Ancient sarcophagus unearthed on Israel’s Mediterranean coast

1,700-year-old marble sarcophagus, discovered in the Roman-era port city of Caesarea, depicts drinking contest between Bacchus and Hercules.

By World Israel News Staff

A Roman-era marble sarcophagus was unearthed during excavations in the ruins of an ancient port city on Israel’s Mediterranean coast, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced on Monday morning.

The find is the first of its kind in Israel, the IAA said.

In archaeological excavations conducted in the ruins of the ancient port city of Caesarea, by the IAA at the initiative of Caesarea Development Corp., a Roman-period marble sarcophagus was uncovered.

The sarcophagus has a sculpted scene of the drinking contest between Bacchus (Dionysus), the god of wine, and Hercules (Heracles), the mythological hero.

“It was like a scene out of a movie,” said Nohar Shahar and Shani Amit, IAA archaeologists.

“We began removing the soft, light sand of the dune, when suddenly the tip of a marble object popped up. The entire excavation team stood around excitedly, and as we cleared more sand, we couldn’t believe what we were seeing – parts of a sarcophagus, upon which figures were carved: gods, animals, and trees. Each uncovered fragment was more impressive than the one before.”

“In fact, in the very last hour of the excavation came the climax – an entire intact side of the sarcophagus, which was buried in the sand, was uncovered, which portrays the scene of Hercules lying on a lion skin, holding a cup in his hand.”

The broken sarcophagus was handed over to experts from the IAA’s conservation team.

There, conservators Solomon Gavriel, Ilya Armanovsky and Gadmo Vajpo, together with architect Ido Rosental, worked on restoring, cleaning and assembling the parts.

Following the restoration, the scenes portrayed on the sarcophagus have been fully revealed: Bacchus, the god of wine, is seen the center  and around him a lively retinue of a host of mythological characters such as Maenads (female followers of Bacchus), satyrs, Hermes, Pan, lions and tigers.

“This is the very first time we find the Bacchus and Hercules wine competition scene on a burial coffin in our region,” said archaeologist Shahar.

“While processions of the wine god Bacchus are a familiar motif in 2nd- and 3rd-century CE sarcophagi, yet this particular drinking contest scene – a familiar Roman art motif, is known to us here primarily in mosaics – such as those discovered in Zippori and Antioch.”

“In this case, i seems that the figures are not only celebrating – they are in fact accompanying the dead on a last journey, when drinking and dancing are transformed into a symbol of liberation and transition to life in the next world. This sarcophagus offers an unusual perspective of the idea of death – not as an end, but as the beginning of a new path.”

And who won the drinking contest? “Hercules’s condition, depicted on the sarcophagus as someone who is no longer able to stand, points to the obvious answer: Bacchus,” said Shahar.

“The sarcophagus was found within an area where archaeological remains were found outside the well-known walls of Caesarea,” adds the researcher. “This means that the space leading into it was actually much wider and thus richer in finds than we thought until now.”

archaeologyCaesareaIsraeli archaeology