Altar to Greek god found in wall of Byzantine church raises questions
This excavation is now focusing on figuring out how this pagan altar came to be part of the church wall and what the inscription on it means.
By HANNAH BROWNThe altar to the Greek god Pan is seen at a Byzantine church in Banyas.(photo credit: OFER SHINAR)
An Israeli team of researchers excavating a Byzantine church in the Banyas Nature Reserve in Northern Israel believed to be from about 400 CE recently discovered a Roman-era temple to the Greek god, Pan, beneath the church, and made another find that sheds further light on the way that the lives of the later Christians were intertwined with those who worshiped the earlier faiths: a 2nd- or 3rd-century CE altar with a Greek inscription found in the walls of the church.The church, which is one of the oldest ever found, was important to early Christians, according to Prof. Adi Erlich of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, who is leading the excavation of the site with Prof. Ron Lavi. “This site would have had tremendous significance for Christians of the Byzantine era, who believed that this is where Jesus told Peter, ‘I give you the keys to the kingdom of Heaven,’” said Erlich.This excavation, which is supported and was initiated by the Nature and Parks Authority, is now focusing on figuring out how this pagan altar came to be part of the church wall and what the inscription means. The inscription is being studied by Dr. Avner Ecker of Bar-Ilan University. The inscription, which is in Greek, reads, “Atheneon son of Sosipatros of Antioch is dedicating the altar to the god Pan Heliopolitanus. He built the altar using his own personal money in fulfillment of a vow he made." Two main things are interesting about this inscription – the combination of Pan with Heliopolitanus, a name normally associated with Zeus, and the origin of the donator from faraway Antioch, some 400 km to the north, located on what is now the on the Turkey-Syria border. “It seems that this cult place was visited by pilgrims coming from afar,” said Erlich.The Banyas excavation is in a unique location that features a cave, cliff and springs, alongside a terrace formed from the partial collapse of the cliff. The temple was built not long before the beginning of the Christian era.The discovery of this altar and its inscription raises as many questions for the team researching the site as it answers. The altar was found lying horizontally and it was not until the stone had been thoroughly cleaned that the inscription became visible. Erlich noted that the stone is basalt, and not the local limestone, which is generally found in the area but said that the basalt tends to preserve inscriptions even better than limestone. Why this worshiper chose basalt is one of the many questions the team is investigating in this site that has yielded so many fascinating finds.
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