BIBLICAL
ARCHAEOLOGI
.Of Published by THE AMERICAN SCHOOLS OF ORIENTAL RESEARCH Jerusalem and Bagdad Drawer 93-A, Yale Station, New Haven, Conn.
VOL. XXVI
September, 1963
No. 3
Fig. 1. Plasteredskull from Neolithic Jericho. (After K. M. Kenyon, Digging Up Jericho,p. 123, pl. 21.) Contents Burials in Ancient Palestine: From the Stone Age to Abraham, by Joseph A. Callaway 74 The Macedonian Scene of Paul's Journeys, by Paul E. Davies ................................. 91 The Tomb of Moses is Still Undiscovered! ................. ...................106 .......
THE BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST
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(Vol. XXVI,
The Biblical Archaeologist is published quarterly (February, May, September, December) by the American Schools of Oriental Research. Its purpose is to meet the need for a readable, reliable account of archaeological discoveries as they relate to the non-technical, yet thoroughly Bible. Editor: Edward F. Campbell, Jr., with the assistance of Floyd V. Filson in New Testament matters. Editorial correspendence should be sent to the editor at 800 West Belden Avenue, Chicago 14, Illinois. Editorial Board: W. F. Albright, Johns Hopkins University; G. Ernest Wright, Harvard University; Frank M. Cross, Jr., Harvard University. Service Agency, 31 East 10th $2.00 per year, payable to Stechert-Hafner Subscriptions: Street, New York 3, New York. Associate members of the American Schools of Oriental Research receive the journal automatically. Ten or more subscriptions for group use, mailed and billed to the same address, $1.50 per year for each. Subscriptions run for the calendar year. In England: fifteen shillings per year, payable to B. H. Blackwell, Ltd., Broad Street, Oxford. Back Numbers: Available at 600 each, or $2.25 per volume, from the Stechert-Hafner Service Agency. The journal is indexed in Art Index, Index to Religious Periodical Literature, and at the end of every fifth volume of the journal itself. Second-class postage PAID at New Haven, Connecticut and additional offices. Copyright by American Schools of Oriental Research, 1963. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, BY TRANSCRIPT PRINTING COMPANY PETERBOROUGH, N. H.
Burials in Ancient Palestine: From the Stone Age to Abraham JOSEPHA. CALLAWAY Southern
Baptist
Theological
Seminary
"Abrahamburied Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre ... in the land of Canaan." (Gen. 23:19 RSV.) We may wonder why Abrahamwanted a cave for a burying place for his family. Actually in choosing a cave for a tomb he was following a well established custom because multiple burials in caves and rock-cut tombs are found in Palestine from the late Chalcolithic Age. Multiple burials in an underground tomb are found at Azor near Tel Aviv dating to c. 3300 B.C.' Some three centuries later, over three hundred individuals were interred in Jericho Tomb K2.2 These burials occurredtwelve to fifteen centuries before Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah. The practiceof communal tomb burials persisted even until the eclipse of Israelite culture in the Post-Exilic period. Between the beginning of the fourth millennium and 3300 B.C. innovations in burial customs appeared which broke radically with older Stone Age traditions. The practice of communal cave-tomb burials is one new development. However certain Stone Age traditionspersisted alongside new customs. A common one was the practice of burying infants and children underneath the floors of houses in which the family lived. In the period of the Israelite 1. J. Perrot, "Une tombe (1961), pp. 1-83. 2. Jericho Tomb
K2 will
Aossuaires be published
' du IVe millenaire Azor, pres du Tel-Aviv," 'Atiqot, III, in Excavations
at Jericho,
II, by Kathleen
M. Kenyon.
1963, 3)
THE BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST
75
monarchy, child burials in houses are still found at Dothan. Thus Old Testament burial customs seem to be rootedin traditionsthat in part reach back into prehistory. Accumulating evidence from burials set a new light of understanding around certain Old Testament ideas about the dead. The idea that Abraham "was gathered to his people" (Gen. 25:8), or statements that kings of Judah "slept"or were "buried"with their fathers, must be understood against the background of communal tomb burials. Also the concept of Sheol takes on a new dimension of meaning in the light of cave tombs which were literal houses of dust, dug down into the earth. We may venture the opinion that the New Testament doctrine of the resurrectiondoes not emerge ex nihilo, nor apartfrom Semitic traditions,but instead it must be understoodas a part of the pilgrimage of man's hopes and aspirationsreflected in burial customs traceable from the Stone Age. The main lines of those hopes that somehow always found expression in the sad experience of interring members of one's family are traced to the time of Abraham in this paper. Stone Age Burials
Stone Age man lived in Palestine 600,000 years ago when the Dead Sea extended to the south end of the Sea of Galilee and man had not masteredthe use of fire. But it was not until the time of Neanderthal man who lived in the Mt. Carmel region some 50,000 years ago that evidence of burials is found.3 At least ten individuals were buried in the Skhul cave, and scatteredevidence is found in other caves which were inhabited at the time. Although little care seems to have been taken in depositing the corpses, some grave goods are found. The jaw of a wild boar was deposited with one of the Skhul cave burials. Individuals were usually laid in a pit in a flexed position, lying on one side in an attitude of sleeping. In these earliest burials two characteristicswhich continue throughoutthe Stone Age are apparent. First, there was a conscious effort to bury the dead in close proximity to the living. Usually this meant that the dead were buried underneath the floor of the cave in which they had lived and in which survivors continued to live. And secondly, certain grave goods were deposited with the corpses. There is no reason to believe that grave goods were specially prepared for funerary purposes alone. Instead it seems that items of food, ornaments, tools and weapons taken from daily life were used. Thus items useful for the living, including his habitation, were thought to be useful also for the dead. The custom of burying the dead in close proximity to the living and the deposit of grave goods taken from daily life suggests a primitive mythology 3. See Emmanuel Anati, Palestine Before the Hebrews, pp. 99-103.
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even 50,000 years ago. The future of the dead was apparently related to the continuing existence of the living family. This implies a belief that death did not bring complete annihilation of the individual. By the time of Natufian man in Palestine c. 8000 B.C., revolutionary cultural achievements had occurred.A comprehensiveworld view based upon the rhythm of life and fertility cycles is evident in the art of Natufian man. This intellectual achievement provided a stimulus for unusual cultural vigor. The production of food was brought under the control of man, and on the heels of this development villages began to be built and occupied. The oldest settlement at Jericho dated by Carbon 14 to 7800 B.C. is one of the first villages.4
ir
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\? ri
,
..
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"
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Fig. 2. Ground plan of Natufian cave and terrace dwelling at Mugharet el-Wad, near Mt. Carmel. (After Garrod and Bate, The Stone Age of Mount Carmel, I, pl. III).
Certain Natufian groups continued to live in the caves at Mt. Carmel and at campsites east of Bethlehem and in the Transjordan.At Eynan east of Merom a village of circular huts with stone foundations was built. It is striking that burial customs do not reflect a significant change in concepts in tlhe midst of these radical cultural changes. Fig. 2 is a plan of the El-Wad cave and terracedwelling near Mt. Carmel showing the locations of 62 burials. H Group 1-10, inside the cave, marks a possible family burial area underneath the floor of the cave. Other H numberson the terracedenote burials outside the cave. These are Natufian burials in the tradition of the earlier Stone Age clustered about the area where the surviving membersof the family or tribe continued to live. 4. K. M. Kenyon, Archaeology in the Holy Land, p. 42, gives a Carbon-14 date of 7800 B.C. -? for a structure at the base of the tell at Jericho by microliths and a bone harpoon he-d with Natufian man in the Mt. Carmel region. associate-
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THE BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST
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The Eynanvillagecommunityburiedits deadin circularstonestructures like the housesin which they lived.5A sixteen-footwide stonewalledstructurecontaineda numberof burialswhich apparentlyhad been depositedover a longperiodof time.Severalsmallcistern-likegravesaroundthe largecircular tomb containedskulls and unarticulatedbones probablyremovedfrom the largertombto makeroomfor additionalburials.Specialpreferencefor skulls is evidentin the largenumberpreservedin the secondaryburials. Numerousburialsarefoundunderneaththe floorsof housesin Neolithic Jericho,dating immediatelyafter the Natufian settlementof the city. The remainsof overfortyindividualswereexcavatedfroman areacoveredby one house.A surprisingdiscoveryof ten skullswith plasteredfacialfeaturesreveals a continuinginterestin skulls firstnoticedin the Eynanburials.
