Liber Annuus

This fourth century church may have been built by the bishop of Lod for the benefit of pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem, or possibly at some site hallowed by a tradition unknown to us. From the preliminary results of our excavations it appears that the village did not exist prior of the erection of the church, but gradually developed around it. The church continued in use into the seventh century, as is shown by the ceramic finds and the damaging of animal figures on the ambo balustrade by iconoclasts. The settlement surrounding the church appears to have been abandoned at the time during which the new city of Ramla was established nearby, in the early eighth century.

Byzantine or Paleochristian monasteries (4th-7th century) along the Upper Syrian Euphrates are studied here. The historical information relative to this area and the chronological period are revised in this work. We present some archaeological findings discovered in this region according to the surveys that the IPOA-Universidad de Murcia has been coordinating for many years in the area. These discoveries fill a gap in the investigation of this region, and they extend the geographical field of activity of the studies and works done by I. Peña, P. Castellana and R. Fernández in the North of Syria during the same period.

Some fortified farms were built later in the settlement history of the eastern frontier. They are represented by Stabl Antar, which, assuming my identification of its function is correct, seems to reflect prominent landownersʼ concerns about major specific threats in the form of enemy raids. Although the date of the building in 577/78 reflects the reaction of the Apamean rural population to the devastating invasion of the Sasanians in 573, the impetus was apparently local and unofficial. In the future, archaeological work on these structures will iron out the issues of frontier settlement and security, but there are a number of other questions that such study will repay, such as the semiotics of elite control as expressed in architecture, and the little explored but probable bridge between the form and expression of these late antique compounds and later architectural expression, such as the Umayyad Desert Castles.

The article presents a Jewish Menorah intaglio from Roman Ammaia, Lusitania, present day Portugal. It surveys the evidence of other small Jewish artifacts from the Western Diaspora and of the quartz industry in Ammaia and its region. It also surveys the evidence of Jews in the province. We show that the Menorah nicolo, to-date the only Jewish glyptic specimen from this province, is a product of the productive nicolo glyptic workshops in this Roman city, which were part of the regional quartz industry; that this industry which specialized in treated microcystaline quartz but particularly in the manufacture of nicolos was one of the most prolific in the Western Roman empire. Furthermore we prove that as the single secured Jewish gem from Roman Lusitania this intaglio constitutes the most Western glyptic evidence to Jewish presence within the Roman empire. As an important addition to the small number of Jewish gems of secured Western Diaspora provenance depicting the Menorah with its 3 sacred symbols (the Lulav, Etrog and Shofar) this 3rd c. A.D. Jewish intaglio proves the existence of Jews in Ammaia and strengthens former evidence as to the presence of Jewish communities in Lusitania.

The rareness of the epigraphical witness contrasts the frequency with which Mt 5:23-24 was quoted and commented upon by the ancient christian writers. Hereby we publish an inscription of Palestinian origin that in itʼs partial form, casually came to our knowledge. The carving found on a tabula ansata, detached from its original context, was a part of the Churchʼs original mosaic pavement. The first words allowed us to identify the quotation from the Sermon on the Mount according to the gospel of Saint Matthew 5:23-24, therefore with good probability; we can complete the text that in the fourth line resumes the generic dedication to the Churchʼs benefactors. The rareness of the epigraphical witness contrasts with the frequency with which Mt 5:23-24 was quoted and commented upon by the ancient christian writers.