![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Nazareth_Inscription.jpg/640px-Nazareth_Inscription.jpg&w=640&q=50)
Nazareth Inscription
Marble tablet inscribed in Greek / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Nazareth Inscription?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
The Nazareth Inscription or Nazareth decree is a marble tablet inscribed in Greek with an edict from an unnamed Caesar ordering capital punishment for anyone caught disturbing graves or tombs.[1] It is dated on the basis of epigraphy to the first half of the 1st century AD. Its provenance is unknown, but a French collector acquired the stone from Nazareth. It is now in the collections of the Louvre.[2][3]
![]() |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Nazareth_Inscription.jpg/640px-Nazareth_Inscription.jpg)
The text is read by scholars in the context of Roman law pertaining to exhumation and reburial, mentioned also by Pliny.[4][5] The inscription is of interest to some authors for its indirect relationship to the historicity of Jesus, even though the text contains no reference to Jesus of Nazareth. A 2020 study of the marble's isotopes showed that the tablet came from a quarry in the Greek island of Kos, casting much doubt on the theory that it has any relationship to Jesus, and it may instead have been inscribed as a reaction to the desecration of the grave of the Kos tyrant Nikias circa 20 BCE.[6]