Fig. 3. Jericho Neolithic burial, in situ, from which the cranium was removed. (After Kenyon, Digging Up Jericho, p. 125, pl. 23.)
The best preservedNeolithicplasteredskullis shownin Fig. 1. Its facial featuresare well modeledindeed,with shellsworkedinto the orbitspacesto representthe eyes. Nine of the plasteredskullswerefound beneaththe floor of a PrepotteryNeolithicB housein AreaD and the otherwas discoveredat the northend of the tell. Wide separationof the skulls,consideredwith the fact thatskeletonswerefoundin widelyseparatedplaceswithoutskulls,indicatesthata specialvenerationwas held for someof the ancestorsof thosewho inhabitedthe town.Fig. 3 illustratesone of the burialsin situ fromwhich the 5. J. Perrot, "Le M6solithique de Palestine et les d6couvertes a Eynan (Ain Mallaha)," racentes Antiquity and Survival, II, No. 2/3 (1957). pp. 91-110.
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skull was removed, possibly for restoration.Thus at Jericho the close relationship between the dead and the living was heightened by restorationof the facial appearance of the dead as he was in the abode of the living. Stone Age burials suggest a rather complex view of existence after death in some kind of community with the survivors of one's family. Perhaps the idea of community should be emphasized, because any notion of independent existence would have resulted in burial away from the habitation of the living. We may suggest that the living community was the key to one's hopes beyond death..There is little evidence of a concept of a community of the dead with existence unrelated to the living community. Consequently the family or tribal groups were kept in close physical proximity, even in death. Also the initial burial seems to be more important than preservationof skeleton remains. The treatment of some skeletal remains is quite callous. This suggests that no significance was attached to preserving one's bones intact, as is found in biblical times, and it probablymeans that the physical body had no place in a concept of the after-life for Stone Age man. Interest in the skulls of individuals suggests that the skull, more than any other part of the skeleton, preserved something of the appearancethat recalled the personality of the dead person. Something of the dead person lived in the preserved remembranceof his looks. Use of the actual skull suggests that this was more than simply a remembrance that could be stimulated by a picture. It must have been in some sense a quasi-physical existence to the primitive mind, which would have made the influence of the dead person upon the living quite considerableand intimate. The First Intimations
of Sheol
Sheol is used in the Old Testament as a name for the nether world which is a realm of the dead, and it carries the significance of a place apart from the realm of the living. The concept is more ancient than the term, and evidence of the concept would be found when the dead began to be buried away from the habitationsof the living in what might be called a community of the dead. The first intimations of this concept are found in the late Chalcolithic Age in the coastal plains region south of Mt. Carmel. In 1937, E. L. Sukenik investigateda tomb which was found by workmen quarrying kurkar,a solidified sand, at Hederah. He found a five-foot layer of kurkar covering a stratum of sand from which box-like pottery vessels were protruding. Excavation of the sand layer revealed an artificial cave in which three types of ossuaries or bone-boxes had been deposited.6 The best preserved ossuary is shown in Fig. 4; it measures about two feet in height, two feet in length and one foot in width. 6. E. L. Sukenik, "A Chalcolithic Necropolis at Hederah," Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society, XVII, (1937), pp. 15ff.
1963, 3)
THE BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST
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Similar tombs have been found at Benei Beraq7 and Azor8 near Tel Aviv. A spacious oval chambermeasuringabout thirty-five by twenty-five feet was carved from kurkar at Azor, and remains of possibly a hundred ossuaries have been recoveredfrom the tomb. Pottery on the floor of the tomb is typical late Chalcolithic consisting of pottery chums or "birdvessels,"bowls on fenestrated bases and small angular-walled deep bowls. The painted decoration of the ossuariesin style and choice of motifs, such as bands, triangles,trellis and stars, may be related to similar art work at Ghassul. The pottery may be related to Ghassul, Abu Matar and Safadi.
I7,
.
, ;•I~•
7
!-
Fig. 4. House-shaped ossuary from Hederah. (After E. L. Sukenik, Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society, XVII (1937), p. 20, fig. 5.)
Ossuaries from Azor fall into three general types which are described as rectangular, animal-shaped and ovoid jars. Most of them are rectangular house-shaped chests of the general type shown in Fig. 4. Sukenik pointed out that the house-shaped ossuary developed from the practice of burying the dead underneath the floor of the house in which he had lived. This practice, which we have noted as the prevailing custom during the Stone Age, became a physical problem because there was not room enough under floors of houses for many burials,accordingto Sukenik. Therefore the ossuaryburial developed as a substitute for the house burial. The house-shaped ossuary symbolized shelter for continued existence beyond death. The associationof the house and the ossuariesis quite valid. Perrot notes that the ossuariesfrom Azor suggest wooden beams projecting from the roofs of houses and the legs on some of them reflect houses built on piling. Whether the associationimplies also the idea of community with the surviving family that seemed to be evident in Stone Age burials is not clear. One thing is clear: these are the first elaboratesecondaryburials, and they seem to reflect a new 7. J. Ory, "A Chalcolithic Necropolis 3enei Beraq," Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities a"' in Palestine, 12, (1946), pp. 43-57. 8. J. Perrot, "Une tombe ' ossuaries . . . ," op. cit.
80
THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST
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attitude toward death. Where the Stone Age burials were related to the living community, these seem to introduce the idea of a community among the dead. Importanceis placed upon properburial and also the preservationof the individual'sbones for some kind of existence after death. It is entirely possible that we have here evidence of the first notions of the nether world as a separate community of the dead. The pottery ossuaries in the shape of houses suggest that the dead were thought to need a house, and pottery bowls and churns probably held food and drink for the dead person. Thus the basic needs of the living were consideredto be needs of the dead also. The strange Chalcolithic underground communities of Abu Matar and Safadi near Beershebahave subterraneanchambers very much like the burial chamber at Azor.9The remains of twelve human bodies, mostly young individuals, were found in the chambersor passagesat Abu Matar, and some were found at Safadi. In two cases at Abu Matar stone circles a little over three feet in diametercovered the graves of children. However the scarcityof burials in dwelling chambers may be due to an abandonment of the custom of subfloor interments because of the physical problem of excavating graves in the hard soil. And there is the possibility that ossuaryburials may be discoveredin a chamber away from the tell. Stone Age customs seem to persist in burial practices at Ghassul, east of Jericho.10In the course of excavation of the site, numerous burials of children were found beneath the floors of rooms, and in at least one instance, in Room 13d of Level IV, Tell I, the disturbedremains of two adults were found. Usually the child burials were in pottery jars which had been broken to admit the body of the child. A piece of a second jar was normallyused to cover the opening of the broken jar which held the corpse. The small number of adult burials discovered means that either a cemetery was located away from the tell, or that some method of disposing of the dead was used which did not allow the remains to be preserved. Proximity of Ghassul to the mountains of Moab in Transjordan raised the possibility that megalithic funerary monuments in that region might be associatedwith the site. In 1933 Moshe Stekelis excavated one of the fields of tumuli at Adeimeh, one and one-half miles east of Ghassul."1One hundred sixty-eight "cist"type burial chambers, illustrated in Fig. 5, were found, and and fragments of Ghassulian-type comet pottery vessels, footed bowls and fan-shaped flint scrapers associated the graves with the Ghassulian period. A typical burial consists of a small chamber from two to five feet in length, apparently measured to fit the individual. The "cist"was lined with 9. J. Perrot, "Excavations at Tell Abu Matar," Israel Exploration Journal, 5, (1955), pp. 173ff. 10. See A. Mallon, R. Koeppel and R. Neuville, Teleilat Ghassul I, (1934), and R. Koeppel, H. Senes, J. W. Murphy and G. S. Mahan, Teleilat Ghassul II, (1940). 11. M. Stekelis,
Les monuments
megalithique
de Palestine,
(1935).
1963, 3)
THE BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST
81
upright flat stones and, after interment of the dead, a large flat stone was. leaned against the front of the chamber.Table-like flat stones were laid across the top. Individuals were buried in a crouching position, resting on the back with the head against the back wall of the chamber. Associated with the cist-chambers were hearths specially built for some of part the funerary ceremony.In Fig. 5 the hearth can be seen at a right angle to the axis of the chamber. No pottery or bone fragments were recovered from the cinders of the hearths, so that their role in the ceremonyis unknown. Articulated skeletal remains in the cist-chambers rule out cremations. It is possible that a ceremonial meal was observed in connection with the burials.
