Abstract:
Excavations were conducted in February-April and November 2019 at the site of 'Uyun Umm el-' Azam West, ea. 3.8 km south of Sussita-Antiochia Hippos, in the southern Golan Heights and overlooking the Sea of Galilee. These excavations were undertaken on behalf of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, in the context of the Hippos Regional Project, which focuses on the study of rural sites and fortifications in the territory of Antiochia Hippos from the Hellenistic through to the Byzantine period.' Several building phases in the complex were uncovered. They included a tower, inner courtyard, and a room. The mixed Early Roman material found in the foundations of the tower might suggest an earlier date for its construction, with the tower completely rebuilt in the Byzantine period. The room known as 'The Mosaic Room' was divided, probably by a partition wall, as indicated by the gap in the mosaic running across the room. A set of rooms was built on the eastern side of the inner courtyard and against the tower including a large oven.The sixth/seventh century deaconess Thekla (Thecla) has the same name as the protagonist in the Apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla.This paper focuses on the Christian Palestinian Aramaic mosaic inscription from 'Uyun Umm el-'Azam West dedicated by a deaconess Thekla, its parallels, and its contribution to a better understanding of the ethnic and religious diversity in the Hippos territorium in the southern Levant and its environmental interactions.
For many PaleoJudaica posts on the archaeological discoveries at the nearby site of Hippos-Sussita, see here and links.
Cross file under Decorative Art.
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