Crucified Orpheus

A quick update on the state of play of the amulet used on the cover of Freke and Gandy's The Jesus Mysteries. Regular readers will remember I discovered that this amulet had been denounced as almost certainly a fake.

Two new bits of information. Firstly, a reader has tracked down some of the German scholarship relating to the amulet and given us a translation of the relevant portion. It's worth reading to get chapter and verse on the matter. Secondly, another reader, who knew Gandy and Freke (and defends them) put my charges to them. Initially, Gandy tried to muddy the waters. I presented the evidence with references and he then admitted that not only had he read the note in his book that said the amulet was probably fake, he had even marked it on his copy.

Only two conclusions are possible from this. Either Freke and Gandy are dishonestly suppressing information that counts against their thesis, or they are too stupid to remember their own research. Either way, everything in their book should be treated with the deepest suspicion and scepticism. On a final amusing note, Gandy was threatening to sue Wikipaedia because my entry there exposed their mistakes/duplicity. After the Da Vinci trial, I'm not sure that conspiracy theorists would be well advised take their case to court.

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