The Biblical Archaeologist - Vol.51, N.2

68 Pages·1988·21.13 MB·English

by  American Schools of Oriental Research

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AMERICAN SCHOOLS OF ORIENTAL RESEARCH
ADMINISTRATIOVFEF ICEA,S OR7, 11W EST4 0THS TREETSU, ITE3 54,B ALTIMORMED, 2 1211( 301)8 89-1383
P. Kyle McCarter,J r.,P resident W. E Albright Institute of
Eric M. Meyers,F irst Vice Presidentf or ArchaeologicalR esearch( AIAR). S0 OF 0-
WPalutberlEi c.a Rtiaosnts, S econd Vice Presidentf or PSe. Oym. Boouxr 1 G9i0ti9n6,, D 91ir 1e9c0to Jre rusalem,I srael. Q 0 n 7
Archaeological Policy JosephA . Callaway,P resident
George M. Landes,S ecretary JoyU ngerleider-MayersonF, irst Vice
Kevin G. O'Connell,A ssistant Secretary President cog
Holden Gibbs, Treasurer Carol Meyers,S econd Vice President
Gough W Thompson, Jr.,C hairman of the Kevin G. O'Connell, Secretary-Treasurer
Board of Trustees
Norma Kershaw,D irectoro f Tours
Susan FosterK romholz,E xecutive BaghdadC ommittee for the Baghdad
School.
Director
PJialDlm Oire.el Mac Rtoo.rr Cr iosl,Al indsm, Aindismtrinatisivtrea Atisvseis tant JeNH2rr1eoo2apl1rdk8S E i..n aCss oUteonrpinevS ret,r uCsdihtiyae,is Br, Tmahlateinm J oohren,sM D 4C1yR KperisnuegsaA PrcmahueI lnr Sistctraietnue Att,e rN (cCihcAaoesAioaRl,o ICg)i.yc palr us.
Stuart Swiny, Director
Charles U. Harris,P resident
ASOR Newsletter; P. Kyle McCarter,J r., American Center of Oriental Research LydieS hufro,V ice President
Editor (ACOR). Ellen Herscher,S ecretary
Biblical Archaeologist;E ric M. Meyers, P. O. Box 2470, JebelA mman, Amman, Andrew Oliver, Jr.,T reasurer
Editor Jordan.
Bulletin of the American Schools of Bert DeVries,D irector Damascus Committee.
Oriental Research;W alterE . Rast, RobertC oughenour,P resident Giorgio Buccellati, Chairman
Editor LawrenceT . Geraty,V ice President Center for MesopotamianS tudies,
Journalo f Cuneiform Studies; Erle MarjorieC ooke, Secretary University of California,4 05 Hilgard
Leichty,E ditor Anne Ogilvy, Treasurer Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024.
Biblical
Archaeologist
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BiblicaAl rchaeologist
A Publication of the American Schools of Oriental Research Volume 51 Number 2 June 1988
Early Judaism and Christianity in the Light
of Archaeology 69
Eric M. Meyers
The first centuries of the common era in Palestinew ere a time of
religiousp luralisma nd tolerance,b ut the mid-fourthc entury saw
significantc hanges.
Jews and Christians in Late Roman Palestine:
Towardsa New Chronology 80
Dennis E. Groh
It has long been assumedt hat Palestinee xperiencedt he same
political and social disintegrationi n the third and fourth
centuries C.Ea. s the Romanw orldi n general.T he growing
realization,h owever,t hat this is not the case makes it necessary
to revise our understandingo f the region'sc hronologyf or this
period.
Hairstyles, Head-coverings,a nd St. Paul:
Portraitsf rom Roman Corinth 99
Cynthia L. Thompson
In the manyd iscussionso f 1 Corinthians1 1:2-16,v ery little note
Page8 0
has been takeno f the relevanta rchaeologicael videncet hat is
available.S uche vidence,u nearthedo vert he last ninety years,c an
be helpfuli n clarifyingt he historicalc ontext in which Paula ndh is
congregationli ved.
Ancient Synagogueso f the Golan 116
Zvi Uri
MaCoz
Cumulatived ataf rome xcavationsa nd surveysr eveala distinctive
"Golant ype"s ynagoguei n which culturali nfluencesa ndt raditions
of decorationf romn eighboringa reasw ereb lendedt ogethera nd
adaptedt o local conditionsa nd materials.
