From Newsgroup: uk.religion.christian

A report in today's Daily Mail claims that archaeologists have
uncovered(sic) the spot where Jesus cast out the demon named legion.
Surprise surprise! It turns out to be Kursi, the traditional site of the miracle. Apparently the "uncovering" consists of going for a swim and
finding large blocks of stone underwater, which they interpret as an
ancient harbour. The article also refers to ancient tombs dotting the surrounding hillsides.

I cannot comment on the harbour as I haven't gone scuba diving at that
point, but I want to raise an eyebrow over these tombs. I don't recall
seeing any when I have visited Kursi and a quick refresher on GoogleMaps
seems similarly devoid of tombs, whether looking at the aerial view
(satellite view) or down at ground level in StreetView.

More damning is the fact that there is no ruined city nearby. The gospel account speaks of the demoniac living among the tombs. Today with
motorised hearses, there is no problem about having a cemetery some
distance from the town, but back in those days the cemetery came right
up to the walls of the city or town. If there was a cemetery, there had
to be a town.

The only point in Kursi's favour is that it is about the only spot on
the eastern shore of Galilee where there are cliffs dropping down into
the lake. I would suggest, however, that the point is over-rated. The
"cliff" off which the pigs ran into the lake need not have been more
than four or five feet high, sufficient to prevent the pigs scrambling
out again.

The problem is the paucity of ancient vocabulary. Josephus, for example,
talks about the vast depth of the Tyropoen Valley, so deep that the eye
can scarcely reach the bottom. In reality the valley is only 40' or 50'
deep at its deepest, possibly a bit more if you are standing on an
artificial wall and looking down into it. We might have towering cliffs, beetling cliffs, or a vertical bank, but to the Gospel writers they were
all "cliffs".

The only substantial settlement on the eastern shore where you might
find tombs near enough for the demoniac to see Jesus and emerge raving,
is Safita. The city itself stands on top of a distinctive steep hill -
some claim that it is the "city set on a hill" - but the tombs may well
have extended down the slope almost to the water's edge.

But where was that water's edge in Jesus' day? There has been subtantial erosion around Safita, extending the mouths of the wadis to north and
south out into the water to form a little coastal plain. For all I know,
in Jesus' day there may well have been little cliffs sufficient to have drowned a whole herd of pigs.

God bless,
Kendall K. Down
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