Monday, October 28, 2024

More on the Petra chalice

NABATEAN (NABATAEAN) WATCH: What 12 ancient skeletons discovered in a mysterious tomb in Petra could tell us about the ancient city (Claire Isabella Gilmour, The Conversation).

This essay gives a very preliminary assessment of the new discoveries in that tomb under Al Khazneh in Petra, as well as some background on the Nabateans and on Petra. It caught my eye because it addresses an obvious question: why is the chalice excavated in the grave so similar to the Holy Grain in Indiana Jones 3?

One of the most headline-grabbing discoveries has been dubbed a “holy grail” in many reports, suggesting that the vessel is similar to the fictional cup from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, also discovered at the Khazneh. In fact, it’s a humble jug, not a cup offering the drinker eternal life.

The similarities between the vessels aren’t a case of art imitating life, but the result of painstaking research into Nabataean pottery carried out by Deborah Fine, who was the director of archives at Lucasfilm Ltd.

She chose wisely.

PaleoJudaica posts on the new discoveries at Petra are here and here.

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