Descriptions of Places Confirmed Later
Many geographical sites contained in the work have been found or confirmed after the death of Maria Valtorta in 1961.
Examples[edit | edit source]
The city of the Apostles Peter, Andrew, John and James son of Zebedee, Bartholomew (Nathaniel) the Apostle (Bartholomew) and Philip on the Sea of Tiberias. Destroyed by an earthquake around 324, it was discovered by archaeologist Rami Arav in 1987, 1.5 kilometers inland. The location had been indicated 40 years earlier by Jesus to Maria Valtorta: "twenty centuries of alluvium brought by the river and by the scree descending from the hills," the city is now in the middle of the land and no longer "at the river's mouth into the lake" (EMV 179.1).
Maria Valtorta described this Roman fleet port, including its powerful breakwater, which was only discovered in 2009. She drew the regional map with six rivers (EMV 104.1).
The descriptions of the ancient Jordanian city of Gerasa, present-day Jerash, and its surroundings (EMV 288.1), correspond perfectly to the conclusions of subsequent archaeological excavations published thirty years later (Jerash Archaeological Project).
House of Peter’s mother-in-law
The house of the mother-in-law of the apostle Simon Peter at Capernaum, excavated starting in 1968[1] and confirmed in 1990.
This fortress, excavated from 1963 to 1965[2], was the last place of resistance against the Romans during the Revolt of 70 AD. The thousand resistors were killed or committed suicide, as Jesus predicted.
This city is located between Mount Ebal (only identified in 1980) and Mount Gerizim. Maria Valtorta faithfully depicts its panorama (Judea).
Synagogue of Capernaum
The synagogue of Capernaum, which she described in 1944, including the black color of its walls due to basalt, which was confirmed by later archaeological excavations (excavations carried out by Fathers Stanislao Loffreda and Virgilio Corbo from 1968 to 1974).
Tomb of Hillel
The tomb of Hillel the Elder excavated in 1974[3]. This great figure of Judaism was the grandfather of another great person known in the Acts of the Apostles: Gamaliel.
Towers of Jezreel
The fortified enclosure and the four towers of Jezreel (located on a hill to the south of the Esdraelon Plain valley) were mentioned and described by Maria Valtorta (EMV 479.4). The Old Testament mentions only one tower (2 Kings 9:17). The other towers were discovered by chance in 1987 during construction work and excavated starting in 1989[4]. The excavations eventually proved the existence of these four towers and a surrounding city wall between 2010 and 2012[5].
Palace of Lazarus in Jerusalem
Based on Maria Valtorta's writings, German engineer Hans J. Hopfen (1904–1997) was able to locate Lazarus’ palace on the map of Jerusalem in 1975[6]. Previously unknown, this palace was rediscovered by a team of archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1983 at the exact place indicated by Maria Valtorta and then by Hopfen[7]. The 600m² building and its rooms (a square atrium of white marble with mosaic flooring, a paved courtyard 8x8m with a central basin, a reception hall 11×6.5m with Greco-Roman frescoes, a room with red marble, a panoramic terrace, etc.) correspond exactly to the visions reported by Maria Valtorta (EMV 372, received January 30, 1946, and EMV 375, received February 3, 1946[8]). This site is now the The Wohl Museum of Archeology.
Notes and references[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Excavations entrusted by the Custody of the Holy Land to Fathers Stanislao Loffreda (specialist in ancient pottery) and Virgilio Corbo (archaeologist) from 1968 to 1974.
- ↑ Notably by Professor Yigael Yadin
- ↑ https://thecompletepilgrim.com/tombs-Hillel-shammai/
- ↑ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/tav.1992.1992.1.3?journalCode=ytav20https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/lev.1994.26.1.1https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/tav.1997.1997.1.6
- ↑ David Ussishkin, Jezreel, Where Jezebel Was Thrown to the Dogs, Biblical Archaeology Review July / August 2010.
- ↑ Hans J. Hopfen, Indice e Carta della Palestina.
- ↑ Nahman Avigad (1905-1992), Discovering Jerusalem, Thomas Nelson, 1983.
- ↑ cf. Lavère, L’Énigme Valtorta, vol. 1, pp. 222-226.