. .01
Introducing the Authors 66
In Memoriam: JosephA . Callaway 67
Page 116 Front cover: The facade of the ancient synagogue at Barcami n Galilee. Photographb y
Dennis E. Groh.
Biblical Archaeologist is published with the financial assistance of
the Endowment for Biblical Research,a nonsectarian foundation for
the study of the Bible and the history of the Christian Church.
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1988 65
the Authors
Introducing
Dennis Groh
E.
4Ii
-IC
-; .
, , Io
Zvi Uri Macoz Cynthia L. Thompson Eric M. Meyers
EricM . Meyers,P rofessoro f Religion at Duke University, Annual Professor at the F. Albright Institute of
W.
has over twenty years of fieldwork experience in the ArchaeologicalR esearchi n Jerusalem,D r. Groh has been
Upper and Lower Galilee in northern Israel, including named a HumphreyF ellow of the HumphreyI nstitute for
excavations at Khirbet Shemac, Meiron, Gush Halav, Social Ecology of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Nabratein, and, for the past four years, at Sepphoris.H e (Beersheva)f or 1988-89.
has also excavatedi n Italy,i n the catacombs of Venosa,a t
ancient Venusium, and at the home of the Latin poet Cynthia L. Thompson was trained in Corinth while
Horace. Currently Vice President for Publications of the holding the Wheeler and Cappsf ellowships at the Ameri-
American Schools of Oriental Research, Dr. Meyers is can School of Classical Studies at Athens. She received a
Editoro f Biblical Archaeologist. doctorate in classical and New Testament Greek from
Yale and served as a postdoctoral researcher in archae-
Dennis E. Groh is Professoro f the History of Christianity ology and women's studies at HarvardD ivinity School.
at Garrett-EvangelicaSle minarya nd an advisorym ember Dr. Thompson is currently an editor of religious books
of the Graduate Faculty of Northwestern University in for the WestminsterP ress in Philadelphia.
Evanston,I llinois. Author and coauthor of several publi-
cations on the topics of early Christianity and biblical A native of Israel, Zvi Uri MaCoz is District Archae-
archaeology,D r. Groh has excavateda t Caesarea,M eiron, ologist for the Golan Heights and Hermon for the Israel
Gush Halav, and Nabratein and is currently Associate Department of Antiquities and Museums. Codirector of
Director of the Sepphoris Excavationso f the University the recent excavations at Qasrin, he is the foremost
of South Florida. A former Montgomery Fellow and authority today on ancient synagogues of the Golan.
66 Biblical Archaeologist, June 1988
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68 Biblical Archaeologist, June 1988
In Memoriam
The world of biblical archaeology lost a creative scholar Ai evidence. Because, as Marquet-Krauseh ad deter-
with the sudden death of JosephA . Callaway on August mined, the site was not occupied from the Early Bronze
23, 1988. Although he had retired in 1982 from twenty- Age until early in the Iron Age, it does not fit a conquest
four years of teaching at Southern Baptist Theological model that assumes a date of around 1250 B.C.E. Nor
Seminary, Joe had maintained a vigorous involvement would an earlier date of around 1400 B.C.E. work. Joef irst
with the field, primarily through his presidency of the proposed a later date of the twelfth century, around the
ASOR'sA lbright Institute, a position he stepped down end of Ai's first IronI phase, but subsequently abandoned
from only last November, and his editing and publishing that reconstruction. The artifacts recoveredf rom Ai best
of the materials from his excavations of Ai. fit a model of settlement in the early IronA ge, and not by
JosephA tlee Callawayw as born in WarrenA, rkansas, nomads settling down for the first time but by ones
in 1920. After graduation from Ouachita College in already accustomed to an agricultural and village- or
Arkadelphia, he entered Southern Baptist Theological town-type habitation. Furthermore,t he movement into
Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, receiving both his Ai and throughout the central highlands during this time
M.Div.a ndP h.D.f romt hat institution. In 1958,f ollowinga was not from the east but from the west, the lowlands and
year on the faculty of FurmanU niversity, he returnedt o the coastal area. Joe, never one to remain wedded to a
Southern Baptist to teach Old Testament and eventually theory or construction when the evidence dictated other-
biblical archaeology. wise, thus concluded that the Iron I settlers at Ai were
Joe's first field experience in archaeology came in Canaanites rathert han Hebrews.I f there was a conquest
1960 at Shechem under the tutelage of G. Ernest Wright. at the site like that mentioned in Joshua7 and 8, it must
He subsequently also worked with Kathleen Kenyon, have occurred in the eleventh century B.CE. ., when the
both in Jerusalema nd at the University of London.I t was city was destroyeda nd abandoned.
