'Archaeological Miracle' Unearthed in Jerusalem
What's being called 'an extremely rare ancient early Christian Greek inscription' has been discovered about a kilometer north of Jerusalem's Old City.
The intact 1,500-year-old mosaic was discovered during work on a phone cable under a street, according to The Times of Israel.
The inscription on the mosaic reads, "In the time of our most pious emperor Flavius Justinian, also this entire building Constantine the most God-loving priest and abbot, established and raised, in the 14th indiction."
Indiction was an ancient method of counting years, and dates the piece to the year 550/551 AD.
Israel Antiquities Authority director of excavation David Gellman said the discovery is "extremely exciting," and compared it to "a 'direct letter' from someone from 1,500 years ago."
The mosaic is believed to have commemorated the founding of a Christian pilgrim hostel by a priest named Constantine.
It was found on a road leading to the Damascus Gate, the main northern entrance to Jerusalem in the period of the Byzantine Christian emperor Justinian the Great.