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Fig. 5. "Cist" tomb plan with associated hearth under tumulus, east of Ghassul. (After M. Stekelis, Les monuments megalithiques de Palestine, p. 44, fig. 6.)
The cist-tomb burials belong with the Chalcolithic ossuary burials in time, but it is difficult to speculate on their significance. Architecturallythey cannot be associatedwith Ghassul, although pottery associationscan be made. There does seem to be a concept of a separatedcommunity of the dead evident in the location of the cemetery, but the living community to be associatedwith it remains unknown. On the other hand the elaboratesecondaryburials of Hederah and Azor in communal chambers clearly indicate a changing concept of the after-life from Stone Age traditions.Continuing evidence of child burials beneath the floors of houses suggests that the developing idea of a community of the dead was primarilyfor adults, and that the infant or child was thought to have a different kind of existence after death. Of course it is possible that children
82
THE BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST' (Vol. XXVI,
were buried in the houses or rooms for sentimental reasons, to keep them nearby, but it is likely that the child was not viewed as a person in the same light as adults. The First True Communal Tombs
Soon after 3300 B.C. the hill country of Palestine came alive with people moving about its valleys and ridges. The static and isolated Chalcolithic cultures died out and nomad groups established campsites or villages at strategic locations which later developed into the great cities of the land. Jericho was reoccupied and new settlements appeared at Jerusalem, Ai, Mizpah, Gezer, Megiddo, Beth-shan, and Tirzah. Tombs furnish major evidence of the newcomers because almost no stratified tell evidence remains. For some 300 years the mingling tribes of nomads or semi-nomads buried their dead in elaborate underground tombs which were literal cemeteries. The common element in all the burials was the practice of communal burial in single underground chambers located away from the habitations of the living. A fully developed concept of a community of the dead is evident. It is likely that family ties were thought to continue in the community of the dead because each tribe probably had its own burial chamber. Now clearly the dead were thought to have had a destiny of their own, apart from the living. This in turn implies a significant development in mythology. Three interesting burial customs may be observed in the period from c. 3300-3000 B.C. A focal point from which the customs may be considered is the so-called Troglodyte Crematorium of Gezer, illustrated in Fig. 6.12 The tomb is a large irregularoval-shaped chambermeasuring 31 feet in length and 24 feet in width. On the southwest side is a stepped entrance leading into what was likely the original phase of the tomb, indicated by a broken line running under EnclosuresE, B, and A. During the earliest use of the tomb some form of cremationwas practiced for the first time in Palestine. Only Tomb A94 at Jericho, belonging in the same period, has other cremation evidence. Ashes from cremations reached a depth of about one foot just inside the stepped entrance to the tomb at Gezer. A draft of air necessaryfor the intense cremationflames was made possible by a vent in the roof of the chamber, cut in an inverted funnel shape. It was originally believed that whole bodies of individuals were cremated, and a small leg bone of a sheep fashioned into an amulet, which was recoveredfrom the ashes, was pointed out as a part of the burial equipment of a person who was cremated. Fragmentsof numerous skulls around the fringes of the pile of ashes indicated that a considerablenumber of cremationstook place. 12. R. A. S. Macalister, "Report on the Excavation of Gezer," Palestine Exploration Fund, Quarterly Statement, (1902), pp. 347ff.; cf. also G. E. Wright, "The Troglodytes of Gezer," Palestine Ex-
ploration
Fund,
Quarterly
Statement
(1937),
pp. 67-68.
1963, 3)
THE BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST
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Another interpretationof the cremationsat Gezer must now be made in the light of evidence from Tomb A94 at Jericho.13The large number of skulls around the edge of-the chamber of Tomb A94 is out of proportionto the long bones preserved,indicating that a special effort was made to save the skulls.14 Unconsumed pieces of long bones in the cremation layers suggest that the long bones were cremated.Thus the skulls were removed from skeletal remains after decomposition of the body in the tomb, and were stacked around the perimeterof the tomb while accumulatedlong bones were cremated at the center of the chamber. Tomb K2 at Jericho, belonging with the
EXCAVATION OF CEZER C"E"*PUW. WORIAL
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ofJ
00,
1
-
Fig. 6. Plan of Gezer communal Cave-Tomb 2 I. (After R. A. S. Macalister, Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund (1902), p. 371, pl. 7.)
phase following the cremation phase, supports the theory that an effort was made to preserve skulls when the tomb was cleared of accumulated bones and funerary vessels to make room for more burials. Over 300 skulls were stacked in four layers around the chamber of Tomb K2. The excellent state of preservation of delicate nasal bones and single-rooted teeth supports the interpretationthat initial burial was carried out in the tomb, and that skulls were later disarticulated in the same tomb and carefully placed around the walls of the chamber. The excessive number of skulls preservedin the cremationlayers of Tomb A94 suggests that cremationwas a method of disposing of accumulated skeletal remains to make room for more burials, while special significance was 13. Cf. Joseph A. Callaway, "The Gezer Crematorium Re-examined." Palestine Exploration Quarterly, (July-December, 1962), pp. 104-117. 14. K. M. Kenyon, Excavations at Jericho, I, pp. 16-40.
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THE BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST
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attached to perserving the skulls. It is probable that the cremations at Gezer were of the same nature. The bone amulet cited as a part of the funerary equipment of a cremated individual is no evidence for the cremationof whole bodies, as Macalister claimed. The amulet is preserved well enough to show the drilled holes in the distal end, which would be quite improbableif it survived the burning of a human body. Amulets of this type are known at Gezer in Tomb 271 and at Jericho in Tombs A13, Phase I, D12, A127, and F4, and all are later than the cremationphases at Gezer and Jericho.It is probablethat the amulet from the Gezer cremation layer belongs with the later inhumation phase and was trampled into the ashes of the cremation layer. Also if skulls were removed from skeletons in the Gezer tomb as they apparently were at Jericho, this would account for the large number of skull fragments preserved. Thus the significance of cremations at both Jericho and Gezer is minimized because only surplus bones in the community tombs seem to have been cremated in order to clear space for additional burials. The second phase of burials in the Gezer tomb shown in Fig. 6 is called the inhumation phase. It is characterizedby multiple inhumations in the chamber which was enlarged to the full dimensions shown. Corpses were laid upon the floor of the tomb and apparently left exposed until the area became crowded with skeletal remains.'5Then the skulls were generally disarticulated from the remains and laid to one side, as noted in the case of Jericho Tomb K2, and accumulated long bones were probably thrown out of the tomb and disposed of in some unknown manner. This practice is represented widely in Palestine during the period of the 32-31 centuries B.C. The major difference between the inhumation phase and the preceding cremation phase is that accumulated bones in the tomb chambers were removed instead of burned, and that more interest in preserving skulls is evident in the inhumation phase. A third phase of burials in the so-called crematoriumis characterizedby rough platforms or enclosures of stones which received deposits of human remains and grave goods. These are shown in Fig. 6, and also in Fig. 7, which is a plan of Jericho Tomb A13 showing a platform which separated the two phases of that tomb. Jericho Tomb K2, belonging to the same period, has three successive layers of platforms. Cell-like enclosures were constructed during the same period for burials in the Ophel caves at Jerusalem.16 The major difference in customs of the platform or enclosure burial phase and the preceding inhumation phase is that special places were prepared inside the master chamberof the tomb for interment of bodies. 15. Cf. F. E. Zeuner's interpretation of gypsum deposits on skeletal remains in Jericho tombs which indicates that the dead were laid in tomb chambers and not covered with earth, K. M. Kenyon, "Excavations at Jericho-1955," Palestine Exploration Quarterly, (1955), pp. 113f. 16. H. Vincent, Underground Jerusalem, PI.VI, Enclosures 2 and 3. Note the observation on p. 24 that the Ophel graves reminded Vincent of the cave of Gezer in its post-cremation phase.
THE BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST
1963, 3)
85
The period of the first communal tombs has variety in customs which is probably traceable to different background traditions of the people involved. Underlying the variant traditions however is the common custom of community burial in caves or rock-cut tombs. This custom is found throughout Palestine by 3000 B.C. and it implies development in a concept of the realm of the dead that became common propertyof succeeding cultures until the Post-Exilic period.
