A REMARKABLE DRAWING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6130, 17 March 1898, Page 3

A REMARKABLE DRAWING.

An extraordinary discovery is announced from Home, no less than that Signor Marucchi, the archaeologist, has discovered arough drawing of the crucifixion, inscribed ' with the Latin names of the soldiers who were standing around the cross. The con- . jecture is that it is the drawing of a ; soldier who was actually present at the ( scene, and of course] such a thing is not , absolutely impossible. In addition to inscriptions without number, there are still in existence drawings, and even paintings, of an earlier date. A spectator might possibly have recorded his impressions of the execution, and his work, if protected from the air and from destruction by some accident, may possibly have come down to this age. But the probabilities are (the London correspondent of the Age says) very much against it. There is no very great likelihood that a Roman soldier would have taken any special notice of a punishment frequently inflicted by the authorities of his country upon a fanatical and troublesome people like the Jews. It is very unlikely that he would have attempted to give a realistic representation of the scene if he were not present at it, or that he would have taken tLe trouble to add the names of the soldiers who were. Still less is it likely that he would have dared to disfigure the walls of the Palace of Tiberius ■with such a drawing. The probability is that the picture is the work of some second or third century Christian, . and that the names are' those of saints, or, possibly, of gome of his personal friends. •