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This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights and duplication or sale of all or part is not permitted, except that material may be duplicated by you for research, private study, criticism/review or educational purposes. Electronic or print copies are for your own personal, non- commercial use and shall not be passed to any other individual. No quotation may be published without proper acknowledgement. For any other use, or to quote extensively from the work, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder/s. GRECO-ROMANINFLUENCES ON JEWISH ART FORMS IN PALESTINE AND TRANSJQRDAN 300 B. C. - A. D. 100 This thesis was presented to the University of Keele on the let of October 1968 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy J. P. Kane, Classics Department, University of Keele. BEST COPY AVAILABLE Variable print quality Page Numbering as Bound ACKNOW"EDGEYENTS I am pleased to acknowledge during the compilation of this thesis the constant help and counsel of Professor J. M. T. Charlton of the Classics Department of the University of Keele, and to thank him for his continual good offices in all that I attempted. I would also like to thank Ngr. G. Nussbaum of the Classics Department of the University of Keele for his guidance and encouragement at an earlier stage in my post- graduate studies, and for directing my interest to Hellenistic Palestine while I was still an undergraduate. The first-hand work presented in this thesis in the sphere of material remains is the result of eight months spent in Syria-Palestine on the 1967 Jerusalem Studentship of the British School of Archaeology. I wish to thank the Council of the School for this generous award, and particularly Mr. P. J. Parr of the Institute of Archaeology of London University for his support and encouragement in this. It would have been impossible for me to go to Palestine without the unfailing financial generosity of the Senate of the University of Keele, to whom I give my warmest thanks. Finally I take pleasure in thanking the authorities of the Palestine Archaeological Museum and of the Jerusalem Department of Antiquities for access to much unpublished material from September 1966 to Larch 1967. 0 SYNOPSIS In order to examine the impact of Greco-Roman art and architecture on Jewish Palestine from the early Hellenistic period until the Second Revolt an exhaustive corpus of material is presented. The earliest monuments are the palaces of Hyrcanus at Araq el-Emir, and the Tomb of the Bene Hezir, the Pyramid of Zachariah and the Tomb of Jason at Jerusalem. Nearly all other tombs, and the whole body of the ossuaries and sarcophagi can be confidently dated to the Herodian period. Arguments for dating used in the thesis are drawn from literature, onomastics, palaeography, general historical circumstances, pottery, coins, tomb-forms and architecture. A great deal of attention is applied to this important preliminary research. In addition comparisons are made with the tombs of a Sidonian colony of the 3rd - 2nd centuries BC at Marisa (Belt Jibrin) and with the later Jewish catacombs at Beth Shearim. The other material for the corpus is provided by the Jewish coins of the period, and by the remains of Herod's palace-fortresses at Masada and Herodion, of a winter pleasure-palace of Herod or Archelaus at Jericho, of a Herodian theatre and fortified walls at Caesarea and of possible Herodian remains at Sebaste. Exhaustive reference is made to the valuable passages of the Jewish historian Josephus which describe the building activities of Herod. There emerges a clear picture of the acceptance of Greek architectural forms and decor, but the rejection in the Herodian period of all living representations. The older architectural traditions of the area, derived from Egypt, Persia and Phoenicia, are found to exert a continuing influ- ence in the earlier remains, but to be totally rejected in favour of Greco-Roman forms in the Herodian period. At the same time the ossuaries continue long-established popular traditions in the area, which were reinforced by Greco-Roman risnor arts. As the Herodian period progresses a greater feeling of confidence emerges, which finds its expression in orientalising tendencies that disrupt Greek forms which may never have been properly understood. Alexandria is looked to as the pre-eminent influence in mediating late Hellenistic forms and styles to Palestine. The earliest forms are good Hellenistic ones. The disruption sets in in the Herodian period, when vegetal decor derived from late Hellenistic art is reformed according to the assertive orientalising tendencies of Jewish craftsmen. The tympanum of the Tomb of the Judges and the lower frieze of the Tomb of Helena may be regarded as the orientalising of the