#VvraO(
CLOW
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Fig. 7. Plan and section of Jericho tomb A 13, showing phases I (levels IV-III) and II (levels II-I). (After Kenyon, Excavations at Jericho, I, p. 48, fig. 20.) Tombs of the First City Builders
One would expect to find increasingly elaborate funerary practices with the emergence of the Early Bronze Age cities in Palestine. Megiddo and Beth-shan developed into centers of power and trade by Early Bronze II, and evidence from fortificationsand pottery suggests the same for Beth-Yerah. Dothan, Tirzah, and Jericho flourished. Ai, astride the historic east entrance to the central hill country, reached its zenith and became probably the most important religious center of the Early Bronze Age. Considered as a whole, the extensive spread of settlements and relative prosperityof the larger cities testify to an affluence not known before. Evidence from tombs is disappointing. Instead of more elaborate cavetomb burials, there is a rather colorless and unimaginative continuation of
86
THE BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST
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practices from the previous period. The relatively few tombs known from the period between c. 3000-2400 B.C. may not faithfully represent the best culture of the period, but what is known does not give cause to expect anything significantly different when more tombs are found. For instance Ai Tombs B, C, and G were reused for multiple burials until c. 2400 B.C.,17 but pottery and other objects show no significant change in burial customs. Some variety in funerary equipment is found. The first true lamps appear, a pedestal base bowl quite similar to later chalices is found, and strange little twincup vessels become a component of the grave goods. These were used at the time the Ai sanctuarywith its elaborate cultic equipment flourished, but the cultural level of tomb furnishings does not match that of the sanctuary.
Fig. 8. Layer 2 of Megiddo tomb 903 Upper, showing confused mass of skeletal remains. (After P. L. O. Guy, Megiddo Tombs, p. 11, fig. 5.)
The same is true at Tirzah. Tombs 2 and 16 in the southwest necropolis continued to be used in Early Bronze II, but the scanty evidence suggests less elaborate burials if anything.18sA refinement in the manufacture of bowls, juglets, and jars reflects the craftsmanship of the time, but basic funerary equipment remains the same. Tombs 903 Upper, 1103, 1122, and 1128 at Megiddo are even more disappointing. The most striking characteristicis the complete disarrangementof skeletal remains, as though the tombs were charnel houses for bones brought in from other places. Fig. 8 shows the confused mass of bones in Layer 2 of Megiddo Tomb 903 Upper. Either the bones were thrown into the chamber after primary burial elsewhere, or there was complete disturbance after initial burial in the tomb. Evidence from tombs at Jericho on the whole suggests the latter alternative. 17. I arrived at this date in an unpublished analysis of the Ai tombs pottery. My conclusion is that the Early Bronze Age city of Ai was terminated after EB II B at Tell el-Far'ah and prior to the termination of EB III at Jericho. 18. R. de Vaux, "Les fouilles de Tell Far'ah, Naplouse," Revue biblique, LVI, pp. 118-122, pros Fig. 6; LXII, pp. 542-549, Fig. 1.
1963, 3)
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Jericho Tombs A and D12 represent the kind of mass interment over a long period of time that is evident at Megiddo. Over 300 individuals were buried in Tomb A, and Tomb D12 must originally have contained hundreds of bodies. The attitude reflected in this rather insensitive reuse of older tombs is callous to say the least. More personal ornaments appear in the latter phases, but the pattern of earlier communal burials is maintained. The careless treatment of skeletal remains shows some departure from the more careful preservationof skulls in the earlier period. This may representa deterioration in traditions due to the influx of new people, or it may be an influence of increased prosperity in an urban environment. Both possibilities may have contributed to the general picture of decay reflected in late burial customs. One unusual development in pottery suggests a deteriorationin traditions carried over from the nomad heritage. In Early Bronze II and III, miniature bowls and juglets appear in large numbers apparently as a substitute for the full-size vessels originally taken from daily life and buried with individuals.20 These seem to be special funerary equipment, and their miniature dimensions suggest that they carried symbolic significance over against a more realistic significance attached to the fullsize original vessels. It may well be that a concept of a community of the dead which had quite realistic significance for the nomad progenitorsof the Early Bronze cultures developed into a concept of more symbolic meaning as reflected in the miniature funerary vessels and disarrangedtombs. Urban prosperity would have its influence in shifting the focus of interest to the living present and away from life after death, and thus would contribute to the decay of ancient traditions. The Dark Age of Nomadic
Irruptions,
and Abraham
On the horizon of history appearedagain nomadic invaders who brought to a sudden end the prosperous urban culture of the Early Bronze Age.21 Because they were not city builders, the period from c. 2300-1900 B.C. is a "darkage" in that little informationcan be gained from their remains. However they were the most prolific tomb builders of ancient Palestine. Over 400 of the 505 tombs excavated at Jericho between 1952-1958 belong in this period. A new custom of interring one individual, and on occasion two, in rather elaborate rock-cut tombs characterizesthe culture, and variations of funerary equipment and manner of burial occur within this context. There is an underlying unity to the apparently composite culture evident in the prevailing practice of single burials. 20. cf. K. M. Kenyon, Excavations at Jericho, I, p. 69, Type F. 1. a. piriform juglets. 21. The invaders are called Amorites by K. M. Kenyon, although G. E. Wright reserves the name for successors of the invaders who settled the central hill country during the 19th century B.C.
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The so-called "Dagger"tombs of Jericho, illustrated in Fig. 9, contained single or double burials with a copper dagger as the sole funerary object. Usually the dagger was found lying at the waist of the individual, as in Fig. 10, or by the owner's arms as though ready for use. The complete absence of pottery, even lamps, is conspicuous. Characteristicallythe burials were intact, with the body in a reclining attitude on one side. The tomb chambers were neatly cut, relatively small, with a dome-shaped vault sloping down to a flat floor. Access was gained by a vertical shaft about three feet in diameter which opened into one side of the tomb chamber and was usually sealed with a single large stone. WMTRES J(RVCHO rOlWO ADI
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Fig. 9. Plan of single and double Dagger-tomb burials from Jericho. (After Kenyon, Jericho, I, p. 195, fig. 73).
"Pottery"tombs contained pottery but no daggers, and the burials were characteristicallyunarticulated and secondary. Skeletal remains appeared to be literal bags of bones thrown into the tomb chamber after the flesh had decomposed. This suggests nomadic habits in which bones were brought to the tribal base and reburied when the group returned from its seasonal wandering. Among the few pieces of pottery usually present in these tombs, a lamp was commonly found in a niche in the chamberwall, and smoke markson the lamp and the wall indicate that the lamp was lighted at the time of the interment. Professor F. E. Zeuner made a close study of Jericho Pottery Tomb J21 in order to discover the sequence of events from tomb construction to burial
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and sealing of the entrance.22He found that the chamber was carved with a copper pick, and upon analysis of a gypsum band on the tomb wall sloping upward from about one and a half to two and a half feet on the wall opposite the entrance he concluded that the tomb was left open for several Weeks after excavation in order to dry out. Ancient evidence of ant-lion funnels in dust at the back of the tomb confirmed this conclusion, because the ant-lion lives in loose dust in daylight. The ant-lion eggs were laid in the tomb after it had dried out and dust had settled inside, and enough time elapsed before the tomb was closed for the eggs to hatch and the larvae to develop into adult insects.
Fig. 10. Skeletal remains of Jericho dagger-tomb burial, in situ. (After Kenyon, Digging Up Jericho, p. 142, pl. 40.)
The jumbled bones in Tomb J21 belonged to a male about 30 years of age. A forearm bone as well as bones of the hands and feet were missing, suggesting some carelessnessin gathering the remains from the primaryburial place for transfer to the tomb. No trace of a container for the bones was found, but a termite corridorbuilt from a fissure in the rock to the floor and across the skeleton suggested that something made from vegetable matter had been consumed by the termites, since they do not eat animal matter. Possibly they ate a reed mat in which the bones were brought to the tomb. Just before the tomb was sealed, two small jars possibly containing food were placed on one side of the chamber.A lamp was lighted and set in a niche in the wall and the tomb was sealed. 22. "Notes on the Bronze Age Tombs of Jericho-I," Palestine Exploration Quarterly, (October, 1955), pp. 118-128.
