GREEK AND ROMAN IMPACT IN THE SOUTHERN LEVANT: THE ARCHITECTURAL AND ARTISTIC RESPONSE. MARBLE AS A CULTURAL FACTOR

Abstract

Ancient Israel as part of the Near East has encountered the Greek and Roman cultures in their various phases and has partly assimilated partly rejected them through a long lasting interaction. The main issue proposed in this paper is the presentation of several aspects of such an interaction commonly termed as 'Hellenization' and 'Romanization' as reflected by archaeological, epigraphic and artistic material which has been revealed by the archaeological research carried out in Israel during the last decades. The main topics included will cover the transition from 'Orientalism' to 'Hellenism' and will focus on some of the main highlights of Greek and Roman presence in Ancient Israel from the Hellenistic to the Roman period and their problematic as represented by archaeological activity of the last decades. One of the main issues is the use of various building and artistic materials, mainly that of marble. There is no natural marble in the Land of Israel so that it had to be imported from the various marble quarries and workshops around the Mediterranean (Fischer 1998). An overview of some of the main remains of architecture, and architectural and sculptural decoration of the area will be presented. It includes Iraq el-Amir, Marisa, Jerusalem from the Hellenistic period, a selection of aspects of Herodian architecture and decoration; Caesarea, Ascalon and Scythopolis (Beth Shean) and the remoted pseudo-rural areas (Qedesh as a case study) as part of the Roman consensus and modus vivendi; architecture and decoration of the transition to the Late Roman and Byzantine period as reflected by civic and religious monuments as part of the Classical heritage.