Spear of Longinus
The relic Indy chases in the 1944 opening of the Dial of Destiny, only to learn it is a fake.
The Spear of Longinus—known variously as the Holy Lance or Spear of Destiny—is a legendary relic steeped in Christian tradition, believed to be the weapon used by Roman centurion Longinus to pierce Christ’s side during the Crucifixion. In Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, set at the end of World War II in its opening, the Nazis capture Indiana Jones and Oxford archaeologist Basil Shaw as they try to retrieve the Spear of Longinus from a castle in the French Alps. The Nazi astrophysicist Jürgen Voller informs his superiors that the Lance is fake, but he has found half of Archimedes' Dial.
Quick Facts
- Also known as
- The Holy Lance
- Origin legend
- Roman Empire (Crucifixion Era)
- Real-world location (traditional)
- Vienna, Austria (Hofburg Palace)
Lore & Background
The Holy Lance, also known as the Spear of Longinus or the Spear of Destiny, is the lance that pierced the side of Jesus as he hung on the cross. In the modern era, major Holy Lance relics are kept in Rome, Vienna and Vagharshapat. The lance in Vienna, which the bishop Liutprand associated with Constantine the Great rather than Longinus, is displayed in the Imperial Treasury at the Hofburg Palace. The Dial of Destiny uses the relic only for its opening: the real prize turns out to be the Dial.
Reader's Guide
The Spear of Longinus sits at the crossroads of religious history and adventure fiction. Before the film, the spear appeared in the 1995 Dark Horse comic series Indiana Jones and the Spear of Destiny, in which Jones and his father search for the Holy Lance in Ireland in 1945. A planned follow-up game to Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Indiana Jones and the Spear of Destiny, was to revolve around the Spear of Longinus.
Did You Know?
- One of the Holy Lance relics is on public display in the Imperial Treasury at the Hofburg in Vienna, and X-ray studies dated it to around the 8th century.
- The Spear of Longinus opens the film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023), where it turns out to be a fake.
More in Production & Legacy
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