Nazareth Inscription

[2][3] The text is read by scholars in the context of Roman law pertaining to exhumation and reburial, mentioned also by Pliny.

[10] Clyde E. Billington provides the following English translation:[11][12] Edict of Caesar It is my decision [concerning] graves and tombs—whoever has made them for the religious observances of parents, or children, or household members—that these remain undisturbed forever.

But if anyone legally charges that another person has destroyed, or has in any manner extracted those who have been buried, or has moved with wicked intent those who have been buried to other places, committing a crime against them, or has moved sepulcher-sealing stones, against such a person, I order that a judicial tribunal be created, just as [is done] concerning the gods in human religious observances, even more so will it be obligatory to treat with honor those who have been entombed.

[13] A tomb at which funeral rites had been duly performed became a locus religiosus, belonging to the divine rather than to the human realm.

Like Zulueta, J. Spencer Kennard, Jr. noted that the reference to "Caesar" indicated that "the inscription must have been derived from somewhere in Samaria or Decapolis; Galilee was ruled by a client-prince until the reign of Claudius".

[7]: 89  Some authors, citing the inscription's supposed Galilean origin, interpreted it as Imperial Rome's clear reaction to the empty tomb of Jesus[2][7]: 89  and specifically as an edict of Claudius, who reigned AD 41-54.

[6] According to the authors of the study, the enrichment of carbon 13 and depletion of Oxygen 18 may identify the source of the marble as the upper quarry in the island of Kos.

The inscription, in a facsimile from its original publication in 1930.
Map of the Decapolis (cities in black) and nearby areas including unmarked Samaria which is the northern part of the Roman province of Judea .
Coin showing image of Nikias of Kos , Ruler of Kos from c. 50 BCE to c. 20 BCE. The Nazareth inscription is believed by researchers to be in response to disturbing his grave. [ 6 ]