This set depicts various scenes from the final few days in the story of Jesus, beginning with the figures in our top two rows, which must be showing the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. This is the event commemorated by the Palm Sunday feast, and the central figure is of course Jesus himself, sitting on a donkey. The man on the left of the row is perhaps leading the donkey, and the rest of the figures are of men and women in the crowd. Several are holding palm leaves, either waving them or laying them on the ground, and there is a nice piece of a woman lifting a child up so they can see. All the people wear what would seem reasonable clothing for the time, mostly fairly simple long robes with a head covering in most cases, although the first man is bareheaded. All the men have a beard, which would also seem reasonable as whilst the Romans at this date were usually clean-shaven, societies such as those in Judea probably saw a beard as a sign of masculinity, particularly away from the big cities, so they were likely to be common. The Jesus figure sits rather precariously on the donkey as there is no means of attachment (he sits side-saddle), so gluing is going to be required.

Jesus is then accused of sedition, and on the insistence of the crowd is condemned to crucifixion. This was a common form of punishment, particularly for very serious crimes, and was often preceded by a scourging or flogging, which would be part of the punishment, but also weaken the victim such that they expired more quickly when on the cross. As tradition has it, during this event someone placed a crown of thorns on his head in mockery of his alleged title of King of the Jews. Here, in our third row, we see him shackled to a post while one man handles the scourge and another seems about to place the ‘crown’ on his head.

Rows four and five depict the actual crucifixion. We see Jesus with his wrists nailed to the crosspiece of the cross, which is apparently being lifted by the two men to the side. A soldier stands next to the upright, presumably waiting for the crosspiece and victim to be attached. Here we find a problem, because while it is true that victims often had to carry the heavy crosspiece themselves as they approached the place of execution, they would only be nailed to the cross once it was assembled. This is simple logic, because how would the executioners attach the crosspiece to the upright with the weight of the victim dragging it down, and with his head in the way? They wouldn’t of course, so we are not sure why it has been done this way here (here Jesus is sitting on the ground, waiting for the men to lift him). The second row consists of some guards and a couple of bystanders, and complete the scene.

Finally we come to the end of the story, as the set includes a sizable model of a rock-cut tomb, complete with stone slab on which to lay the body, and a round stone door that would be rolled in place to seal it. This also presents problems, because such tombs were expensive and so only available to the wealthy. The son of a carpenter can hardly fit that description, so it seems illogical to us, although we are aware that tradition says this did happen. The tomb is made up of just two large pieces that fit together very well, plus the roof (which is a far less certain fit) and the door. The height of this structure is about 35 mm (2.52 metres), but the entrance is only 17 mm tall (1.22 metres), which is correct as they usually required anyone to stoop to enter. Since the door is separate, you can have your tomb open or sealed, and the rather spacious interior allows plenty of room for the slab as well as several figures, should you wish. Finally of course, we have what must be the man himself again, and should you choose to believe it, then he may be risen again, but perhaps just as miraculous is he has had time for a serious haircut and styling since his execution!

As we have said, the civilian clothing looks plausible to us, but we have a problem with that of the soldiers. At this date, Judea was a sort of satellite of the province of Syria, and while Syria held several legions as a defence against the Parthians, Judea had none. As a province, Syria had a governor who was also responsible for Judea and the other smaller territories, but his deputy held the local power, and he was a more lowly prefect, the famous Pontius Pilate. To enforce Roman will if required, he had several cohorts of auxiliaries, who at the time of major festivals like Passover would be stationed in Jerusalem. However, their role was not one of day-to-day policing, so local Jerusalem authorities were in charge of that. Thus the executioners and any guard would have been locals raised to keep the peace and administer justice, but we have found no evidence of what they looked like. Possibly they would have a simple tunic and belt with swords, and also a spear. They might wear a helmet as a sign of their authority, but there seems no evidence for any of this. The soldiers in this set look suspiciously like Roman auxiliaries, or worse yet legionaries, as they wear typical clothing, helmets and armour, but we seriously doubt that such men were even present during these events, much less actually carrying them out. The auxiliaries, had they been involved at all, might well have dressed as local troops, which is what they were, rather than in the style of the occupying power. One man even has a full phalerae on his chest, as if such a man would demean himself to the level of executing criminals. We can’t prove this of course – there is no independent evidence for any of this – which is why we have refrained from giving an accuracy score for this set, but it all looks to us more like an illustrated children’s bible story than anything historical.

These 3D printed figures are beautifully sculpted, with lovely detail and perfect proportions. All the clothing looks very natural, and faces and hands are excellent. Apart from the tomb, everything comes in single pieces as seen above, yet the printing method means there is no flash and no excess plastic, just beautifully made figures that look great from all angles. It is a pity therefore that these figures, including the women, average 26 mm (1.87 metres, or over six modern feet) in height, an absurd size for first century citizens.

While the manufacturer is clearly pushing a religious agenda here, what we actually have is a very unusual set of mostly civilians from the first century. While we have cast doubt on the veracity of some elements as they relate to the historical Jesus, taking a more general view, everything here is quite usable for the period, even if you might choose to trim the palm leaves from the women, and the rather unique crown of thorns from the executed man. Even the crucifixion figures are widely usable (one thinks of the aftermath of the Spartacus revolt, for example), so although they are somewhat out of scale, these could be used for many other ancient scenes.