A wall painting of Tyche was found during the 11th season of excavations at the Sussita site. Tyche is the Greek goddess of fortune and the site lies on the east shore of the Galilee sea.
Another female manenad figure was found who is one of the companions of the wine god Dionysus.
“It is interesting to see that although the private residence in which two goddesses were found was in existence during the Byzantine period, when Christianity negated and eradicated idolatrous cults, one can still find clear evidence of earlier beliefs,” said Arthur Segal and Michael Eisenberg of the University of Haifa. The University headed the excavation.
The city of Sussita is located within the Sussita National Park under the management of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
The excavations were conducted by a team from the University of Concordia under the direction of Mark Schuler. It appeared that the excavation belonged to one of the city nobiles by the quality and complexity of its construction. The excavators found a fresco of Tyche, who was apparently deified as the city’s goddess of fortune.
Her head is crowned and her youthful gaze is focused. She has abundant brown hair beneath her crown.
According to researchers, artistic analysis has indicated that the wall painting may be dated to the end of the Roman period or the beginning of the Byzantine period (3rd-4th centuries C.E.).
Researchers also found a wonderfully etched relief of a maenad, a group of female followers of Dionysus and the god of wine on a bone plate.
The researchers believe that both manifestations of the cult of Greco-Roman female goddesses can be dated to the end of the Roman period. There is no doubt that the residence in which they were found continued to exist even after Christianity triumphed over idolatry.
(source: ani)
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