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Happily Ever After? A Hellenistic Hoard from Tel Kedesh in Israel

January 2017 (121.1)
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Happily Ever After? A Hellenistic Hoard from Tel Kedesh in Israel

121.1
Adi Erlich
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A hoard of objects was found in 2008, buried under a floor pavement of a room in the Hellenistic administrative building at Tel Kedesh in northern Israel. The hoard consists of an Eros terracotta figurine, glass astragals and gaming pieces, writing paraphernalia made of metal, and a hairpin. In this article, I explore the hoard, its meaning, and its context in terms of findspot and the geographical location of the site on the periphery of Hellenistic Phoenicia. Based on the objects from the hoard, as well as on literary and visual sources from the Hellenistic world and particularly from the southern Levant, I argue that the objects were the property of a young, upper-class bride who buried them as part of a premarriage ritual.

More articles like this: 
Hellenistic Period
Small Finds
Terracottas
Near East

Happily Ever After? A Hellenistic Hoard from Tel Kedesh in Israel

By Adi Erlich

American Journal of Archaeology Vol. 121, No. 1 (January 2017), pp. 39–59

DOI: 10.3764/aja.121.1.0039

© 2017 Archaeological Institute of America

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