Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Potoooooooo · 08-11-2008, 01:49 PM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080811/...DDECeKHyms0NUE
JERUSALEM - An Israeli scientist says a Roman temple unearthed in the center of an ancient Jewish city in northern Israel shows pagans and Jews lived and worshipped together.

Toto · 08-11-2008, 02:11 PM

I'm not sure how an archeologist can say that pagans and Jews worshipped together. Maybe in close proximity, but "together?"

Jerusalem Post article

Quote:

The excavations, undertaken by the Noam Shudofsky Zippori Expedition led by Prof. Zeev Weiss of the university's Institute of Archaeology, shed light on the multi-cultural society of ancient Zippori [Sepphoris]. They indicate that Zippori, the Jewish capital of Galilee during Roman times, had a significant pagan population which established the temple at the heart of the city, and was later also inhabited by Christians.

TheRealityOfMan · 08-11-2008, 02:34 PM

Wouldn't this actually be in line with many of the books of the Old Testaments?

Think of all the angry prophets bitching about how the Israelites are worshipping alien gods and whoring themselves with the gentiles?

Toto · 08-11-2008, 02:36 PM

Weiss has also excavated a synagogue in Sepphoris. The book From Dura to Sepphoris: Studies in Jewish Art and Society in Late Antiquity (or via: amazon.co.uk) is reviewed here.

Sabine Grant · 08-11-2008, 03:02 PM

Better fit for BC&H. Sabine Grant, GRD Moderator.

mountainman · 08-11-2008, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

I'm not sure how an archeologist can say that pagans and Jews worshipped together. Maybe in close proximity, but "together?"

Jerusalem Post article

Quote:

The excavations, undertaken by the Noam Shudofsky Zippori Expedition led by Prof. Zeev Weiss of the university's Institute of Archaeology, shed light on the multi-cultural society of ancient Zippori [Sepphoris]. They indicate that Zippori, the Jewish capital of Galilee during Roman times, had a significant pagan population which established the temple at the heart of the city ...

Collegiately?

Quote:

... and was later also inhabited by Christians.

How much later?

Best wishes,

Pete

Malachi151 · 08-11-2008, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheRealityOfMan

Wouldn't this actually be in line with many of the books of the Old Testaments?

Think of all the angry prophets bitching about how the Israelites are worshipping alien gods and whoring themselves with the gentiles?

Exactly. I mean according to the Jewish scriptures the Jews were horrible faithless people who basically snubbed their own god, violated all of the religious commandments and did everything that they weren't supposed to do.

Practically every single book of prophets, plus Maccabees, complains constantly about the Jews not worshiping their own god, so it seems that that was standard.

Toto · 08-11-2008, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mountainman

How much later?

Byzantine - 5th century. You might want to read the book review I linked to above.

mountainman · 08-11-2008, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

Quote:

Originally Posted by mountainman

How much later?

Byzantine - 5th century. You might want to read the book review I linked to above.

Thanks Toto, an interesting review. The author states:

Quote:

Today the paintings of the synagogue are housed in the Damascus museum where they enjoy, or suffer, from what Annabel Wharton, in a remarkable article in the book under survey, calls 'erasure'. Contemporary middle eastern politics had dictated the removal of all references to the discovery or to very presence of the synagogue even in guidebooks of the Damascus museum itself. Perhaps, as Wharton claims, such erasure paradoxically ensures their survival. Full scale copies of these paintings were housed in the basement of Yale University Art Gallery. A while ago when I inquired about the fate of the originals I was informed that the authorities at Yale, back in the 1930s, opted to receive the Dura Mithraeum and the Dura baptistery and to leave the synagogue in French Syria.

The Christian baptistery can no longer be seen because the frescoes disintegrated beyond repair.

In 1978 I was able to temporarily remove the copies of the Dura synagogue from storage for an exhibit.

This seems to indicate that the Dura "house-church" evidence is actually second hand copies of an original, and that the original is perhaps lost. This "perhaps christian house-church" is of course separate entirely from the Jewish synogogue at Dura.

Best wishes,

Pete

08-11-2008, 01:49 PM	#1
Potoooooooo Contributor Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: USA Posts: 13,541	Israeli excavation shows Jews, pagans in harmony [in 2nd c Sepphoris] http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080811/...DDECeKHyms0NUE JERUSALEM - An Israeli scientist says a Roman temple unearthed in the center of an ancient Jewish city in northern Israel shows pagans and Jews lived and worshipped together.

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08-11-2008, 02:34 PM	#3
TheRealityOfMan Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Osaka / London Posts: 1,993	Wouldn't this actually be in line with many of the books of the Old Testaments? Think of all the angry prophets bitching about how the Israelites are worshipping alien gods and whoring themselves with the gentiles?

08-11-2008, 02:36 PM	#4
Toto Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Los Angeles area Posts: 40,549	Weiss has also excavated a synagogue in Sepphoris. The book From Dura to Sepphoris: Studies in Jewish Art and Society in Late Antiquity (or via: amazon.co.uk) is reviewed here.

08-11-2008, 03:02 PM	#5
Sabine Grant Talk Freethought Staff Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Florida Posts: 32,364	Better fit for BC&H. Sabine Grant, GRD Moderator.

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