United Press International
Jerusalem – Israeli archeologists say they have uncovered the ruins of a second century Roman temple in the Zippori National Park in northern Israel.
The archeologists, led by Professor Zeev Weiss of the Institute of Archeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, also discovered the foundations of a church from the Byzantine period that had been built above the temple. Both findings, said the scientists, shed light on the multi-cultural society of ancient Zippori.
The discovery indicates Zippori, the Jewish capital of the Galilee during the Roman period, had a significant pagan population that built a temple in the heart of the city center.
“The building of the church on the foundation of the temple testifies to the preservation of the sacred section of the city over time,” the archeologists said, demonstrating not only the religious life, culture and society in Roman and Byzantine Zippori, but also that the city had Jews, pagans and later Christians living together, developing the city with various buildings.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International