Search results for ""author uzi leibner""

Uzi Leibner aims to provide the most accurate picture possible of the nature and history of the rural settlement in the Lower Galilee during Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods when this region played an important role in the development of both Judaism and Christianity.In an attempt to draw a historical reconstruction based on systematic data, a test case area in the "heart" of ancient Galilee was chosen for this research. Uzi Leibner used two distinct disciplines: the study of the relevant historical sources and the advanced archaeological field survey. Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Aramaic sources concerning settlements in the region were translated and discussed. Some fifty archaeological sites from the periods under discussion were identified and surveyed. The analysis of the finds enabled the author to draw a detailed portrait of settlement - including periods of construction, abandonment, prosperity and decline in each site and in the region as a whole. This book sheds new light on major historical issues such as the origins of the Galilean Jewry in the Second Temple Period, the First Jewish Revolt and its outcomes, the Jews of Galilee under Christian regime, demography, economy, continuity and decline.

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The contributions to this volume examine the emergence of ancient Jewish art from the interdisciplinary perspective of scholars in Art and Archaeology, Ancient Judaism and Rabbinics, Patristics and Church History. They evaluate the manifold ways in which late antique and early Byzantine Jewish art was embedded in its Hellenistic and Roman cultural context by, at the same time, evincing specifically Jewish and local Near Eastern idiosyncrasies. Since the Graeco-Roman context was shared with early Christian art, some formal similarities are recognizable, whereas the meanings associated with the images would have differed. A study of the relationship between the literary sources (the Hebrew Bible, Jewish Hellenistic and rabbinic literature) and the artistic depictions is crucial for a proper understanding of ancient Jewish art. Similarly important are the artistic analogies appearing in Graeco-Roman and early Christian contexts. Of particular interest is the question why Jewish figurative art developed in the Land of Israel in late antiquity only: which political, social, economic, religious and cultural constellations may have led to the emergence of figurative art? How do these images relate to biblical commandments advocating aniconism and what would rabbis have made of them? Was Erwin Goodenough correct about a dichotomy between "popular" synagogue art and an aniconic rabbinic Judaism? The Jewish use of images with analogies in pagan (and sometimes also Christian) contexts is particularly striking: what led Jews to adopt images such as the zodiac and pagan mythological figures and scenes and how were they combined with images based on biblical narratives? The volume shows how an interdisciplinary approach leads to a better understanding not only of ancient Jewish, but of Graeco-Roman and Christian art as well.

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