Advertisement

Updated December 13th, 2020 at 05:26 IST

Archaeologists discover 1800-year-old altar to pagan god 'Pan' inside Byzantine church

Archaeologists found that the 1800-year-old altar honoured the pagan deity Pan, the god of the cattle, worshipped around 400 AD.

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
Archaeologists
| Image:self
Advertisement

Archaeologists have unearthed an ancient altar of the pagan god Pan hidden in a Byzantine church in Israel. The discovery was made at an ancient Christian church located at Banias Nature Reserve in northern Israel. The researchers spotted the altar leaning sideways camouflaged while they were excavating the church.

According to a report published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the altar was completely debased and was presumably fixated as a lowly building stone on a church wall. The structure donned an ancient script honouring the god of the cattle, which unfortunately was inscribed so compressed on the stone due to lack of space that it’s almost unreadable. Letters were also etched outside the rectangular frame and shrunk badly on the altar to fit the text. 

Read: 'As Big As A Horse': Scientists Discover An Unknown Whale Species Off Coast Of Mexico

A team of researchers at the Zinman Archaeological Institute, University of Haifa reportedly described the altar 1800-year-old dedicated to the Pan Heliopolitanus, who was worshipped in Antioch, the region of today’s Turkey-Syria border. The message inscribed was decoded by the scientists as a Greek dedication which read, "Atheneon son of Sosipatros of Antioch is dedicating the altar to the god Pan Heliopolitanus. He built the altar using his own personal money in fulfillment of a vow he made."

Read: Scientists Spot A Black Hole 1,000 Light-years Away; Termed 'closest One To Earth'

Script from Antioch

According to Smithsonian Magazine, the name Heliopolitanus for a god linked more to Greeks than Pan as a renowned temple in the Lebanese city of Baalbek honoured a god named Jupiter Heliopolitanus. Therefore, it is believed the deity might have both Pan and Zeus cultural context.

Excavation leader Adi Erlich, a researcher at the University of Haifa told Jerusalem Post that the inscribed text bore similarity with the script from Antioch, a religious site situated some 250 miles north of the Israeli church that had pilgrims every year come for a visit from far away places. 

Speaking with Haaretz, Erlich said that the architecture designer or the inscription’s author "was no pro." He had distorted the message as he had run out of space. Meanwhile, according to the Times of Israel’s analysis of the ancient site, the church was constructed in place of a temple to Pan that existed on the location around 400 ADthe regions became central for Christianity in around 320 AD. The temple was designed in Roman style, the temple featured a small pool in its center.

Read: Chinese Scientists Make World's First Light-based Quantum Computer: Report

Read: Israeli Scientists Claim To Biologically Reverse Human Ageing Process For First Time Ever

(Image Credit: Twitter/ @chimran55)

Advertisement

Published December 13th, 2020 at 05:26 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending Quicks

India Registers stern objection to US remarks on Kejriwal
a few seconds ago
Dana White and Joe Rogan
a few seconds ago
Bollywood actor Govinda
a few seconds ago
Government Approves Major Bureaucratic Rejig with Key Appointments | LIVE
6 minutes ago
Bollywood actor Govinda
11 minutes ago
Heinrich Klassen's daughter
12 minutes ago
Hardik Pandya
16 minutes ago
Shashank Srivastava and Partho Banerjee
19 minutes ago
A Matador fell into a gorge in J&K's Poonch, injuring 9.
23 minutes ago
Hacker
25 minutes ago
Sakshi Tanwar
26 minutes ago
Game Changer
28 minutes ago
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo