Art in Ancient Palestine

About the Book

The articles in this volume chosen from late Professor Michael Avi–Yonah's more than 400 publications deal with various aspects of art in ancient Palestine, a subject with the problems that occupied a central place in his studies: the effect of the meeting of occidental and oriental cultures after the conquest of the East by Hellenism. Others articles deal with specific objects (e.g., the Leda...

About the Author

M. Avi-Yonah ---

Prof. Michael Avi-Yonah (1904-1974) was considered to be one of the leading authorities on the archaeology and art history of ancient Palestine during the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods.

Contents

Foreword vii

Oriental Elements in the Art of Palestine in the Roman and Byzantine Periods 1 1-22

Oriental Art in Roman Palestine 119 23-30

Three Lead Coffins from Palestine 213 31

Lead Coffins from Palestine 227 32-37

The Leda Sarcophagus from Beth She'arim 257 38-40

Ancient Synagogues 271 41-43

Mosaic Pavements in Palestine 283 44-52

La Mosai'que juive dans ses relations avec la mosaique classique 383 53-55

Une Ecole de mosaique ä Gaza au sixieme siecle 389 56-59

Le Symbolisme du Zodiaque dans l'art Judeo-Byzantin 396 60-61

Sources of papers and books collected in this volume 399

Acknowledgements 400

Index 401

An Excerpt from the Book

THE conquests of Alexander and the Moslem invasion stand out as the two principal landmarks in the cultural evolution of the Near East. Since time immemorial the ancient civilizations of the Orient had exercised an almost undisputed sway over the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. It was the crowning achievement of Alexander and his successors to have eclipsed Eastern culture for nearly a millennium (333 B.C. to A.D. 640). In a few decisive years they changed the orientation of civilize...