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Similar burials with some variationsin tomb styles and grave goods were found at Lachish, 'Ajjul, and Megiddo. The multi-chambered shaft tombs at Megiddo illustrated in Fig. 11 were a departure from the single chamber tombs of Jericho and Lachish, although the practice of single burials in chambers may have been continued. Skeletal remains in these tombs were either disturbed or else were secondary burials deposited in a desiccated state, on the analogy of Tomb J21 at Jericho. It is probable that families were interred in the interconnected chambers, preserving the practice of single burials in a chamberbut uniting the family in one tomb unit.
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A tantalizing suggestion for students of the Bible is that these obscure nomadic people, who went to much trouble to give their dead proper burial, demonstrateda great deal of interest in things religious. At Jericho a sacred area was identified and two large blocks of greenish brick-clay were pointed out as altars. Nearby was an apparent foundation deposit of an infant. An open-air altar and sacred area belonging to a later phase of the same culture was found at Bethel. And a temple structure at Megiddo has been associated with the people of the multichambered tombs. These interpretationsadmittedly are based upon minimum evidence, but there is a reason to believe that these nomadic people who have been called Amorites and have been associated with Abrahamhad a keen religious consciousnessas well as preoccupation with properburial of their dead. Furthermore there is a dignified simplicity in burials indicated by the few grave deposits taken from daily life that is refreshing after the apparent deterioration of traditions of Early Bronze III. Possibly an advance in the concept of a community of the dead should be inferred, because the notion
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of communitywas not createdby the confinesof a tombchamberor physical proximityto the living. Insteadtherewell may have been a developedidea of the netherworldrealmof the dead in which familyunity couldbe achieved though the tombsof individualswere separated. If the accumulatingevidence cited by Glueck and Albrightfor associating Abrahamwith the last stagesof this nomadicculture is accepted,23 it is not surprisingto find the Patriarchbreakingout of the eclipse of Amoriteculture and upon the Canaaiiitescene with a unique spiritual with properburialfor membersof his familyat heritage.His preoccupation Mamresuggeststhathe at leastis indebtedto this heritage,and it is probable that the Deuteronomicconfessionof faith with the prologue"A wandering Arameanwas my father . . ." (Deut. 26:5 RSV) reflectsthis heritage.
23. See Nelson Glueck, Rivers in the Desert, Chapter III, and W. F. Albright, "Abraham the Hebrew," BASOR No. 163 (1961), pp. 44-54.
The Macedonian Scene of Paul's Journeys PAUL E. DAVIES McCormick Theological
Seminary
The interest of this article is narrowed to that section of Macedonia which Paul the Apostle visited on his missionary journeys.1 No apology need be made for this severe limitation because most historical and archaeological research is prompted by the meaning which the particular material has for some particular group or generation of men. With our concern for biblical history we focus on the representativesof the Christian movement in this particularsection of the Roman world. A secondarylink of continuity may be found in the circumstancethat Paul and his fellow missionarieswere following from point to point the ancient Via Egnatia, a paved road that extended some 530 miles from Dyrrhachium on the Adriatic coast across Macedonia to Neapolis and eastward.
1. Twenty-three years ago, William A. McDonald covered similar ground with an article in BA III (May, 1940), pp. 18-24. Since that time, new work at Philippi and new publications on Philippi and the Lion of Amphipolis warrant a new treatment of the subject.
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The Book of Acts, chapters 16, 17, 20, records Paul's journeys and visits in Macedonia. After the vision of the "man from Macedonia" Paul and his party sailed from Troas to Neapolis with one (overnight) stop at Samothrace. He proceeded immediately to Philippi where he met with a group of Diaspora Jews and was beaten and imprisoned by the Roman authorities. From Philippi he proceeded on the Via Egnatia through Amphipolis and Apollonia, arriving in Thessalonica for a stay of some weeks. His next stop was at Beroea which was off the Via Egnatia, and from there Paul went south to Athens. A later visit to Macedonia is referred to in II Cor. 2:12, 13. Information on the continuing Christian communities is supplied for us in Paul's two letters to the Thessalonians and his letter to the Philippians. Paul refers to the generosity of the churches of Macedonia in II Cor. 8:1 ff. The churches which he establishedrepresentedthe enduring impact of his missionary labors, and of course the later church establishments in such a place as Thessalonica are witness, historically and archaeologically, to his work in Macedonia. The geography and the general terrain are as Paul saw them, even if rivers sometimes do change their courses through the centuries and even if over-grazing does affect the tree covering of the ground. The miles on foot are no shorter today than they were to Paul and his company, and the mountain roads had to be climbed then as now, even if they are now straighter and the grades are easier. Seasons have not shifted radically in that north Aegean area; the winters are still cold and raw, and the winds from the sea blow hard. One great beneficial change has been wrought in modern times, the conquest of malaria on the sea coast and through the plains. We can hardly appreciate how malarial conditions radically affected the life of men in the ancient world through so many parts of the north Mediterranean countries. Witness the fate of Paestum in southern Italy. When Paul made his fast two-day sail from Troas to Neapolis, he apparently tarried only over-night on Samothrace, although that island had been Greek for hundreds of years and had had a great sanctuary for the initiatory rites of the mystery cults. Paul did not even stop at the large island of Thassos which lies within sight of Neapolis. Thassos was colonized by the Greeks as early as the seventh century B. C., had been overrun by the Persians, and fought over by Athens and Sparta. In Roman times it was prosperousand had a fine Roman theater, in addition to Greek monuments. But Paul did not turn aside to visit Thassos. Even when he landed at Neapolis, he did not tarry for any missionary work. Neapolis, modern Kavalla, is the one good harboron the Macedonian coast east of Thessalonica. Neapolis was originally colonized from Thassos and was an important commercial center. Of course the Greek wars had
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weakened it, and the founding of Philippi tended to reduce Neapolis to the status of a port for the city thirteen miles inland. In mediaeval times Neapolis had its name changed to Christopolis.The Turks used it as a stop on the post road and gave it the name "Kavalla"(Italian: cavalla - mare). Today the fine half-circle harbor with its colorful fishing boats affords a beautiful sight, especially from the road up the spur of Mt. Symbolon toward Philippi. The acropolis of modern Kavalla is topped with the walls of a Turkish fort. The Roman aqueduct which served the acropolis in ancient times is splendidly preserved. It is tiered with three levels of arches, and it cuts across the valley in which the older town is situated. The newer city extends up the slopes and west along the harbor heights. To Paul after his two days at sea this harbor must have been a welcome sight, but, as we have said, we have no record that he started any work here. We may make conjectures as to the reason. Did Paul fear the malarial conditions on the coast? It been suggested that this circumstance may have played a part in his has"
Fig. 12. The stone Roman (?) road leading up from Kavalla. (Photos by the author.)
passing through Perga in Pamphylia on his way to Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:13, 14). Or Neapolis may have rated as only a small port town for Philippi, and Paul was in a hurry to reach the populous centers on the Via Egnatia. Paul's larger strategy may explain why he did not tarry at Samothrace and Neapolis and why he did not even stop at Thassos. There is another possibility; Paul may have been looking for a local Jewish synagogue in these places as a base of operations. The Book of Acts describes how he started his evangelistic program in the synagogues. The modern road out of Neapolis toward Philippi winds sharply up through the town and through the wooded spur of the mountain to the north of the harbor. At many points the road affords splendid views of the
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harbor and coastline. At several places near the top going up and coming down the traveler may see considerable stretches of the old road, flanked by larger stone blocks and surfaced by irregularstones (Fig. 12). Was this the ancient Via Egnatia over which Paul traveled? The stone pavement bears the marks of much traffic such as are found on other Roman roads. (The Appian Way and the Flaminian Way just outside of Rome are set with more regular courses of stone.) This route appearsto be the only feasible way out from the port over toward Philippi. Paul must have trudged up this same hilly route, and his feet may very well have trod these stony sections of the Via Egnatia.
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ANCIENT PHILIPPI LAVATORY Fig. 13. Sketch plan of the public buildings at Philippi, locating the "Church of the Terrace," the Forum, the theatre and the baths.