Ai, however,t hat was to be the major site of his work. He This insight and Joe'sm any other contributions to
went there in 1964 and began an excavation project the field were recently recognized by the publication of a
intended to supplement and clarify the earlier work of Festschrift honoring him entitled Benchmarks in Time
Judith Marquet-KrauseH. e returned to Ai in 1966, 1968, and Culture (ScholarsP ress). Joer eceived a copy of it just
1969, 1970, 1971, and 1972. a couple weeks before his death.
After completing his fieldwork there Joer esisted the Joseph A. Callaway is survived by his wife of forty-
temptation of so many archaeologists to begin another eight years,S ara;t wo children, Bill and Linda;h is mother;
project and determined instead to publish the results of a brother;a nd three grandchildren.S peakingo n behalf of
his excavations.F ort hat decision we may be very grateful. the editors of the Festschrift and ASOR, which cospon-
Unfortunately, Joe was not able to complete the final sored its publication, I want to express our deepest
excavation reports for the Iron Age materials, but he did sympathy to his family. Yourl oss is our loss, for he was
publish several major articles on these finds. our colleague and our friend.
His most important conclusions involve his recon- Joel F.D rinkard,J r.
struction of the conquest-settlement period based on the
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1988 67
and
arly
udaism
in the
Qhriztiznity
ht ofA
rchaeoy lEric bM. oMeyegrs y
inceW orlWd aIrI w eh ave
like to take this topic up again, es- which portrayt he Pharisees in so
witnessed a veritable explo- pecially in view of the work that has negative a light. Only the Sadducees,
sion of archaeological data gone forwards ince its publication. who are implicated in the trial of
from the Holy Land,a nd our Jesus, might be said to be on the
understandingo f the world of the Early Christianity "outs"w ith the new Christians.
Old Testament has greatly benefitted The members of the first generation Because there is no clear, or
from it. There has not yet, however, of the followers of Jesus were largely definite, trace of the Christian com-
been a concomitant improvement in indistinguishable from their fellow munity in the Holy Landf rom about
our understandingo f the New Testa- Jews.A lthough they professed a be- 70 to 270 C.E., it has been suggested
ment world. A few years ago JamesF .E lief in the messiahship of Jesus and that all or most of the followers of
Strangea nd I addressedt his im- began to articulate a radical love Jesus left Palestine during the course
balance in a book that attempted to ethic ("lovey our enemy")t hat had of events associated with the First
show how archaeology,u sed in con- no close parallel in Judaism,t he new Jewish Revolt against the Romans in
nection with literary material, can Christians observed most of the 66-70 C.E. I find this unlikely. Chris-
illuminate the first centuries of the Jewishl aws (perhapss ome were slack tianity was then making a concerted
common era, a period when early on table fellowship) and accepted the effort to expand the number of its
Christianity and rabbinic Judaism centrality of the JerusalemT emple. followers, not only through the gen-
were emerging in their Palestinian, They apparentlyg ot along well with tile mission of Paul but also among
or indigenous, settings (see Meyers their fellow Jews,c ontrary to the er- the many Jewish communities along
and Strange 1981).T hat book was roneous impression of the Gospels the western and eastern Mediter-
meant as a beginning, and I would and other New Testament writings, ranean shores. Would this activity
have excluded the large Jewish com-
munity in Palestine? Did Christian-
ity develop only in the gentile and
The first centuries of the
hellenized world outside Palestine?
