| Show CINT RUINS ON MT TABOR lABOR 44 S 4 tc es byC H IL Ly a Is oneo in iti his ife upon which no lens than three of oX the gospels agree almost to the Identity this was wasby I I unanimous fashion by all Christian au ai from ft m the earlies times to the BuTt ift it lately excavations have been made at t Tabor I proving the early occupation of this mountain as a site sacred to early earb This valuable investigation been made by an Alsatian Father Barnabe who is con considered one of qt the leading authorities 1 upon archaeology in Pales I t tine in the monastery on an Mount Tabor Tal r His Investigations Jia have e i just been made public In Paris Mount Tabor had been a notable place even e in early Egyptian times t asit did upon the direct route between and Assyria Professor Profesor i Maspero has haLs identified an Egyptian found at Tabor as belonging to the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty so this site must m st have been Well known n early as B 13 d C it bore bm a Character m in the times lUst jUsE pr ceding the birth of Jesus seems seis more moie than probable f rom I S k r s o e M I TO THE EAST OF OP OF OP MT of if as the Sacred Mountain gj galilee lather Barnaba holds that the tradition which located the transfiguration on Mount Tabor Is Isone one of the best founded cf all is going back to the very first century of oft tile Christians Oen Sw St of PC St are unanimous in proclaiming Tabor as a the Mount of ofT Transfiguration At three of f the transfiguration points toward Tabor although It is not named Father Barnabe points out that Jesus during the last few weeks of sf his life hue was wa making a final pastoral journey in Galilee He Re came Tyre and vas laa on its way to the Sea of Gene Genc sereth At last he reached C I on the extreme northern I boundary territory of Israel i in I thee the center of oi a population largely 4 pagan When he arrived in this neigh he h asked I I his disciples dIs f I Who do they th y say th the Son u ot nt Man Mah Is you yourselves who do say J r answering said You jire the Christ the theon Son i i o of tie the living flod Seeing them so eo t well fixed in hh fal h Jesus began hegan to t disclose to his disputes that he must go gt to Jerusalem be putt put to tp death and rise ilse A EU the third slay day pf his further sojourn In Caesarea no single sll detail is s later the mystery of the took place AU three eem em to Insist space of time ha braving Ing elapsed between the last of 4 the Savior anti and lila als Since no word of cit any an preaching during dung thin time at it Is probable that be six sL days were iere passed In n a and ad it might easily six flays w ing as as Jesus Jn con eon verse t liis disciples to go from to Tabor Bavins satisfied py his in i both historical ansi and eo thab Mk Tabor was the sits site of the Father Barnabe set himself to the examination bf Of tile the ruins found there The j I of dir tuft the buildings t oa on have been SQ st numerous that they present difficulties to the aich who Wb ha himself by history at times A d th in flU fiU an in the gaps of f his ji tory y his discoveries The vinci pa Iii ruins of a is are ace io be together in aj ui square on the western side of the the I ft on entering Q qt 3 small the alls nIls oC which still from three to sis ats feet This j was the sacred in excavating this corner Of Q the plateau There sterns seems to have heena been a second church here alsA aleci hardly more ithan a foet wIlls a reces on oIl the u est i The walls are built Jn n Roman style Covered vered ort the inside on which are traces of or decorative foliage In red tints The pm a s mosaic of black and hite circle and 4 building bears b the ter of the oratories of nf the fourth land fifth centuries It lef i doubt one oC of Q the K hurch edifices eer eier t ie Land TWO niches I the tim the char I I ocler of the edifice without forgone f oe Is evidently the pro thesis 5 where here the faithful de tie dep p their p of or bread and ap and as is the ie where the tb and gospel erfe A I utIle fUrther to west Is i th having ginaU fl qT it cd plates hat e on oi at t Peter said to It P Pi 15 oo i tp to be here Make f foi you one fOtr Moses a d or It is s known now that the idd t t anti na in js s have been a cathedral the be best t archaeological 53 can be asserted that the ruins found here are not later than the th sixth century but they may be bO earlier The church was perched t Upon the Solid roOk rock on th very to tradition where the trans 1 i took tk place Oil Ott awe are the phap l i dedicated to Mobs still and vere e ruins of 1 ii In l tie ne capital perfectly served and Is a t foot And uld a Si r It I t i markedly In character with th those or di lies lica of Bethlehem which t V w 4 1 OhIs ancient e by t 0 Benedictine monks which was de tie destroyed by the troops of Saladin in liST From to t 1217 the Saracens were jn p In 1259 cUy of Nazar Nazareth eth and surrendered to Christian and the mountain was wa occupied ot by the Hungarian brothers the material from the old one During th tho Crusades this was burned There are other interesting ruins north of the remains of the church consisting of a hall hail with the bases of three huge which ozice sue sus sustained tamed the arches That this hall bail was very brodd Is attested by the discovery ery of or of the ruined arches arhe This iS thought to jQ be the th hall ball of the Benedictines There have also been be n found a large Ionic capital which seems to b g to h Ii M cd n period an au anterior tenor to Je Jeus us ChriSt Another Arother capital found m a hits has the head of a lion in ln the center and a child on each side of J On another capital are ar the figures of a llon ja ulL Still another capital is markedly Egyptian or in s y the figure of a rim ram and nd tiger Here Hee too tOc are many of with figures upon then like those I found fou on the scopes of T All o th se tin meg are tr r ere course of I pagan p agan origin 3 t TL i t 1 The GreeK and Arabic are a re well preserved and refer to t the building b bf of the fortress On the west S 5 i Ide of the plateau are several se sepulchral I T p grottoes rottes t the hewn h out chit of the rock As these tombs i hae h ave been en by Ajab In search Sarch of o f treasure it js is impossible to state w whether hether Hebrew or Christian j F her Burnabe describe rt c cal c M tombs forming a cemetery in t the he center of ot the plateau Tn Th the cen c n ner ter t er of the tle cemetery were ivere the remains of c o f a small room paved and of TJ li plaster in one of a f furnace by lire a and nd in another oblong tub o f masonry lined with aith a kind Of hard c e This seems Eto aVe been a r 5 here tnt the bode of children were M washed n thed thap they ht be a after fter the Hebrew This room v would W seem to to the j JoSephus The houses 0 o over these an used hem for c cellar TILe The several grottoes I i on op the thew theet w T et t evidently as habitations ate are s a the the d erles Here are mills grInd ii ing l ug grain and wIne and dil r p resa s Near them thein are ir several Cis Cm t in the shape of lar bottles i ke the Into was ii lowered I Whether these dwellings v were w ere occupied by the and il later by anchorites and na no proof i is for arche and theo thee l Ionian regard rea these discover jes as 4 a mon the niost iio to b bUcal t 4 ever particular A v aI elieS in the of showing howing t that hat in the early d ys of the Christian i r ia all ui that concerned the lire ite i tC te matter of oral t tradition and aTa familiar history 3 I M Tabor was ly general Ieni consent j regarded r as the i alid edifices of t the event were erected |
