Megiddo Mosaic Coming to the Ark Encounter This Winter

Right now, our teams are hard at work converting part of our Answers Center lobby into an exhibit hall where this phenomenal find will be displayed while on temporary loan from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). It will be carefully disassembled in D.C., shipped by the IAA to the Ark Encounter, then reassembled by an IAA team for display. It’s going to be quite the process just to get it here! We anticipate the mosaic going on display sometime this winter.

Here’s some background I shared last year on this incredible archaeological find:

In AD 230, Christianity was technically an illegal religion in the Roman Empire. Severus Alexander sat on the throne as emperor, rising to power at age 13 after his grandmother had her older grandson, Emperor Elagabalus, assassinated. Despite this bloody takeover, Severus was favorable toward Christians, and persecution during his reign was light compared to previous centuries.

Sometime during his reign, a room hosting a communion table to be used by officers of the Roman Legio VI Ferrata was built south of Tel Megiddo in northern Israel. The floor of that room was constructed as a beautiful mosaic, featuring several inscriptions—one of which read, “Akeptous, the friend of God, has offered the table to God Jesus Christ (for) remembrance.”

Within decades, the building was abandoned and dismantled, but an unknown someone took time to cover the mosaic with pottery shards and wall plaster, preserving it until now.

This floor mosaic, featuring the earliest known extra-biblical reference (outside of manuscripts) to Jesus as God, has been called “one of the most important discoveries made in Israel this century.”

We are so excited to be able to display this incredible piece of history.

We are so excited to be able to display this incredible piece of history. We will also be adding to the exhibit as our teams are designing mannequins dressed in accurate period clothing to represent the four people named on the mosaic. Yes, we’re helping to bring this ancient church back to life for a modern audience to experience.

This display—and the renovations in the Answers Center necessary to create the display space—was made possible because of our supporters’ generous donations to our end-of-year campaign last year. Thank you to everyone who gave!

We’re thrilled to be able to display this incredible piece of history and point people toward the truth written on those millennia-old stones: Jesus is God. And this special space for the exhibit will be used for other special temporary exhibits after the Megiddo mosaic is returned.

If you’d like to check out our end-of-year fundraiser for this year (all gifts are matched again, dollar for dollar up to $12 million), visit our Donate page. Your generosity allows this ministry to reach millions of people each year and to complete amazing projects like this one.

If you’d like to check out our end-of-year fundraiser for this year (all gifts are matched again, dollar for dollar up to $12 million), visit our Donate page. Your generosity allows this ministry to reach millions of people each year and to complete amazing projects like this one.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.