It should be noted here that the
comm0on era Palestine were a
in Jewish community relocated in
Galilee after the revolt. Would
time of religious pluralism and
Christians have ignored this area-
tolerance, but the nid-fourth the place of Jesus'c hildhood and
ministry? Laterg enerations certain-
century saw significant changes. ly did not. Galilee is the site of nu-
merous Christian loca sancta (holy
places) constructed in the post-
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1988 69
S
nderstanding Jewish-Christianity the Mosaic-law-observanCt hristians in Eventually,t he increasingly gentile
Sint he first four centurieso f the Jerusalem led by James as "the poor" church preferredt he Greco-Latinn ame
common era requires that attention (Galatians 2:10, Romans 15:26). Evi- Christianoi to the more Semitic form
be given to sectarian names. Jewish- dently some Jewish-Christiansk ept this represented by Nazbraioi. Jews, how-
Christianity is a modem designation designation, which became listed as a ever, continued to call the "Christians"
given to a range of groups that shared Christian heresy. Tertullian and Hip- nogrim, the Hebrew counterpart of
two characteristics: observance of pre- polytus suggested Ebionites were Nazbraioi. Also, the Semitic-speaking
cepts of Tbrah( such as calendar,c ircum- founded by a person named Ebion, but Jewish-Christiansk ept various forms of
cision, and diet), and a belief in Jesusa s this suggestion has more to do with the name Nazarene. In addition, Chris-
Messiah (Christ). By the end of the their desire to find a culprit than with tians of Syriac, Armenian, and Arabic
fourth century, Judaism and Christian- the actual evolution of the name. languages retained cognate forms of
ity had largely cut ties with each other, Other heresy names that evolved Nazarene as self-designations.
and by that time both sides had con- from a generic to a specific sense have In the fourth century we have the
demned Jewish-Christianity under a also been misunderstood. For instance, interesting case of Epiphanius( andt hen
variety of names. In ordert o place these Epiphanius describes the Sampseans Jerome) condemning the Nazaraioi,
sectarian names in context, one must [number 53 of his 80 selected heresies) meaning (to him) "Jewish-Christians"
consider the time, language, and reli- and guesses that their name means "sun (Panarion2 9). By then some Christians
gious perspective of the writers who devotees" (from Hebrew shemesh). had disowned their own earlier name.
used the names. Epiphanius, however, already told us From manuscripts found in the
Most of the Jewish-Christians ec- that they prayt owardJ erusalem,s o they Cairo Genizah, we know that some
tarian names evolved and changed sig- don't pray to the sun. Rather,i n accord synagogues added to their curse against
nificance during these four centuries. with his description (as F.S tanley Jones heretics (the birkat ha-minim) the term
Even the Greek and Hebrew terms for and others suggest),E piphaniusm istook nogrim.A lso, Epiphaniusr eportso n this
heresy themselves had different mean- for Hebrew what reads in Aramaic as practice of condemning Nazbraioi
ings in the first and fourth centuries. For shamash, "a servant or worshipper"( of (Panarion2 9.9.2). Some listeners to this
instance, the Greek hairesis in the God). The name of the earlier Thera- curse assumed the condemnation
works of the first-centuryJ ewishw riter peutae in Egypt has the same meaning covered all Christians, while others
Josephusm eans "ag roup,p hilosophy,o r and likely arose from a similar assumed it referred only to Jewish-
school of thought" this is how he de- self-designation. Christians. (See Jerome,E pistle 112, 13
scribes Pharisees, Sadducces, and Es- Perhaps the most striking case to Augustine.)
