Among the countless Classical artifacts exhumed in southern Syria is this beautiful bronze bust of a goddess from the 2nd century C.E. -imago clipeata- measuring 39 cm in diameter and 36 cm in height. Discovered in Banias in 1965, it has proudly graced Damascus' National Museum ever since.
The Banias in question is that of the occupied Golan situated at the eastern slope of Mount Hermon. Its name drives from Pan, the god of shepherds and flocks in Greek Mythology. It is called Caesarea Philippi in the New Testament (Matthew 16:13 and Mark 8:27 KJV).
The Banias in question is that of the occupied Golan situated at the eastern slope of Mount Hermon. Its name drives from Pan, the god of shepherds and flocks in Greek Mythology. It is called Caesarea Philippi in the New Testament (Matthew 16:13 and Mark 8:27 KJV).
Syria was one of the Roman Empire's fairest provinces. Its population was estimated at more than 10 millions under Trajan (98-117 C.E.). Elegant porticoes, arches, thermae, theaters, temples... embellished its principal cities such as Antioch, Laodicea, Apamea, Damascus, Palmyra, Philippopolis, etc.
Syrian businessmen traveled and traded all over the vast empire and created numerous colonies in Naples, Ostia, Lyon, Sicily, Spain, and the Danube basin as attested by numerous archaeological finds such as an epitaph of the 3rd century C.E. discovered at the Rhône valley of a certain Thim ibn Saad, a trader originally from Qanawat who owned two workshops in southern Gaule (France).
Gérard Degeorge
Syrie
Art, Histoire, Architecture
Hermann, éditeurs des sciences et des arts
1983
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