Bøger af Adi Erlich

The art of the Hellenistic age (here taken as 332 BC to 37 BCE) in Palestine demonstrates the extent to which a province could be integrated into the rich, established culture of the Hellenistic world. Its study here examines the art itself, and specifically the themes, types, iconography, and style of local productions. The study can be instructive on the ethnic texture of Palestine, its regional differences, its widely practiced religion and cults, and its culture in general. Likewise, it may supplement both historical research on the period, which appears to have reached a dead end of sorts, and archaeological inquiry, the results of which have been partial or insufficient. It can help address whether the art was incorporated into the Hellenistic koine, the manner in which it utilized local and foreign elements, and the question of how the culture of the period left a mark so profound that it can be traced until the end of the Byzantine period.

Khirbet er-Rasm is a small site in the upper Shephelah, about 1 km south-southwest of Tel 'Azekah (Israel). The remains include mainly a concentration of ruins on top of the hill, where many walls were visible before the beginning of the excavations, including a row of still standing monoliths. The site is small and rural in nature, and is not identified with any known historical sites, and this was in part the reason for its exploration. The site was excavated and surveyed in the years 1997-2003. Khirbet er-Rasm was first settled during the Chalcolithic period. The site was then resettled during the late Iron Age I and / or early Iron Age II. More significant remains were dated to the late Iron Age II, and some finds are attributed to the Persian period, but the main period of occupation at the site dates from the early Hellenistic period up to the late second century BCE. The vast majority of the finds at Kh. er-Rasm are dated to the late second century BCE, as this is the time when the site was destroyed, and this is the period for which there is most data. Some reoccupation took place in the Early Roman period, and from then on the site was abandoned and was used by farmers and herders.With contributions by Oren Ackerman, Einat Armon-Ambar, Guy Bar-Oz, Daniella E. Bar-Yosef Mayer, Rachel Barkay, Elisabetta Boaretto, Deborah Cassuto, Anat Cohen-Weinberger, Yael Gorin-Rosen, Nili Liphschitz, Ofer Marder, Ravit Nenner-Soriano, Rinat Peshin, Jessie A. Pincus, Noa Raban-Gerstel, Débora Sandhaus, Avi Sasson, Izhak Shai, Inbal Shoam, Ehud Weiss and Yair Zoran