It is thirteen or fourteen miles from Kavalla to the site of ancient Philippi. This distance would represent a day's walk for Paul. On the north side of the pass, about four miles out of Kavalla, the modern road to Amphi-
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polis and Thessalonica turns off to the west. The plain extends broad and flat toward the northwest and is closed in by the foothills of the Balkans. On the west rises Mt. Pangaeum. On the east side of the plain Paul would see a spur of Mt. Orbelos with a conical shape. At the foot of this spur is situated Philippi. Modern drainage has reclaimed the plain from its former swampy condition and made it productive, with orchardsand grain fields. Philippi
The readers of this article will recall that Philip II of Macedon in 360 B. C. took over the town of Krenides on this site and gave it his own name. He developed the gold mines of the area, and his gold coins became famous. Today we know very little of the history of Philippi for the first two hundred years. It must have been a rural center, with an over-layer of colonists added to the original Thracian population. The wall around the city and up to the acropolis was constructed in the Greek period, and the theater of Philippi is Greek in character. Eventually, Macedonia was swept into the Roman orbit; in 167 B.C., L. Aemilius Paullus divided it into four districts. A Roman general, he was appointed commissioner for Macedonia. He was to proclaim to the people of Macedonia their enfranchisement "in order to demonstrate to all the world that the arms of the Roman people were employed not in riveting chains, but in breaking them" (according to Livy's account, xlv. 17, 18, 29). His orders were to divide Macedonia into four districts and, says Livy, the first district lay between the rivers Strymon and Nestos, the area in which Amphipolis and Philippi were located. This division was probably continued in the constituting of Macedonia as a Roman senatorial province. After the battle of Philippi and the defeat of Brutus and Cassius in 42 B. C., the town of Philippi was designated as a Roman colony and was enlarged by the addition of Roman army veterans as colonists. Further Roman colonists (followers of Antony) came in from Italy after the battle of Actium. The full name of the town became Colonia Julia Augusta Philippensis. Luke in Acts 16:12 describes Philippi as "the leading city of the district of Macedonia, and a Roman colony" (RSV), but the Greek text here has five or six variant readings. Actually, Amphipolis, not Philippi, was the head (Gr. prate), of this district in the four-section division (see the full discussion in Foakes-Jacksonand Lake's The Beginnings of Christianity, vol. IV, pp. 187-189). On scant textual grounds one is tempted to make the descriptive phrase read, "a city of the first district of Macedonia, a colony." Paul as he entered Philippi would encounter a community with a history and population of varied character: Thracian, Greek, Latin (Roman). The monuments would also indicate the presence of Egyptian and Oriental influences.
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In modem times the deserted site of Philippi was excavated by the Ecole Francaise d'Athens in a succession of campaigns from 1914 to 1938, and the work has been continued by Greek archaeologists.The area involved covers many acres from the acropolis down across a series of terraces. The central axis seems to be the Via Egnatia which runs roughly E and W. The modem road runs across the site parallel to the Via Egnatia within a few feet of it and at a slightly higher level. The forum excavated by the French archaeologistsis a rectangle 300 x 150 feet, and its longest dimension parallels the Via Egnatia at a slightly lower level. The forum as excavated dates from the days of Marcus Aurelius (late second century, A. D.), and yet it undoubtedly occupies the place of an earlier and simpler forum which Paul the Apostle would have seen and visited. On the north side just below the Via Egnatia are to be seen four
Fig. 14. The bama with its four steps, in the forum of Philippi.
steps leading up from the forum level to the bima or judgment seat. This bima may well have been part of the earlier forum, and before it Paul and Silas may have stood when they were hailed before the praetors (strategoi) (Acts 16:19 ff.). The grandeur and extent of this forum may be judged from the great paving stones which still lie in place but in some unevenness. On either side of the bima are reservoirsfor water, 3 feet deep, 70 x 10 feet in length and breadth, and around the edges of the forum proper are gutters that still carry water. At the 'NE comer of the forum was the Temple of Faustia, still beautiful with its broken columns, and on the NW corner another Temple, the Temple of Antonia or Antoninus Pius with its Corinthian columns. On the west side of the forum were grain shops, and on
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the east side there were found what appear to be a library and reading room. The total size of this combined area is 450 x 225 ft. There was found a Latin inscription bearing the name of L. Decimius Bassus as the "angel" who shared in the cost of some part of the forum. The S side of the forum was flanked by a stoa 300 ft. long with inner chambers behind the columns. Just beyond are the remains of a Roman agora with shops, houses, and streets, and some of the pillars of this area are still standing. On the pavement may be seen the designs of various games cut into the stone. Recently in this area they have excavated what appears to have been a temple from possibly 400 B. C., and by the inscription it was dedicated to Apollo and Artemis.
Fig. 15. The Roman lavatory at Philippi.
Still farther S from the forum the excavators found what appears to have been an extensive palaestra240 x 190 ft. SW from the palaestrathere were Roman baths from the third or fourth century A. D., and the plan showed a central building with rooms for recreation and social gatherings. At one point out beyond the palaestra they have excavated a Roman lavatory or toilet, a "forty-two holer," complete with stone seats and running water underneath. The floor level of this lavatory is now a number of feet below the surface of the ground. The site of Philippi before the French excavation was marked by a group of ragged columns known as Direkler, "columns." Not until 1900 were these columns recognized as the remains of a Christian church. The massive size of these stone and brick columns suggested a very large and pretentious building, and the excavators did lay bare the plan of a church
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with tripleapses,large nave, narthex,and spaciousatrium.It was set over the earlierRomanhouses,streets,and lecturehall southof the forum.Here we have the remainsof a sixth centurychurch building placed squarely overa partof a Romantown. The pillarsare of heavyconstructionto supportat the fourcornerswhat was to have been a spaciousdome,and the supportingpillarsstill show the first curve toward this central dome. Here we may see the influenceof nearbyConstantinoplewhere the idea of a greatdomeor cupolaon massive pillarswas carriedout in SanctaSophia.In Philippithe nave, narthex,and side chapels north and south were carriedto completion,but then, it is
Fig. 16. Columns in the forum at Philippi, with the Direkler Basilica (Basilica B) in the back-
groundleft.
conjectured,the dome came down in crashingruin. Was there some fault in the design or engineering?They did not attemptto rebuildit, and the basilicaas originallyplannedwas never finished.They did not even clear the people never carriedout away the debris.In apparentdiscouragement the elaborateplans for an atriumon the foundationsalreadylaid on the west. They seem to have been satisfiedwith a make-shiftsmall chapel in the narthexarea of the buildingwith an apse jutting into the west wall of the originalnave.The pillarsand carvedcapitalsthatlie aboutcarrysome hints of the grandeurof this sixth centurychurch,commonlycalledBasilica B. Meantimeon the terraceabovethe Via Egnatia,and abovethe modem roadthere was hidden anotherearlierchurchwhich was only uncoveredin the excavationsof the 1930's,a greatstructurewhich has been datedaround A. D. 500, sometimescalledthe Churchof St. Paul,commonlydenominated
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BasilicaA. The churchwas set on the upperterraceand it cut into the slope of the acropolis.The excavationsrevealedthat it was 400 or more feet in length and about 160 ft. in breadth.P. Lemerlehas made a conjectural drawingor elevationthat showsarchedgalleriesthe length of the nave and even a clerestoryabovethe galleries.2There is some evidenceof an earlier Greektempleon the west end of this site datingfromabout300 B. C. The roundedsteps (Fig. 17) leading to the main stone stairwayto the terrace
Fig. 17. Entrance steps to the Church of the Terrace, Philippi.
and atriumof the churchmaybearsomerelationto this or someotherearly construction on this west end. A broadstone stairwayfrom the side of the forumled into the large atriumon the west end of the church.This atriummay have been open to the unbaptized.There were two openings into the narthexwhich itself measured90 ft. in length. The remarkablefeatureof the narthexis a row of five niches in the west wall, one largeand four small, with carvedout basinsfor holy water. From the narthexto the nave therewas free access throughthree openingswithout steps.On the left side of the nave jutting into the hill were chambersfor women (?) and a few steps of a stairway 2. Reproducedin Oi Philippoi, by DemetriosI. Lazaride(Thessalonica,1956), picture appendix vii.