senes. A century later, the church writer of name-evolution involving Jewish- One final example of the method of
Irenaeus condemns various groups (in- Christians in these four centuries oc- comparing use of sectarian names by
cluding Jewish-ChristianE bionites) as curred to the terms usually renderedi n writers of differing perspective is pro-
heresies in the more familiar sense of Englisha s Nazarene.N azarene has been vided by juxtaposing a discussion in
disapprovedg roups. used to represent the two Greek forms BabylonianT almud (Shabbat 116)w ith
The Hebrew term for heretics, (Naz6raioi, Nazarinol) that appear in patristic literature. The Talmud discus-
minim (rmin,s ingular; minut, heresy) the New estament and later writings, sion appearsi n the context of books of
also evolved. In Biblical Hebrew, min as well as a number of Semitic-language the minim, among which the rabbis
means merely "ak ind or type"( such as, cognates. In the New Testament, mention Gospels. (They even quote
of grain or fruit). In later, Mishnaic Nazarene most often simply means "of Matthew 5:17:"Ic ame not to destroy the
Hebrew, rmin took on the additional, Nazareth. In Matthew 2:23, however, law ")T he question arises whether
negative connotation of a disapproved Jesus is called Nazbraios in fulfillment to sa..v..e various heretical books in the
kind of Jewish belief. For example, ac- of prophecies,w hich evidently intended case of a fire. The consensus view
cording to the JerusalemT almud (San- to convey a distinction additional to the emerges among these rabbis that one
hedrin 29c), "RabbYi obanans aid, 'Israel town name. (Fora good survey of pro- might save books from the House of the
did not go into exile until they had been posed explanations of this verse, see Ebionites (the text slightly alters the
made twenty-fours ects of minim.'" Brown 1977.) spelling to disguise the reference), but
The Ebionites, whom Irenaeusw as In Acts 24:5 Paul is accused as a one certainly would not save them from
the first to condemn, also took their leader of the heresy of the Nazbraioi. the House of the nogrim (or Nazarenes,
name from what had been a generic Though of course Paul defends his agains lightly misspelled). This provides
term in Biblical Hebrew: 'evionim, teaching, he does not disown the group the mirror image of patristic literature,
which in Psalms often means simply name. Acts also introduces the name which had for centuries elaboratedc om-
"the poor." By the time of the Qumran Christian (Christianoi) and perhaps plaints against Ebionites as being too
commentary (pesher) on Psalm 37 places it, anachronistically, early: The Jewish but only at a late date also con-
(4QpPs 37), the word had become also a name appears only three times in the demned the Nazarenes. The rabbis see
semitechnical term: cedat ha-'evionim, New Testament (Acts 11:26 and 26:28 Ebionites as barely tolerable, but Naza-
"congregation of the poor." Paul refers to and 1 Peter4 :16). renes they explicitly condemn; the
70 Biblical Archaeologist, June 1988
Constantinian era (the fourth cen- tremendous new immigration to Pal-
church writers display the opposite tury C.E.)w hen Christianity became estine by Christians in the third
attitude. the official religion of the Empire: through fifth centuries (something
Therei s no entirelya dequatetr eat- the Church of Annunciation at Naza- like that in the nineteenth and twen-
ment of this subject,b ut forf urtheri n- reth, the Church of Transfiguration tieth centuries for Zionist settlers).
formationa ndd ifferingo pinionso n the
at Mount Tabor,t he Church of St. Rather,w e may infer that there was
ratherm ore complexn uanceso f these
names, see: RaymondE . Brown,T he Peter at Capernaum, the Church of a substantial community of the fol-
Birth of the Messiah (GardenC ity, NY: the Multiplication of the Fishes and lowers of Jesus in Palestine from the
Doubleday1, 977)p, ages2 07-13;F .S tan- Loavesa t Tabgha,a nd the Church of first century. It was that community
ley Jones,a review of Revelationo f Elcha- the Sermon on the Mount on the that was strengthened and enlarged
sai (TiubingenM: ohr,1 985)i n Jahrbuch Mount of Beatitudes-to name only when the new pilgrims of the age of
fir Antike und Christentum 30 (1987): a few. I think it probablet hat some Constantine came to Palestine to
200-09;R euvenK imelman", BirkaHt a- Christians remained with their fel- build their new churches and shrines.
Minima ndt he Lacko f Evidencef or an low Jewst o resettle the Galilee and The archaeology of this period,
Anti-ChristianJ ewish Prayeri n Late surroundinga reas after the revolt. if somewhat controversial,i s sup-
Antiquity,"J ewish and Christian Self- There is some, albeit controver- ported and amplified by literary
Definition (PhiladelphiFa:o rtress1, 981),
sial, archaeological data to support sources that take the existence of
volume2 , editedb y E. P.S andersp, ages
226-44 and3 91-403;A . F.J .K lijna ndG . this view. FatherB agatti (1971),t he several forms of Jewish-Christianity
J.R einink, PatristicE videncefor Jewish- Franciscans cholar, and some of his more or less for granted (see Saun-
ChristianS ects( LeidenE: .J .B rill,1 973); followers believe that Christian re- ders 1977). Hegesippus, a second-
RayP ritz," TheJ ewishC hristianS ecto f mains from this so-called dark age in century Christian, mentions Chris-
the Nazarenesa nd the Mishna,"P ro- Palestine may be found in graffiti, tians belonging to a Jewish sect (see,
ceedings of the Eighth World Congress amulets, lamps, flasks, mosaics, and for example, Deferrari 1953: 253-56).
