Posted on 06/30/2016 8:07:55 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
In November 2014, the team at Antiochia Hippos, Israel, uncovered an extraordinary artifact -- a large bronze mask of the Greek god Pan (or Faunus in the Roman pantheon)...
Weighing more than 11 pounds and measuring nearly 12 inches tall, the Pan mask is made of well-cast bronze. It was discovered outside the walled city of Hippos, Israel -- in a basalt tower with 6.5-foot-wide exterior walls...
The Pan mask at Hippos, Israel, is an extraordinary and unique find, but Eisenberg explains that some parallels exist in the archaeological record:
Similar masks -- perhaps influenced by the style of theater masks -- are known from the Hellenistic and Roman world, but all of these are made of stone and were never indented to be worn as actual masks... Several sculptures depicting a similar portraiture as our mask, dated to the first–second centuries C.E., are made of marble and bronze. They are generally referred to as satyri and sometimes as Pans/Fauns. Their common characteristic is the young face, sometimes furious and sometimes mischievous; they often bear two small horns on their foreheads and long pointed ears.
Because of the mask’s size and weight, as well as lack of eyeholes, it was immediately clear to the excavators that the Pan mask would not have been worn as a theater mask. What, then, was its function, and why was it outside the city’s walls? ...the mask might have been part of a shrine for the Greek god Pan -- or the Roman god Faunus... There are other sites of worship dedicated to the Greek god Pan in the surrounding area, most notably the cave complex for Pan worship at Paneas (Caesarea Philippi).
(Excerpt) Read more at biblicalarchaeology.org ...
Epic train of thought derailment.
No.
No rails.
Runs on tires.
Ooof.
That’s exactly the sound a lot of people make when trying to start one.
It’s all fun and games until it decides to kick back.
/one of the obligatory gathering crowd
That’s what I’m talkin’ about...
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