''Jesus died of blood clot'' - researcher

[Templar Knight]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli researcher has challenged the popular belief that Jesus died of blood loss on the cross, saying he probably succumbed to a sometimes fatal disorder now associated with long-haul air travel.

Professor Benjamin Brenner wrote in The Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis that Jesus's death, traditionally believed to have occurred 3-6 hours after crucifixion began, was probably caused by a blood clot that reached his lungs.

Such pulmonary embolisms, leading to sudden death, can stem from immobilisation, multiple trauma and dehydration, said Brenner, a researcher at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.

"This fits well with Jesus's condition and actually was in all likelihood the major cause of death by crucifixion," he wrote in the article, based on religious and medical texts.

A 1986 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association mentioned the possibility that Jesus suffered a blood clot but concluded that he died of blood loss.

But Brenner said research into blood coagulation had made significant strides over the past two decades.

He said recent medical research has linked immobility among passengers on lengthy air flights to deep vein thrombosis, popularly known as "economy-class syndrome" in which potentially fatal blood clots can develop, usually in the lower legs.

Brenner noted that before crucifixion, Jesus underwent scourging, but the researcher concluded that "the amount of blood loss by itself" would not have killed him.

He said that Jesus, as a Jew from what is now northern Israel, may have been particular at risk to a fatal blood clot.

Thrombophilia, a rare condition in which blood has an increased tendency to clot, is common to natives of the Galilee, the researcher wrote.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050608/325/fknjf.html

[Grey_Fox]

Only way we'll know what Jesus probably died of would be if we nailed an Israeli to a cross.

However, it's kind of a waste of time debating what the cause of death was. Cause of death was being nailed to the cross in the first place.

[Beirut]

[QUOTE=Grey_Fox]Only way we'll know what Jesus probably died of would be if we nailed an Israeli to a cross.
QUOTE]

Methinks volunteers would be scarce.

[Ja'chyra]

So now we know what a mythical figure may have died of if, of course, he ever existed.

Time well spent.

[Steppe Merc]

There is proof that he existed. Not of him being a god.

[monkian]

Cause of death

Death could come in hours or days, depending on exact methods, the health of those crucified, and environmental circumstances.

A theory attributed to Pierre Barbet holds that the typical cause of death was asphyxiation. He conjectured that when the whole body weight was supported by the stretched arms, the victim would have severe difficulty exhaling, due to hyper-expansion of the lungs. The victim would therefore have to draw himself up by his arms, or have his feet supported by tying or by a wood block. Indeed, Roman executioners were said to break the victim's legs, after he had hung for some time, in order to hasten his death. Once deprived of support and unable to lift himself, the victim would die within a few minutes.

If death did not come from asphyxiation, it could result from a number of other causes, including physical shock caused by the scourging that preceded the crucifixion, and the nailing itself, dehydration, and exhaustion.

Experiments by Frederick Zugibe have revealed that, when suspended with arms at 60° to 70° from the vertical, test subjects had no difficulty breathing, only rapidly increasing discomfort and pain. This would correspond to the Roman use of crucifixion as a prolonged, agonizing, humiliating death. Zugibe claims that the breaking of the crucified victim's legs to hasten death, mentioned in the Gospel accounts, was done in order to cause severe traumatic shock or death by fat embolism, and only as a coup de grace. Crucifixion on a single pole with no transom, with hands affixed over one's head, would precipitate rapid asphyxiation if no block was provided to stand on, or once the legs were broken.

from Wikkipedia.org

[Ja'chyra]

There is proof that he existed. Not of him being a god.

What proof?

[Fragony]

[QUOTE=Beirut]

Only way we'll know what Jesus probably died of would be if we nailed an Israeli to a cross.
QUOTE]

Methinks volunteers would be scarce.

Depends on what you are voluntering for

[Samurai Waki]

The only real physical evidence noted as being property of Jesus, has a very intriguing yet unfound basis. The most notable piece of evidence that could connect Jesus to any real existence is via "the shroud of Turin" which has gained some support from both atheist and religious archaelogists. The Shroud was said to be draped over Jesus' body after his death. Someone took it, and it ended up in a reliquiary in Turin. Both sides now know for certain the Shroud contains blood-genetic material of some ancient origin. who's it is, or more specifically how old it really is has baffled scientists since the discovery of carbon dating. The original tests show that the Shroud was made in the 1100s, but after closely inspecting it, it was found out, that it contains some metallic type material (Like Zinc or something) that blocks any modern carbon-dating method to actually finding the correct year of it's make, and how old the blood is. If you could find how old the material is, then you could find out where it came from.
Also Genetic-Archaelogy is becoming a widely researched field, and have found similar blood ties from people who died in Phoenicia like 2000 years to modern people living in North Africa. If geneticists could find out the genetic code in the material found on the Shroud, then they might be able to link it to somewhere in Judea. It's very interesting to research. They have actually found a direct disendet of a 8000 year old body found in South Africa to a man currently living in Wales... of course right now Genetic-Archaelogists are more concerned about researching into the origins of humanity, where it started, and where it migrated to and from. Currently the vast majority of people living in Italy are more related to Germans rather than their Roman Ancestors, and more people living in Turkey are related to Romans than to their Turkish Conquerors. so maybe in due time, we will find out, if the shroud is truly a piece of evidence that can link us to a physical form of Jesus.

[Steppe Merc]

I never understood how names could go from Hezakia (or something) and Abrahim to Mary and Joseph... Sure it was a long time between the Old and New, but even the Apostoles have pretty radically different names. I mean John to Judas?
I just always found that weird.