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perhaps to the gallery. Here also on the left side against the hill were two chambers for the baptistry. The mosaic floor of the baptistry is well preserved and still in place. The nave itself has a main apse and transepts, and a double row of ten columns dividing the nave into three aisles is clearly evident from the stylobate and the fallen pillars. Incidentally we might note that the crypt is off-center. Of special interest but outside the walls of this basilica is a small crypt to the right of the entrance stairway and cut into the terrace. When it was first discovered in 1876, there were found on the interior walls paintings BAPTISTRY
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(BASILICA A) Fig. 18. Plan of the Church of the Terrace at Philippi, after P. Lemerle, Philippes et la Macedoine oriental i l'epoque chretienne et byzantine.
depicting the imprisonment of Paul the Apostle at Philippi: the healing of the possessed girl, the accusation of Paul and Silas, the baptism of the jailer, and the washing of the wounds of Paul. These paintings have since disappeared. The crypt may have been an abandoned cistern made into a chapel. Paul and Silas were imprisoned at Philippi, but this tiny chamber is hardly adequate for that incident. By every test this "Church of the Terrace"was a magnificent structure, splendid evidence of the devotion of this Christian community in an ancient Roman colony. We can only imagine what caused its destruction. Probably an earthquake brought it tumbling down in ruins. The community did not attempt to rebuild it, but they selected a location for the church on flatter ground south of the forum. In the interval of one hundred years or more the style of church architecturechanged, and we note the new cupola style of Direkler (Basilica B). The fact that this community could build these two large churches within so short a time is evidence of the prosperity of Philippi in the fifth and sixth centuries. Paul would have been astounded at the growth of the town and the strength of the church he had founded. To the east of Basilica A around the hill are the remains of a large Greek theater, estimated to seat 50,000 people. The theater is so placed that
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the spectatorsnot only could watch the play but could look out over the broadplainsof Philippi.There is evidencethatin the theaterthe half-circle for the Greekchoruswas enlargedto arenasize for Romanspectacles.The undergroundpassagesmay havebeen for animalsin theirshows.The theater may have been constructedin the time of Philip II, and it is surely one structurewhich Paul in the first centuryA. D. would see on his visits to Philippi.3In the sameslopeof the acropolisarethe ruinsof paganshrines, a temple to Egyptiangods (Serapis,etc), and also a Temple of Silvanus, constructedA. D. 20-30. Greekreligionwould be well representedin the
Fig. 19. The crypt or chapel, described as St. Paul's prison, just below the Church of the Terrace.
city proper.Paul the Apostlewould encounterthese aspectsof the religious scene when he preachedin Philippiin the firstChristiancentury. Excavationin Philippicontinuesin an areaE of the forumwherearchaeologistshave unearthedwhat appearto be the remainsof a still earlier Christianchurch,possiblyfromA. D. 400. West To Thessalonica
Philippi in Paul's time and later was orientedin relationto the Via Egnatiathat extendedthroughits length. In relationto the RomanEmpire Philippi was an importanttown in the first districtof Macedonia,but it 3. For a full treatment of Philippi see Paul Lemerle's Philippes et la Macedoine oriental a l'epoque chretienne et byzantine, (Paris, 1945).
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was also a way-station on the great East-West highway. (In the later Byzantine time it was closely related to Constantinople, and the East-West connection declined in importance.) As Paul would follow the Via Egnatia, it would lead out of town at the west gate, the Krenides Gate,4 and westward on the north side of the Pangaeum Mountain. The present highway west toward Amphipolis and Thessalonica is south of Pangaeum, as it was probably in pre-Roman times, and it joins the route of the Via Egnatia in the neighborhood of Amphipolis.
Fig. 20. The Lion of Chaeroneia on the left, and, at right, the Lion of Amphopolis.
Here, just beyond the bridge over the Strymon River Paul would see the famous Lion of Amphipolis. The statue stands 17?2 ft. high on a square marble base. Its location was discovered in the Balkan War (1912-13), and again in 1916 British soldiers uncovered the ruins of the base and the marble blocks of the lion. The French and American schools cooperatedin the project of restoration.A Greek sculptor, Andreas Panogiotakes, rebuilt the lion from the blocks with which it was first constructed. Missing were the tail, the hind paws, lower jaw, and mane, and these had to be re-cut. The Lion of Chaeroneia near Levadia and the Lion of Piraeus would serve as comparable statues in the process of restoration. 4. There were three gates through the walls of Philippi, the Neapolis Gate on the east, the Krenides Gate on the west, and the Swamp Gate on the south. When Acts 16:13 tells how Paul and his party on the sabbath day went outside the city gate to the riverside, to a Jewish place of prayer, the reference is probably to the Krenides Gate. Some have identified this gate with a monumental arch some distance out of the city near the site of the Battle of Philippi of 42 B.C., as. suming that this arch would mark the limit of the colony. It is much simpler and more natural to take the reference in Acts as applying to the Krenides Gate in the city wall, which was wellmarked with three openings.
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The Lion of Amphipolis is of course a symbolic representation, and realism gives way to the conventional meaning of the lion as a symbol of valor. (Compare the strange, elongated lions on the island of Delos.) What occasion of outstanding valor was this lion representing? The Lion of Chaeroneia was of about the same date as the Lion of Amphipolis; it was set up as a joint memorial over the graves of Thebans who had died in defeat at the hands of Philip of Macedon in 348 B. C. So the conjecture has been made that the Lion of Amphipolis commemorates the battle in 422 B. C. in which Brasidas'Spartan army won a victory over the Athenians.5 A better case can be made for the Lion of Amphipolis as a war memorial in connection with the campaigns of Alexander the Great. Amphipolis furnished cavalry and ships for Alexander's expedition in the east. Perhaps the Lion of Amphipolis symbolizes the courage of one of Alexander's generals or "companions"who shared his victories. The idea of a mausoleum may have been introduced from the east about this time. In the fourth century the widow of Mausolus erected the famous monument to her husband at Halicarnassus on the SW coast of Asia Minor. The modem road leads on from Amphipolis through Apollonia, past two large lakes, Coronia and Volvi, to Thessalonica, a distance of about 65 miles, three or more days' journey for Paul. Approaching the city of Thessalonica from the heights of Mt. Chortiatis the traveler sees the full sweep of the harbor and the Thermaic Gulf, Chalcidice to the East, Mt. Olympus to the SW. Thessalonica still enjoys this favorable location at the head of the Thermaic Gulf with a splendid harbor and waterfront, but the trade connections with the north country have been cut off. Paul the Apostle in the first century found the city favorable for his work, and he stayed on for at least three weeks. The town had been founded by Cassander who named it for his wife, the sister of Alexander the Great. Under the Romans it came to its-full prominence. In A. D. 305 the Emperor Galerius established his palace here. The well-known Arch of Galerius is in the upper eastern section of the city. It stands at the edge of the modem street, Via Egnatia, the main thoroughfare of Thessalonica. One of the three spans has been destroyed. The reliefs on the sides of the Arch commemorate the victories of Galerius over the Persians, and one is reminded of the reliefs on the earlier Arch of Titus in Rome. Another arch which stood on the west side of Thessalonica, the VardarGate, carried an inscription which referredto the politarchs (Acts 17:6), the local civic officials before whom Jason appeared in the place of Paul (Acts 17:6 ff.). The arch was tomrn down in 1876, but the stone with most of the inscription is in the British Museum.6 5. Oscar Broneer, The Lion Monument at Amphipolis (Cambridge, Mass., 1941). 6. E. D. Burton, "The Politarchs," American Journal of Theology II (1898), pp. 598-632.
