Stygmata (was Re: [UA] Minor cards}

[David T. Moraski II]

On Wed, 19 Feb 2003, Yann Golanski wrote:
> Please be _very_ carefull about citing and trusting films from
> Hollywood.  They are rarly accurate and generally twist realisty to fit
> their facts.  Stygmata (while a very good movie) is very unaccurate.
>
> For those intrested in the Gospel of thomas, you can find translations
> at http://home.epix.net/~miser17/Thomas.html and there are millions of
> books on gnostic christianity.  I'm afraid that time and money
> contraints have stoped me from delving much into it.  Somewhat,
> Superstring Theroy by Green and Witten floated at the top of the list of
> books to read and understand.

Whilst inaccurate regarding the Gospel of Thomas and Gnostic concepts,
Stigmata /was/ spot on about crucifixion techniques.  Historically, the
nailing was done between the bones of the forearm; this is documented in
Roman texts detailing the practice, as well as archaelogically.  The
confusion probably arises from Jesus' later words to Thomas; "Observe my
hands", which is just an artifact of translation.

Further pointless but interesting facts: While impossible to say for
certain which cross Jesus was hung up on, the most commonly used one for
his day was a Tau cross (ie, shaped like a capital T) rather than the
traditional Christian cross.

Dave

"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya.  You killed my father.  Prepare to die."

"Hello. My name is Bruce Wayne.  You killed my father.  Prepare to die."

"Hello. My name is Hamlet.  You killed my father and married my mother.
Should I do something about it or not?"

"Hello. My name is Oedipus. I killed my father and married my mother.
Prepare to be grossed out as I rip out my eyes."

                                           -- Tom Galloway



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