forms adopted from Alexandria on the tympanum of Jehosaphat c. 40 BC. Two 'Neo- Attic' sarcophagi are found; the rest exhibit the same developed Jewish vegetal style as the tomb-facades. The ossuaries mainly concern themselves with geometric traditions of decor, or highly stylised representations connected with the After life or the Temple. Coins forma contrast to the rest of the material in being a means of propaganda - those of the Hasmonaeans and Herodians assert the strength and prosperity of the Jewish state, but those of the Revolts dissociate the Jews from their Hellenistic environment, and assert the demand for the independence of the Temple-State. The buildings of Herod reflect totally hellenised taste in a Hellenistic provincial late style - mosaics, 'Incrustation' stucco, plans of palaces, etc. And in Herod's buildings Roman form distinctively influence is clear - the Roman of baths and of the theatre, and at Jericho opus reticulatun and quadratum work with concrete bonding-techniques. The two polychrome mosaics of the Western palace of Masada are fine products of late Hellenistic form, but here too the dominance of the special Jewish vegetal style, developed from the late Hellenistic acanthus-and-scroll motif, is once more asserted in Herodian Jewish art. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWTEDGEMEI1'iS SYNOPSIS ABBREVIAT IONS INTRODUCTION PART ONE: the Jewish Ossuaries and Sarcophagi fasc. i, pp. 1-34 An illustrated and ordered catalogue of the decoration of the ossuaries. fasc. ii, pp. 1-10 On the form, use and date of the ossuaries. fast. iii, pp. 1-82 A catalogue of the inscriptions, and catalogues of persons with Jewish and-Greek names, on the ossuaries. fasc. iv, pp. 1- 7 That the ossuaries are Jewish. fasc. V, pp. 1-10 The sarcophagi -a catalogue of sarcophagi with their ornament analysed. fast. vi, pp. 1-10 The style of the ossuaries and sarcophagi. fast. vii, pp. 1- 6 Interpretation of ossuary motifs. PART TWO: The Jewish tombs fast. i, pp. 1-32 The monumental tombs of the Kedron Valley. fasc. ii, pp. 1- 7 The tomb of Jason. f iii, asc . pp. 1- 5 The tomb of the Herods. fast. iv, pp. 1-15 The tomb of Queen Helena (Zaddan) of Adiab ene. fasc. v, pp. 1- 6 Tombs of the Judges. fasc. vi, pp. 1- 4 The 'Gra pe' Tomb. fasc. vii, pp. 1- 3 The tomb with a facade of two storeys. fasc. viii, pp. 1- 4 The Cave of the Mother of Columns - Mugharet Umm el-'. Arced. fasc. ix, pp. 1- 4 A tomb with triglyph frieze and Ionic cornice in the Northern necropolis of Jerusalem. fast. x, pp. 1- 4 The Conch tomb. fast. xi, pp. 1- 6 Tombs in Samaria. fast. xii, pp. 1- 2 Other decorated tombs. PART THREE: Tomb dispositions and burial-forms. PART FOUR: pp. 1-42 The small finds of the Jewish tombs with kokhim and ossuaries in the vicinity of Jerusalem - pottery, glass, coins, inscriptions. PART FIVE: pp. 1- 5A brief comparison with the catacombs of Beth 5hearim. PART SIX: pp. 1-11 The inheritance from Marisa. PART SEVEN: pp. 1-23 The palace of Hyrcanus Tobiah near Ammon-Philadelphia. PART EIGHT : Jewish Coins. PART NINE: The buildings of Herod. fase. i, pp. 1-35 The buildings of Herod at Jerusalem. fast. ii, pp. -1-14 Herodian Jericho. fasc. iii, pp. 1- 8 Sebaste in Samaria. fast. iv, pp. 1-13 Caesarea Maritima. fast. v, pp. 1-34 Masada. fast. vi, pp. 1- 7 Herodeion (Herodion). Initial conclusions. PART TEN: Conclusions. pp. 1- 3 background; pp. 3-21 the palace near Philadelphia and the Phoenico- Alexandrian cultural zone; pp. 21-30 the tomb of the Bene Hezir and influences from Alexandria; the Zachariah the Semitic PP - 30-40 pyramid of and solid nefesh; pp. 40-42 the pyramidal tomb of Jason - another eclectic form; pp. 42-47 the monument of Absalom -a greco-oriental fusion; further pp. 47-52 the early tombs in the H innom valley - Alexandrian influences; Greek pp. 52-60 the tomb of Helena - the disruption of forms and the developed Jewish style; pp. 60-68 various tombs with Greek forms; pp. 68-72 general assessment of the Jerusalemite tombs; pp. 72-73 Galilee and Samaria; living pp. 74-76 the received Greek forms - rejection of images; pp. 76-81 vegetal decor in hellenistic art; pp. 81-84 Alexandrian late Hellenistic vegetal decor; PP. 84- 93 Jewish plant and fruit decor - the Jerusalemite transformation of the hellenistic motifs; PP. 94 - 99 the 'orientalising' environment - -Palmyra, the Nabatene; pp. 100-101 the unique style of Jewish sarcophagus art; pp. 102-112 the traditions of popular art on the ossuaries; pp. 112-113 coin types from hellenistic to Jewish; pp. 113-134 the buildings of Herod and the advent of Roman influence. ABBREVIAT IONS Refer either to the special bibliographies or the bibliography with the conclusions. In addition the following are used: AASOR Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research AJA American Journal