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General Forum >> Goddess of Fortune found at Sussita, Galilee
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Goddess of Fortune found at Sussita, Galilee |
bat400
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from South Central Indiana, US
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|  Posted 07-11-2010 at 20:22
Submitted by coldrum --
A fresco of Tyche, the Greek goddess of fortune, was exposed during the 11th season of excavation at the Sussita site, on the east shore of the Sea of Galilee, which was conducted by researchers of the University of Haifa. Another female figure was found during this season, of a maenad, one of the companions of the wine god Dionysus.
“It is interesting to see that although the private residence in which two goddesses were found was in existence during the Byzantine period, one can still find clear evidence of earlier beliefs,” said Prof. Arthur Segal and Dr. Michael Eisenberg of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, who headed the excavation. The city of Sussita is located within the Sussita National Park under the management of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
During the course of the excavations conducted by the team from the University of Concordia under the direction of Prof. Mark Schuler, in a residence that appeared to belong to one of the city notables, the excavators reached an inner courtyard with a small fountain. Near the fountain they found a fresco of Tyche, who was apparently deified as the city’s goddess of fortune. Her head is crowned, her youthful gaze is focused, and she has abundant brown hair beneath her crown. According to the researchers, artistic analysis has indicated that the wall painting may be dated to the end of the Roman period or the beginning of the Byzantine period (3rd-4th centuries C.E.).
The goddess Tyche was not the only mythological figure to be discovered in this compound. Found on a bone plate was a wonderfully etched relief of a maenad. According to Greek mythology, the maenads accompanied Dionysus with frenzied dances while holding a thyrsus, a device symbolizing sexuality, fertility, and the male sexual organ associated with sexual pleasure. The maenad of Sussita was also depicted as being in the midst of a frenzied dance. The researchers believe that both manifestations of the cult of Graeco-Roman female goddesses can be dated to the end of the Roman period, but the residence in which they were found continued to exist even after Christianity triumphed over idolatry.
In this season the city’s Roman period basilica (1st-2nd centuries CE) began to be exposed. Besides the excellent architectural marble items that were unearthed there, the researchers also found decorations made of “stucco”, molded plaster used in the imitation of marble. “We could not fail to wonder how a relatively plebeian city could employ first-class builders and artisans.”
Sussita was erected on a mountain top rising to the east of the Sea of Galilee during the 2nd century B.C.E. by the Seleucid rulers who then controlled the country. The city existed during the Hellenist, Roman, Byzantine and Umayyad periods, until it was destroyed by a violent earthquake in the year 749 C.E.
See more at http://newmedia-eng.haifa.ac.il/?p=3593.
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