Binyamina, Israel-Haaretz Two 1,700-year-old marble statues have been discovered in a wine-collection pit at a winepress dating back to the Roman and Byzantine periods in northern Israel, reports say. One of the statues is inscribed with the name “Lycurgus” in Greek, probably referring to the famous founder of Sparta, or a statesman and orator who lived in Athens in the fourth century. BC Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists Eliron Oren and Michael Solotskin said the statues may have been buried in the pit to hide them during an invasion. “In Roman times, such statues were displayed in public buildings and in the homes of members of the elite who wanted to connect themselves with the cultural and intellectual world of antiquity,” said Peter Gendelman of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Researchers believe that the statues may have been displayed in a bathhouse that had opened nearby, or perhaps in the city of Caesarea, located about six miles away. “These are not statues that would stand in a local farmhouse. They would have come from some wealthy place,” Oren said. The second figure, who has a “wild beard,” has not yet been identified but may depict a thinker or philosopher, Oren said. To read about a more recent Roman-era discovery in Israel, visit “cave of swords“
Post Intact Roman sculptures found in Israel first appeared on archeology magazine.