As life becomes more transparent than it ever was, with the help of technology, it is highly thrilling that we still have the chance to discover yet unearthed mysteries. A secret message has recently been found in an underground cave which is known to house the remains of a Jewish ritual bath.
A team of construction workers who were building a nursery in Jerusalem discovered the ancient message which dates to the first century AD and features walls treated with ancient plaster.
According to a recent analysis, the puzzling message was written in mud, soot and carvings. Inscriptions are in the ancient Aramaic, the language that was widely spread in Biblical times. It is also written in cursive Hebrew script, customary at the end of the Second Temple period.
The symbols don’t bear a revealing message but it is interesting to see how people back then had found original, artsy ways of communicating. The new discovery speaks tons about the complexion of humankind. We have always been in search for the perfect ways of expression, starting with murals back in ancient times, up to the present moment when selfies have the power to express our personalities. If we assess the path of progress, we may conclude that people were used to considering communication from a more sophisticated point of view, but that can be based on their lack or shortage of channels and knowledge. As the world becomes more complex, language simplifies, if we speak in terms of comparison.
Among the symbols that were recently found on the ritual bath, or mikve, we can see a boat, palm trees and diverse plant species. Also, experts speculated on the drawing of the Jewish seven-branched candelabrum, also known as menorah.
Although researchers have been trying to decipher the message, they haven’t succeeded yet. Well, humankind works in mysterious and paradoxical ways. Ways of life were much more simplistic then, people didn’t have access to such amounts of information, gadgets and pathways for progress. But on the other hand, they had a very personal, complex and sophisticated way of communicating. They had the knowledge of symbols at their feet and that is the perfect landmark of wisdom. We have information nowadays but we need to pay the price of that instead. Less is more, as history shows us.
The mysterious ancient message found in Jerusalem is still a challenge for experts. The reason why is yet unknown. The symbols and the inscriptions were all drawn in the ritual bath, a place which, of all places, is another mystery.
Image Source: unitedwithisrael.org
