Excavations at Tell Kedesh have revealed an enormous administrative building built in the later sixth century BC. Over the next 350 years, ths complex provided a stage for interactions between imperial powers, provincial administrators and local elites - as control shifted from the Achaemenid Persians, to the Ptolemies of Egypt, and then the Seleucids of Syria.
In this online lecture, Professor Berlin presented some of the intriguing discoveries from the site - glass and stone seals that show the adoption of Persian styles; store rooms with jars full of experimental wheat; and reception rooms and dishes that show rural knowledge of cosmopolitan lifestyles.
Other key material included an archive of over 2000 clay bullae used by local elites, depicting Greek and Phoenician deities and symbols, and the largest gold coin ever found in Israel, revealing a bird’s-eye view of power diplomacy in the early second century BCE.
View of the royal compound at Tel Kedesh, looking south. Photo courtesy of Andrea M. Berlin
20 сен 2024
