Built by Herod the Great, Caesarea Maritima was one of the most impressive cities in Roman Judea. Yet another sign of the city’s opulence and wealth was recently discovered just outside the city walls: a fourth-century CE marble sarcophagus adorned with classical imagery of gods and heroes in scenes of drinking and feasting. One of the long sides of the sarcophagus depicts Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and revelry, standing surrounded by a retinue of creatures associated with the god—maenads, satyrs, lions, tigers, and even the gods Hermes and Pan. Just around the corner of the sarcophagus, on one […]
