Archaeologists unearth Greek and Aramaic funerary inscriptions from Tzippori, showing strong Jewish presence during period
Three 1,700-year-old funerary inscriptions written in Aramaic and Greek bearing the names of rabbis were recently uncovered near the ancient Galilean city of Tzippori, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Tuesday.
Tzippori, also known by its Greek name Sepphoris, was a major town in the western Galilee during Roman times. After Rome quelled the Jewish Revolt and destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, it rose to prominence as a major center of Jewish literature and culture. It was there, in the third century CE, that Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi began compiling Jewish wisdom into the text known as the Mishnah.
Two of the tombstones, found near the modern community of Tzippori adjacent to the archaeological site, bear inscriptions in Aramaic referring to rabbis, the IAA said. They also end in the Hebrew word shalom–peace. The third is in Greek and mentions the name Jose, a common Jewish name during the period.
They were uncovered in a cooperative effort by researchers from Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee and the IAA.
“The importance of the epitaphs lies in the fact that these reflect the everyday life of the Jews of Zippori and their cultural world,” Mordechai Aviam of Kinneret College said in a statement.
The wealth of inscriptions from the cemeteries attests to the strong Jewish presence and the city’s social elite in the Late Roman period.
Thus far, seventeen funerary inscriptions have been documented over the course of the survey of the Tzippori cemetery, most of which were written in Aramaic, the everyday language of Jews in Israel at that time.
The inscriptions will be studied by a team of researchers from the Kinneret Institute for Galilean Archaeology and the Israel Antiquities Authority
Upon completion of their research the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Kinneret Academic College will display the inscriptions to the general public.
As reported by The Times of Israel