This nearly 4-foot-tall, two-horned altar from the site of Tell es-Safi (Gath of the Philistines) suggests the origins of the Philistines are to be sought in the Aegean world. Photo: Courtesy Aren Maeir/The Tell Es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project.
Posted on 10/03/2018 2:50:52 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
While uncovering an impressive destruction level dating to the second half of the ninth century B.C.E., when Gath was the largest of the five cities of the Philistines and perhaps the largest city in the Land of Israel during the Iron Age, excavators found an exceptionally well preserved horned altar reminiscent of the Israelite horned altars described in the Bible (Exodus 27:1–2; 1 Kings 1:50)...
But why does this altar have only two horns, when we know from the Bible and excavated examples that the altars of both the Israelites and, later, the Philistines, typically had four horns?
The fact that the Tell es-Safi/Gath horned altar has only two horns may have to do with the cultural origins of the Philistines. As Louise Hitchcock, senior staff member of the Tell es-Safi/Gath excavations, has suggested, the very motif of the horned altar in the Levant may have been influenced by earlier Minoan “horns of consecration,” symbolic representations of the horns of the sacred bull in Minoan culture. In fact, there is an altar from the Late Bronze Age site of Myrtous Pigadhes in Cyprus that also has only two horns. The unique horned altar from Tell es-Safi/Gath, the earliest stone altar ever found from the land of the Philistines, may be another indication of the Aegean influences on early Philistine culture and quite possibly a hint to their origins.
(Excerpt) Read more at biblicalarchaeology.org ...
This nearly 4-foot-tall, two-horned altar from the site of Tell es-Safi (Gath of the Philistines) suggests the origins of the Philistines are to be sought in the Aegean world. Photo: Courtesy Aren Maeir/The Tell Es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project.
Last practitioner of Minoan rituals may have lived in Jerusalem’s Old City till ‘48
Ha’aretz | April 20, 2015 | Roy (Chicky) Arad
Posted on 5/4/2015 10:48:22 AM by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3286058/posts
Greece, IIRC.
From their Mothers.
They were the sea people.
From Philly???
And they’re still on the voting rolls!
No, they were Minoans who fled when Thera blew up. Blew up real good.
"..hmmm..quite da conondrums...do I post...least I offend...or do I past...and wait for the Latest from Hollywood"
Looks a bit like a half an altar possibly? 1.5’ x 1.5’ is not much room to offer up a sacrifice.
Caphtor was Cyprus, not Crete.
Um..look closer nitwits. It’s obviously damaged with the other 2 horns sheared off. Lol
“Looks a bit like a half an altar possibly? 1.5’ x 1.5’ is not much room to offer up a sacrifice.”
Depends on what you are sacrificing.
Just based on that single photo, I'd say there's significant likelihood that that is a damaged four-horn altar...
...But, I'm just a lithicist, who has broken up a lot of of rock while replicating ancient stone-working technology...
TXnMA
Clearly you know nothing about archaeology. /s
Looks like that whole side took a beating.
“..Where Did the Philistines Come From?...”
That one’s easy: Hoboken, NJ. :^)
People were smaller then..................
Unless it was a rabbit, whatever it was would flop off the backside.
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