Posted on 08/08/2015 8:15:32 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Over the last several seasons of excavation in a fifth-century C.E. synagogue in the Lower Galilee, archaeologists have uncovered stunning mosaics depicting two scenes from the Samson cycle, human and animal figures, a Hebrew dedicatory inscription and a meeting between what may be Alexander the Great and a Jewish high priest. Led by Jodi Magness, the Kenan Distinguished Professor for Teaching Excellence in Early Judaism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the excavation at the ancient Jewish village in Huqoq, Israel, has continued to yield exciting finds that fascinate scholars and laypersons alike.
During the 2015 field season at Huqoq, which wrapped up at the end of June, the excavators uncovered even more mosaics. The discovery was announced in a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill press release:
New digging reveals that the [Hebrew] inscription is in the center of a large square panel with human figures, animals and mythological creatures arranged symmetrically around it … These include winged putti (cupids) holding roundels (circular discs) with theater masks, muscular male figures wearing trousers who support a garland, a rooster, and male and female faces in a wreath encircling the inscription. Putti and masks are associated with Dionysos (Bacchus), who was the Greco-Roman god of wine and theater performances.
The archaeologists also found plastered columns with painted ivy leaves inside the synagogue...
Located near the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee about 3 miles west of Magdala (home of Mary Magdalene) and Capernaum (where Jesus taught in the synagogue), Huqoq was a wealthy Jewish village that thrived in the Late Roman and Byzantine periods (fourth–sixth centuries C.E.), according to Rabbinic sources. Carved stone fragments found around the modern village suggested that there may have once been an ancient synagogue at Huqoq...
(Excerpt) Read more at biblicalarchaeology.org ...
New mosaics discovered in synagogue excavations in Galilee
http://uncnews.unc.edu/2015/07/01/new-mosaics-discovered-in-synagogue-excavations-in-galilee/
Impressive
“fifth-century C.E.”
C.E.? Christian Era?
A.D. for clarity
“But I’m a whiny little weenie who can’t accept that not everyone sees the world exactly as I do!”
Regards the new Alexander mosiac, this is much more likely to be a depiction of a scene from the Talmud, where bar Kamza offers a sacrificial calf on behalf of the Romans, to rabbi Zechariah Abkulas (see Gittin 55-57). This was in about AD 68, just prior to the Jewish Revolt. But bar Kamza was being devious here, because he had cut the calf’s lip (you can see the mark on the mosaic), knowing that Zechariah would have to reject the blemished Roman offering - and thereby offend the Romans, and in turn precipitate the Jewish Revolt. This was one of the ways by which the Jewish Revolt was deliberately contrived.
The question then becomes - who was bar Kamza. And the answer is quite surprising....
Ralph
Newly-discovered 1,600-year-old mosaic sheds light on ancient Judaism
EurekAlert! | Monday, July 1, 2019 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Posted on 07/02/2019 1:13:15 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3760946/posts
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