of History. 605 00:47:52,069 --> 00:47:55,903 There can now be little doubt that a real flesh and blood man called... 606 00:47:56,073 --> 00:47:59,270 Jesus of Nazareth challenged the Jewish establishment. 607 00:48:00,410 --> 00:48:03,902 At the time his mission must have seems like an act of folly. 608 00:48:04,081 --> 00:48:09,610 Not only did he pay the ultimate price, but the temple system he attack survived. 609 00:48:15,025 --> 00:48:19,394 For Christians of course, Jesus' death became the ultimate sacrifice, 610 00:48:19,563 --> 00:48:21,997 and a new source of hope in the world. 611 00:48:23,133 --> 00:48:28,332 But now historians too are recognizing Jesus' place in first century politics. 612 00:48:31,108 --> 00:48:34,077 The temple system may well have survived Jesus' challenge, 613 00:48:34,244 --> 00:48:35,609 but not for long. 614 00:48:37,981 --> 00:48:41,883 When he was alive, Jesus had warned that the temple would be destroyed... 615 00:48:42,052 --> 00:48:44,850 before his generation had passed away. 616 00:48:45,455 --> 00:48:50,085 After his death, Jewish resentment against oppression and injustice deepened, 617 00:48:50,260 --> 00:48:55,596 the chief priests remained puppets of the Romans, new Messiahs came and went. 618 00:48:57,134 --> 00:49:01,594 In 64 AD, 1000's of Jew's began to revolt. 619 00:49:03,073 --> 00:49:05,473 The Roman response was brutal. 620 00:49:08,145 --> 00:49:13,276 This city was burned down, the temple destroyed, 1000's were massacred. 621 00:49:21,224 --> 00:49:24,716 Jesus had been proved right after all. 622 00:49:27,931 --> 00:49:31,196 His campaign wasn't an act of madness. 623 00:49:33,036 --> 00:49:38,201 He had understood before anyone the need for change.