Wednesday, October 1, 2025

I no longer support the supposed Simon Ossuary found at Dominus Flevit being Peter

To be clear, I still believe Peter was never actually in Rome, or at least not in the way traditionally thought.  And I still believe the First Century Ossuaries found at Dominus Flevit were Early Christians and that this Simon is likely one of the Simons mentioned in The New Testament.

First of all I believe even if Peter’s remains wound up in this style of Ossuary the name of Cepha or Petros would also be on, that isn’t just presented as Nick Name in The Bible but a full on new Name. 

Second, I do not believe Peter’s Father was actually named Jonah.  Sometimes in The Bible a “Son of” designation is poetic rather than literal. The only time Simon Peter is called Simon son of Jonas is in John 21 in the same narrative where Jesus prophesies Peter’s fate saying he’ll be taken to a place he didn’t want to go, like what happened to the Prophet Jonah. 

If the alternate reading of the name on this Ossuary as “Simon Bar Zilla” is correct, that could perhaps most likely refer to Simon Zealots who I do not believe was called that because he was a member of the Zealot sect.  But another candidate could be Simon The Leper (Jar Maker in the Peshita) who lived in Bethany and seems to be part of the same household as Mary, Martha and Lazarus, some even argue he’s the same person as Lazarus.  Or Simon of Cyrene.  I rule out the half brother of Jesus only because his patronym would have been Bar Yosef or Ben Yosef. 

One current theory I have on Peter's fate is that he was among the Jews who were burned at the stake in Antioch in AD 67 after being falsely blamed for a plot to burn the city down as recounted by Josephus in Wars of The Jews Book VII Chapter 3. So perhaps his burial place should be looked for there. But there probably wasn't a grave or tomb in that scenario since only ashes were left. 

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