Image Details

Photo by Nicholas Rauh

Restrictions against foreigners entering sacred areas were apparently common throughout the Mediterranean world. One such warning (shown here, compare with similar warning in photo of limestone slab from outside Jerusalem’s Old City) was carved above the entrance to a small sanctuary on the isle of Delos. Badly damaged by the elements, the 6-foot-long Greek inscripton reads: “It is not lawful for a foreigner to enter.”