of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, August inscriptions; he sites such villages Irenaeus,b ishop of Lyons in the sec-
16-21, 1981 (JerusalemW: orldU nion and towns as Nazareth, Capernaum, ond century and the first Church
of JewishS tudies, 1982),D ivision A, Sepphoris,C ana, Cochaba, Tiberias, Fathert o systematize doctrine,
The Periodo f the Bible,p ages 125-30; Gush Halav, and Caparasimaa s cen- speaks of the Ebionites who read
Lawrence Schiffman, Who Was a Jew?: ters of Jewish-Christianity'i n this only the Gospel of Matthew, reject
Rabbinic and Halakhic Perspectiveso n
the Jewish Christian Schism (Hoboken, period. These sites, together with Paul, and follow the Toraha nd Jewish
NJ:K tav,1 985). over two hundred known churches way of life (see Roberts and Donald-
StephenG oranson from a slightly later period, make it son 1981).T hese Jewish-Christian
difficult to imagine that there was a groups, referredt o by Epiphanius
(see Williams 1987) as Nazarenes or
Elkasaites, professed the following
beliefs: They proclaimed Jesus as
prophet-Messiah;i nsisted upon the
validity of the Toraha nd laws of
ritual purity; spoke of three resur-
rections; professed a millennarian
eschatology; looked forwardt o the
This Greek inscription from a Romanp eriod synagogue at Sepphorisi s frequently identified as restoration of the Temple;o bserved
Jewish-Christianb ecause of the Chi-Rhom onogram at the right end of the bottom line.
the feast of Sukkoth (Tabernacles),
celebrated Eastera t Passover,a nd
observedt he Sabbath;a ffirmedt he
there is no definite trace of the followers
Although
of Jesus in the Holy Land from about 70 until 270 C.E.,
sources the of several forms
literary suggest presence
of
Jewish-Christianity.
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1988 71
Because there is no definite trace of a
Christian community in the Holy Land from
about 70 until 270 C.E., scholars have posited
that the followers of Jesusl eft Palestine
during the FirstJ ewish Revolt against the
Romansi n 66-70 Evidence has been
c.E.
found, however,a t Capernaumt hat suggests
the presence there of early Christians during
this period. Excavatorsh ave identified a
house (reconstructiond rawing, near right),
dating to the first century C.E.t,h at they
believe belonged to St. Peter( see Mark 1:29).
Sometime near the end of that century the
walls and floors of the main room of this
house were plastered three times. This may
mean that, instead of its being remodeled, it
was convertedt o a public building, since
stone pavements are the rule for houses at
Capernaum.I n addition, the pottery found in
the room that dates to after the first century
tends to be storage jars and other "public
wares."F inally graffitio f a Christianc haracter
and dating to the second and third centuries
have been found on its plastered walls. It is
thereforep ossible that a Christian com- It is likely that a substantial number of early Christians remained in the Holy Land between
munity had convertedt his room into a 70 and 270. This community was then strengtheneda nd enlargeda s the pilgrims of the age of
domus-ecclesia (a House Church). Constantine (who ruled 306-337) came to build their churches and shrines. At Capernaumi n
the fourth century, the main room of the "Houseo f St. Peter"w as enlarged,p rovided with an
arch across its middle to hold up a heavier roof,p lastered, and painted in designs; a large
enclosure wall surroundedt he whole (reconstructiond rawing, opposite page, above). This was
likely the church seen by Egeria.I n the fifth century,a fter this churchh ad been destroyed,a
new one was built in its place (reconstructiond rawing opposite page, below). Its octagonal
shape, which is clear in the photographo f its remains below, is characteristico f Byzantine
churches erected overp laces holy in Christianm emory.
72 Biblical Archaeologist, June 1988