Kulty na et-Tell. Źródła archeologiczne

Abstract

The paper deals with the archaeological material discovered on et-Tell/Bethsaida and related to the cultic practices. It embraces a high place at the city gate, dated to the IXth – VIIIth centuries BC and a Hellenistic-Roman building placed on the acropolis and previously proposed to be interpreted as a Temple of the Imperial Cult. The depiction on the iconic stela, found lying on the top of the high place, should in the eyes of this author be understood as a visualization of the Aramean weather deity, not the Moon deity as proposed before. As to the Hellenistic – Roman building the present author points to the analogies from Tyre and will see it as a countryside sanctuary. There will be given reasons why the interpretation of this building as a Temple of the Imperial Cult raised by tetrarch Phillip is impossible to accept. Related aspects of the Imperial policy of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, in particular to the period of the reign of Tiberius, will be commented on. The argumentation will lead to the conclusion that the existence on et-Tell of a building identified as a Temple of the Imperial Cult, the cult of Livia-Julia in particular, is highly unlikely.