Roman Temple Uncovered In Ancient Jewish Capital Of Galilee
Pastor Dale Morgan
Roman Temple Uncovered In Ancient Jewish Capital Of Galilee*
ScienceDaily (Aug. 11, 2008) — Ruins of a Roman temple from the second
century CE have recently been unearthed in the Zippori National Park.
Above the temple are foundations of a church from the Byzantine period.
The excavations, which were undertaken by the Noam Shudofsky Zippori
Expedition led by of Prof. Zeev Weiss of the Institute of Archaeology at
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, shed light on the multi-cultural
society of ancient Zippori (also known as Sepphoris).
The discovery indicated that Zippori, the Jewish capital of the Galilee
during the Roman period, had a significant pagan population which built
a temple in the heart of the city center. The central location of the
temple which is positioned within a walled courtyard and its
architectural relation to the surrounding buildings enhance our
knowledge regarding the planning of Zippori in the Roman era.
The building of the church on the foundation of the temple testifies to
the preservation of the sacred section of the city over time. This new
finding demonstrates not only the religious life, culture and society in
Roman and Byzantine Zippori, but also that this was a city in which
Jews, pagans and later Christians lived together under Roman Control and
occupation and developed their hometown with various buildings.
The newly discovered temple is located south of the decumanus -
colonnaded street - which ran from east to west and was the main
thoroughfare in the city during the Roman through Byzantine period. The
temple, measuring approximately 24 by 12 meters, was built with a
decorated façade facing the street. The temple’s walls were plundered in
ancient times and only its foundations remain.
No evidence has been found that reveals the nature of the temple’s
rituals, but some coins dating from the time of Antoninus Pius, minted
in Diocaesarea (Zippori), depict a temple to the Roman gods Zeus and
Tyche. The temple ceased to function at an unknown date, and a large
church, the remains of which were uncovered by the Hebrew University
excavation team in previous seasons, was built over it in the Byzantine
period.
North of the decumanus, opposite the temple, a monumental building was
partially excavated this summer. Its role is still unclear, although its
nature and size indicate that it was an important building. A courtyard
with a well-preserved stone pavement of smooth rectangular slabs
executed in high quality was uncovered in the center of the building,
upon which were found a pile of collapsed columns and capitals -
probably as a result of an earthquake. The decoration on these
architectural elements was executed in stucco. Beyond a row of columns,
an adjacent aisle and additional rooms were discovered. Two of them were
decorated with colorful, geometrical mosaics.