'Jesus Cup' found in Egypt etched with first reference to Christ

"A ceramic bowl discovered off the coast of Egypt may contain the world's first reference to Christ. The so-called 'Jesus Cup' was unearthed in 2008 by a team led by French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio during an excavation of Alexandria's ancient great harbor. Remarkably well preserved, the bowl is missing only a handle and bears a Greek inscription: DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS, translated as 'Through Christ the chanter.' Dr Jeremiah Johnston, a New Testament scholar, explained on a recent Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) segment that the artifact dates to the first century AD, the era when Jesus was crucified. 'Jesus' reputation was that he was a healer, miracle worker, and exorcist,' Johnston said. 'This Jesus Cup gives evidence to that legacy.'"

"Goddio suggested the inscription may have been intended to legitimize soothsaying rituals. The bowl closely resembles those depicted on early Egyptian statuettes, showing fortune-telling ceremonies. Ancient manuals describe how practitioners poured oil into water and entered ecstatic trances, seeking visions of mystical beings who could answer questions about the future. Invoking Christ, already recognized as a powerful wonder-worker, may have lent authority to the ritual."

"'The disciples came to Jesus and said, 'Teacher, people are using your name to cast out demons. Should we stop them?' Jesus said, 'No, a house divided against itself can't,' Dr. Johnston told TBN. Goddio and his team found the cup at an ancient Egyptian site that included the now-submerged island of Antirhodos, where Cleopatra's palace may have been located. Alexandria in the first century was a cosmopolitan hub where paganism, Judaism, and Christianity overlapped. Magical practices incorporated figures from multiple traditions, and the name of Christ sometimes appeared in both pagan and Christian magical texts."

A ceramic bowl recovered from Alexandria's submerged harbor bears a Greek inscription reading DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS, translated as 'Through Christ the chanter.' The artifact dates to the first century AD and is remarkably well preserved. Archaeologists and scholars propose the bowl functioned in divinatory or soothsaying rituals, mirroring Egyptian statuette depictions and ancient manuals describing oil-in-water trance practices. Invoking Christ may have conferred authority because Jesus was reputed as a healer, miracle worker, and exorcist. The find reflects Alexandria's cosmopolitan mix of paganism, Judaism, and early Christianity, where magical texts sometimes incorporated Christ's name.

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