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Archaeologists uncover one of the world’s oldest churches: “Sensational testimony to early Christianity”
Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of an Armenian church dating back almost 2,000 years, making it the oldest structure of its kind in the country and one of the oldest in the world. Germany’s University of Münster, which partnered with a team at the Armenian academy of Sciences on the archaeological dig, announced the discovery Friday and called it “a sensational testimony to early Christianity in Armenia.”
The joint team of archaeologists and researchers uncovered the building during excavations in Artaxata, once a thriving metropolis and commercial center, which for several centuries before and after the common era served as the capital of the ancient Armenian kingdom. Excavations were part of the larger Armenian-German Artaxata Project, an initiative started in 2018 to study the area.
Experts believe the church found recently in Artaxata was originally built in the 4th century A.D. That timing coincides with the construction of Etchmiadzin Cathedral, also in Armenia, which is considered the ancient kingdom’s first cathedral and is often regarded as the oldest cathedral in the world.
© Armenian-German Artaxata Project
“The building, which dates back to the 4th century, is the oldest archaeologically documented church in the country — a sensational testimony to early Christianity in Armenia,” Achim Lichtenberger, a professor at the University of Münster who works on the archaeology project in Artaxata, said in a statement.
Mkrtich Zardaryan of the Armenian Academy of Sciences, who also worked on the project, noted separately that the architecture of the church may help researchers understand something new about Armenia’s history. The church is shaped like an octagon, with rectangular chambers extending out from four of the sides. It is the first octagonal church known to exist in Armenia, Zardaryan said, adding that churches with that shape typically appear in the eastern Mediterranean and can similarly date back as far as the 4th century.
The ancient church resembled early Christian memorial buildings, according to the University of Münster. It measured about 100 feet across and originally had mortar flooring, created mostly from sand and cement, with walls made from thick slabs of terracotta — a clay material that at the time was produced in places like Greece and Italy.
© Armenian-German Artaxata Project
Pieces of the original material discovered at the site of the ruins suggested the church was decorated lavishly with terracotta, likely imported from the Mediterranean. Remains of wooden platforms found along with the clay helped researchers confirm the building’s ancient origins by way of carbon dating, the university said.
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Saudi Arabia jails cartoonist Mohammed al-Hazza for 23 years for insulting leadership, rights group says
Dubai — A Saudi artist has been sentenced to more than two decades in prison over political cartoons that allegedly insulted the Gulf kingdom’s leadership, his sister and a rights group said this week. The case against Mohammed al-Hazza, 48, adds to concerns about freedom of expression under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as Saudi Arabia — the world’s largest crude oil exporter — seeks to open up to tourists and investors after years of isolation.
The father of five was arrested in February 2018 in Saudi Arabia during “a violent raid” in which security forces entered his home and ransacked his studio, the London-based Sanad Human Rights Organization said in a statement.
A court document seen by AFP says the charges against him concern “offensive cartoons” he produced for the Qatari newspaper Lusail as well as social media posts that were allegedly “hostile” to Saudi Arabia and supportive of Qatar.
Hazza’s arrest came less than a year after Saudi Arabia and several allies cut ties with Qatar, claiming it supported extremists and was too close to Iran — allegations that Doha denied. The countries mended ties in January 2021.
Saudi Arabia’s secretive Specialized Criminal Court, set up in 2008 to deal with terrorism-related cases, initially sentenced Hazza to six years in prison. But this year, as Hazza was preparing to be released, the case was re-opened and he was sentenced to 23 years, his sister Asrar al-Hazza told AFP by phone from the United States.
“He was almost there… He almost left the prison. But then out of nowhere it was opened again and it was 23 years,” she said.
Saudi authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the case on Wednesday. Sanad said in its statement that Hazza worked for Lusail mostly before the 2017 boycott “and only briefly afterward” and that most of his cartoons concerned domestic Qatari issues.
The group said prosecutors failed to provide evidence of cartoons that were offensive to Saudi Arabia or social media posts that backed Qatar during the boycott.
Under Crown Prince bin Salman, Saudi Arabia has been criticized for what activists describe as a fierce crackdown on even vaguely critical online speech and on any form of dissent.
Pushed by CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell over the jailing of a prominent women’s rights activist in a 2019 interview for 60 Minutes, bin Salman said, “there are laws in Saudi Arabia that must be respected, whether or not we agree with them, whether I personally agree with them or not.”
Over the past two years the Saudi judiciary has “convicted and handed down lengthy prison terms on dozens of individuals for their expression on social media,” human rights groups Amnesty International and ALQST said in April.
Saudi officials say the accused cartoonist committed terrorism-related offenses.
“The case of Mohammed al-Hazza is one example of the suppression of freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia, which has not spared anyone, including artists,” Sanad operations manager Samer Alshumrani told AFP. “This is supported by the politicized, non-independent judiciary in Saudi Arabia.”
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