Temple discovered at site of ancient Judea

[King_David]

TEL MOTZA, Israel — Archeologists have discovered an ancient Judean temple on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

The 2,750-year-old temple, along with a collection of sacred vessels, was unearthed during excavations by the Israeli Antiquities Authority in preparation for a new highway being built in the area.

The finds, including pottery figurines of men and horses, provide rare evidence of the religious practices and rituals in the early days of the Kingdom of Judah, according to the IAA.

"The ritual building at Tel Motza is an unusual and striking find, in light of the fact that there are hardly any remains of ritual buildings of the period in Judaea at the time of the First Temple," the archeologists said in a prepared statement. "The uniqueness of the structure is even more remarkable because of the vicinity of the site's proximity to the capital city of Jerusalem, which acted as the Kingdom's main sacred center at the time."


http://www.ksl.com/?sid=23530473&nid=1016

[azurnoir]

1. cool discovery huffpo has more on this

Evidence of religious practices dating back to the early days of King David and the Kingdom of Judah have been discovered at excavations run by the Israel Antiquities Authority in Tel Motza, west of Jerusalem.

According to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the finds -- which include 2,750-year-old pottery figurines of men and horses -- provide rare evidence of a ritual cult at the beginning of the period of the monarchy.

“The ritual building at Tel Motza is an unusual and striking find, in light of the fact that there are hardly any remains of ritual buildings of the period in Judea at the time of the First Temple,” excavation directors Anna Eirikh, Hamoudi Khalaily and Shua Kisilevitz told The Times of Israel.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/27/tel-motza-discovery-temple-ritual-vessels-king-david_n_2370656.html

[shaayecanaan]

2. it will be interesting if they can determine which god this cult was associated with..

The winged horse statues are interesting, both Baal and Yahweh have been posited as having ridden in celestial chariots drawn by winged horses, in the style of Zeus.

Chapter 3 of the book of habbakuk in the old testament describes Yahweh as riding in a chariot among the clouds and wielding a bow and spear, but does not make any reference to winged horses. It would certainly be fascinating if this temple belonged to a yahwist cult, and even more so if any images of Yahweh were uncovered.

[oberliner]

3. Why will that be interesting?

Who cares about old cults?

[shaayecanaan]

4. Did your cat die or something?

You surely have been a crotchety old sod of late.

[geek tragedy]

6. The kind of people interested in this story to begin with--those interested in history, archaeology,

anthropology, etc.

[azurnoir]

7. ummm we're speaking of archeology here

which by definition concerns things old

[bemildred]

5. There was a good deal of borrowing back and forth anyway.

Running a religion was such a cushy deal, it got very competitive there at times. Sort of like TV preachers nowadays.

[azurnoir]

8. quite as there was a blending of cultures and religions

especially during ancient times