Caiaphas - Bone Box of the High Priest

Yehosef bar Kayafa (Joseph, son of Caiaphas), known more commonly as Caiaphas, was the Jewish high priest at the time of Jesus' trial. Because he held that position, he was also chairman of the Sanhedrin (the Jewish high court).

Josephus, the Jewish historian of the first century, tells us that Caiaphas was removed from office in 36 A.D. by Vitellius, the Syrian governor. According to Josephus, high priests from the family of Annas (Caiaphas was Annas' son-in-law) were "heartless when they sit in judgment."

After he lost his position, a few years after the death of Jesus, Caiaphas would likely have moved from his residence in Jerusalem's Upper City (where other city leaders also lived) to live on his farm, near Galilee.

In 1990, archaeologists discovered a bone box (known as an ossuary) in a family tomb in Abu Tor, a neighborhood about two miles south of the Old City of Jerusalem. On the side of the box, written in Aramaic (the language most Jews spoke at the time of Jesus), were these words: "Yehosef bar Kayafa" (Joseph son of Caiaphas).

Scholars believe the ossuary, pictured above, is genuine. It contained, among others, the bones of a man about sixty years old when he died. Officials buried the bones, believed to be those of the former high priest, and removed the ossuary to the Israel Museum, in Jerusalem.

Click on the image for a better view.