In 2,000-year-old Apollo seal, a sunny glimpse of pluralism in ancient Jerusalem

[Disir]

Discovery of a rare 2,000-year-old signet ring engraved with the Greek sun god Apollo gives new evidence of a pluralistic Jewry walking the streets of ancient Jerusalem during the Second Temple period, archaeologist Eli Shukron told The Times of Israel.

“It allows us to see a Jerusalem that wasn’t some kind of ultra-Orthodox city, it was more pluralistic,” Shukron said, who is convinced the ring would have adorned a Jew’s finger. The fact that a Jew chose the symbol of a Greek god, “shows the wide variety of practices in Jerusalem. Everyone was a Jew, but there were different groups and perspectives,” he said.


The dark brown jasper gem sealing (intaglio) was recently discovered at the Archaeological Sifting Project at Tzurim Valley National Park during the wet sifting of earth taken from ongoing City of David excavations of the foundations of the Western Wall.

In 2,000-year-old Apollo seal, a sunny glimpse of pluralism in ancient Jerusalem

Sun god, a symbol of health and prosperity, was the only member of the pagan pantheon used by Jews during the Second Temple period, says City of David archaeologist Eli Shukron

www.timesofisrael.com

I don't get why he is assuming that a Jew chose the symbol of a Greek god. People were on the move back then .

 

[shimon]

Discovery of a rare 2,000-year-old signet ring engraved with the Greek sun god Apollo gives new evidence of a pluralistic Jewry walking the streets of ancient Jerusalem during the Second Temple period, archaeologist Eli Shukron told The Times of Israel.

“It allows us to see a Jerusalem that wasn’t some kind of ultra-Orthodox city, it was more pluralistic,” Shukron said, who is convinced the ring would have adorned a Jew’s finger. The fact that a Jew chose the symbol of a Greek god, “shows the wide variety of practices in Jerusalem. Everyone was a Jew, but there were different groups and perspectives,” he said.


The dark brown jasper gem sealing (intaglio) was recently discovered at the Archaeological Sifting Project at Tzurim Valley National Park during the wet sifting of earth taken from ongoing City of David excavations of the foundations of the Western Wall.

In 2,000-year-old Apollo seal, a sunny glimpse of pluralism in ancient Jerusalem

Sun god, a symbol of health and prosperity, was the only member of the pagan pantheon used by Jews during the Second Temple period, says City of David archaeologist Eli Shukron

www.timesofisrael.com

I don't get why he is assuming that a Jew chose the symbol of a Greek god. People were on the move back then .

You have to understand the times many Israelites were seduced by Hellenism that is what the holiday of chunakah is about how the Maccabees defeated the Greeks at the time and cleansed the area of these trappings. It is not surprising that some Israelites wanted to conform to the Greek ways... It is an old story repeated over and over there are always those who wish to become like the nations....

 

[fncceo]

Discovery of a rare 2,000-year-old signet ring engraved with the Greek sun god Apollo gives new evidence of a pluralistic Jewry walking the streets of ancient Jerusalem during the Second Temple period, archaeologist Eli Shukron told The Times of Israel.

“It allows us to see a Jerusalem that wasn’t some kind of ultra-Orthodox city, it was more pluralistic,” Shukron said, who is convinced the ring would have adorned a Jew’s finger. The fact that a Jew chose the symbol of a Greek god, “shows the wide variety of practices in Jerusalem. Everyone was a Jew, but there were different groups and perspectives,” he said.


The dark brown jasper gem sealing (intaglio) was recently discovered at the Archaeological Sifting Project at Tzurim Valley National Park during the wet sifting of earth taken from ongoing City of David excavations of the foundations of the Western Wall.

In 2,000-year-old Apollo seal, a sunny glimpse of pluralism in ancient Jerusalem

Sun god, a symbol of health and prosperity, was the only member of the pagan pantheon used by Jews during the Second Temple period, says City of David archaeologist Eli Shukron

www.timesofisrael.com

I don't get why he is assuming that a Jew chose the symbol of a Greek god. People were on the move back then .

Israel, like most of the Levant, was Hellenized in the late 4th Century BCE. Hellenization was a process where Greek conquerors introduced Greek literature, political thought, culture into the conquered lands.

 

[surada]

Discovery of a rare 2,000-year-old signet ring engraved with the Greek sun god Apollo gives new evidence of a pluralistic Jewry walking the streets of ancient Jerusalem during the Second Temple period, archaeologist Eli Shukron told The Times of Israel.

“It allows us to see a Jerusalem that wasn’t some kind of ultra-Orthodox city, it was more pluralistic,” Shukron said, who is convinced the ring would have adorned a Jew’s finger. The fact that a Jew chose the symbol of a Greek god, “shows the wide variety of practices in Jerusalem. Everyone was a Jew, but there were different groups and perspectives,” he said.


The dark brown jasper gem sealing (intaglio) was recently discovered at the Archaeological Sifting Project at Tzurim Valley National Park during the wet sifting of earth taken from ongoing City of David excavations of the foundations of the Western Wall.

In 2,000-year-old Apollo seal, a sunny glimpse of pluralism in ancient Jerusalem

Sun god, a symbol of health and prosperity, was the only member of the pagan pantheon used by Jews during the Second Temple period, says City of David archaeologist Eli Shukron

www.timesofisrael.com

I don't get why he is assuming that a Jew chose the symbol of a Greek god. People were on the move back then .

You have to understand the times many Israelites were seduced by Hellenism that is what the holiday of chunakah is about how the Maccabees defeated the Greeks at the time and cleansed the area of these trappings. It is not surprising that some Israelites wanted to conform to the Greek ways... It is an old story repeated over and over there are always those who wish to become like the nations....

Yes, that's what the Book of Daniel is about ..Antiochus IV Eiphanes was hell bent to Hellenize the Jews.