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(Vol. XXVI,
Thessalonica today carries remindersof almost every period of her long history. The city walls and archways recall the Roman times. The many well preservedchurches representthe Byzantine world in which Thessalonica played an important part. Beside old St. George's Church there stands a minaret, and in the middle of town may be seen what was a Turkish mosque. The White Tower on the waterfront is Venetian. The numerous churches in Thessalonica are enduring, yet secondary, evidence of the Christian community which Paul the Apostle started here. In Athens many of the early Orthodox churches have been destroyed, but in Thessalonica they have been preserved in a remarkable way. Perhaps the oldest of these churches, the Rotunda or the Church of St. George, is not in the usual style of these Orthodox churches with their round arches
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and many apses. The Church of St. George stands a block from the Via Egnatia, just north from the Arch of Galerius. Originally it was an imperial mausoleum connected with the palace, a great circular structure 75 ft. in diameter. At the death of Galerius it was converted into a Christian church. Galleries and semi-circular vaults were added, and the dome was decorated with some of the finest mosaics in Thessalonica. In the vault are intricate patterns, and around the dome is a succession of saints against a gold background. These mosaics may date from as early as the 7th century. Mosaics frofmas early as the 6th or 7th century are to be found in the Church of St. Demetrius. St. Demetrius was credited with miraculouspower,
1963, 3)
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and mosaicsreflectthe cures and have as a persistenttheme St. Demetrius as patronof the city and friend of children.The Churchof St. Demetrius has suffered a successionof disastersthroughthe centuries,and yet the mosaicshave been carefullypreservedon the walls and archesof the present church,even though they are in a fragmentarycondition.The mosaics in the Church of the Virgin Acheiropoietos(Not-Made-with-Hands)are probablyfroman earlierdate - a brilliantseriesof flowersand fruits,birds and serpents.The Church of St. Sophiaof the 7th or 8th centuryreflects moreof the architectureof Constantinopleand SanctaSophia.It has a massive arcadeor cupola and the crossplan. Here in the cupolaare the most brilliantof the mosaicsof Thessalonica,dating from the 8th to the 11th century. In the apse are depicted the Madonna and Child, and in the dome we see a vast mosaicof Christ in glory, surroundedby angels and apostles.Other churchesin Thessalonicashow rich mosaicdecorationwith scenes and personsdrawnfrom the Old and New Testaments.Visitorswho have come from Ravennain Italy or Sancta Sophia in Istanbulwill find here familiarthemes,colors,and techniques.While these mosaicsare later than the 5th century Ravennamosaics,they take their place in the long These picturesin miniaturebits of stone historyof mosaicrepresentation. reflectthe life and faith of a people even more directlythan most of the cruderstone structuresthat remainfrom the past. These mosaicscannotbe ignored,any more than the archaeologistwould ignore the mosaicmap at Madeba or the mosaic floor of the Church of the Loaves and Fishes at Capernaum.Mosaicsof coursetouch the field of art as well as the field of archaeology,and their patternshave much to contribute,whether in the most recentfinds at New Paphosin Cyprusor in the well known mosaics on Delos or at Herculaneum. Additionalreferencecould be made to the discoveriesin the crypt of the Churchof St. Demetriusin Thessalonica.In the fire of 1917 and the rebuildingof that oft damagedchurch the crypt under the east end was openedup, and the baptistryof St. Demetriuswas uncovered.The authorities therewould like to think that the cryptwas the place of the imprisonment and martyrdomof St. Demetriusin A. D. 306. In the excavations they laid bare a Roman road leading down from the castle. Numerous inscriptionsalso were found. The discoveriesonly suggest what might be recoveredif the groundin Thessalonicawere not so completelybuilt over. The study of these stationson the Via Egnatiawhich were visited by Paul and a visit to this areashouldgive new dimensionto the biblicalaccount. There should be opened up to us the fuller range of the history 7. K. Nicolaou, "Animal, Mythical and Vegetable: A Great Range of Lively Mosaics discovered at New Paphos, Cyprus," Illustrated London News, June 8, 1963, pp. 884ff.
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of the area before the time of Paul's visit; and we should come to fuller understanding of the complex world he encountered. He had not been this way before, and at almost every point he came face to face with a rich civilization and a developed pagan society. To that complex scene and to that difficult situation Paul brought the full power of the Gospel. From our perspective it is clear that with the impact of Paul and his Gospel there came a new and renewing current into the life of this small section of the Roman world.
[From time to time we have submitted to us items that are too rare to allow to pass. The following is reprinted from the paper Welt Am Sonntag, and was sent to us by Rafiq Dajani of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. We have decided to print it just about as it was written, and without comment. Ed.]
The Tomb of Moses Is Still Undiscovered Excavation
Sensation
in Jordan
Reported by DR. IVARLISSNER Amman, Jordan, December 8, 1962: In Jordan it is still very warm. Only in the evening is it cool. Whenever I am in this country, I wander to Mt. Nebo. From the top, one can see the Dead Sea, and Jericho; one sees the distant thin green strip of the JordanValley; everywhere else it is yellow, hilly, and broken. From the Dead Sea there comes up an indescribably fragrant breeze, carrying a mixture of salt and cedar wood smells. The light landscape is of overwhelming beauty. What Moses, before his death, saw from this high spot is truly incomparable. This general, preacher, architect, historian, theologian, lived 1225 years before Christ. The liberatorof the Israelites can be described as the most remarkable quartermasterof world history, because the organization of the Exodus, the forty-year desert trip, and the conquering of the lands east of the Jordan, required extraordinary abilities of pathfinding, inconceivable talent for improvisation,and unflagging energy. During the wandering, they would have had to make camp many times, women and children had to be cared for, large herds needed tending, goods and chattels were carried on donkeys, people got married, bore children; during this time the Laws and Commandments were formulated.
1963, 3)
THE BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST An Architect
107
from Chile Reads His Bible
Moses saw the land of Canaan from Mount Nebo. He was never to enter there, since he died on the mountains as we can read in the book of Deuteronomy. Where then is Moses buried? The Old Testament says: "Thus Moses died . .. and according to the commandment of the Lord, he was buried [English versions usually: "and he buried him. . ."] in the Land of Moab above Beth-Peor, but no-one has found his tomb unto the present day." This is Deut. 34:5-6. An architect named Julio Ripamonti now wants to put an end forever to this gap in our knowledge. "But no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day?" It is the aim of Ripamonti'sundertaking to remove this from the Bible. I was astonished to learn this in Amman! Something
Will Definitely
Be Exhumed I
Ripamonti is a Chilean and a lecturer at the Central University of Venezuela. The daring man visited King Hussein of Jordan. He has edited a great number of well-informed writings, and recently has been working in the Department of Antiquities in Amman to obtain permission to dig, or at least to join someone else in digging, since here even the most zealous man cannot on his own find anything without well-foundered knowledge. He wanted to lay bare the last resting place of Moses - nothing less! The Jordanian archaeologistscould not take this modern crusader seriously. They led him to Beth-Peor, and showed him a place where one could at least dig something - but a place which is certainly not Moses's tomb. Six miles from Madaba, a place through which Moses must have gone before reaching Mt. Nebo, the Jordanian archaeologist Rafiq Wafa Dajani has discovered remains of an old building-site, partially uncovered by earlier researches. Here he took our Julio. The Department put 30 men and the best known advisors at their disposal. The digging began on September 1, 1962. In fact it was Dajani who uncovered a little shrine. It turned out to be a high place, as so often described in the Old Testament. A temple in pyramid form surrounded by ramparts [a ziggurat?-Ed.]. The whole structure was similar to the sun temples of Mesopotamia. It was built in thirteen layers. Forty yards east of the temple, Dajani uncovered a four-cornered altar, a slab of rock with a hollow in the middle of the upper surface looking like a man's head. This was an altar for sacrifices of blood and wine. Dajani maintains that this shrine must have been erected for Baal Peor. How can one ascertain the date of this building? Dajani has acquired extraordinary possibilities in the precise determination of age by his experience
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of many years in archaeological research, particularlywith pottery. On the foundations of the temple, he collected pieces from jugs which were used for wine and even perhaps the holy oil of the priests, and from the sherds he claims that the shrine was built around 1300-1250 B.C. This is all the help that the Jordanianscould give to Mr. Ripamonti. Dajani had taken the Chilean to the ruins of a building of about the same period as that of Moses. During the digging, the pious Julio was always longingly murmuring "Moses' Tomb." Now, the little temple lay open; his hopes would take him no further. In the evening, he lay on the floor of the little ruin "which protected the bones of Moses." Dajani, the leader of the dig, once had to go away from his discovery for two days. Ripamonti put the time to good use. Unthinkingly, he placed a small explosive charge in the priceless ruins and allowed the old stones to be blown into the air - an unbelievable action for such an expert archaeologist! In the American School of Oriental Research, in Jerusalem, people shook their heads as the infuriated Dajani described this. In Amman, I was sitting in the hotel. I thought that I was dreaming, or not hearing correctly. The zealous Ripamonti had collected around him the foreign correspondentsof the world press, and was describing to them the details of his encounter with Moses. He had outwitted the Old Testament. "The phrase 'no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day' does not apply any more," said he. "Oh, is that so?"said a tipsy young American female correspondent,as she sipped her third whiskey and soda.
