Two 1,700-year-old marble statues depicting historical figures from the Greco-Roman world were discovered buried inside a wine-collection pit of a Roman-Byzantine winepress at the entrance to Binyamina, the Israel Antiquities Authority said.
One of the statues preserved a Greek inscription bearing the name “Lycurgus.”
The busts, sculptures designed as the upper part of the human body, were uncovered in an archaeological excavation carried out as part of a Transportation Ministry and Israel Railways project to double the coastal railway line, allowing the operation of high-speed trains between Tel Aviv and Haifa.
Eliran Oren and Avishag Reis, the excavation directors on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said the statues date to the Roman period and were found in unusual circumstances.
“Interestingly, they were not discovered in their original location,” they said. “They were found placed in an orderly manner, face down, inside a wine-collection pit of a winepress from the Roman-Byzantine period. They were buried when the winepress went out of use. At this stage, it is not known why the statues were hidden here. Perhaps it was to protect them.”
The two did not hide their excitement over the find. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime discovery,” they said. “It was very unexpected, but somehow, the truly great discoveries always come on the last day.”
Michael Sorotzkin, an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority, described the moment the statues began to emerge from the ground.
“During the excavation of the winepress, we saw something protruding from the soil and the workers called me over,” he said. “There was a feeling that we were about to discover something that was not supposed to be there. Suddenly, we saw it really was not pottery, but marble. Then, slowly, the two statues were uncovered. I still struggle to find the words. Simply amazing.”
Dr. Peter Gendelman, the Israel Antiquities Authority’s expert on the Caesarea region, said the rare find joins a group of portraits of historical figures previously discovered in Caesarea.
“The last time such a figure was discovered here was in the 1990s,” he said. “On one of the busts, a Greek inscription was preserved with the name Lycurgus. There are two major figures by this name known from Greek history: Lycurgus, the founder of Sparta, and Lycurgus of Athens, a statesman and orator in the fourth century BCE. It may be one of these figures, but the research is only at its beginning.”
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The area where the statues were discovered
(Photo: Shatil Emanuelov, Israel Antiquities Authority)
According to Gendelman, statues of this type were displayed in the Roman period both in public buildings and in the homes of the elite, who sought to associate themselves with the cultural and intellectual world of antiquity.
“Not far from the place of discovery, remains of a bathhouse were uncovered in the past, and it is possible that the statues decorated a luxurious villa belonging to one of the people of Caesarea,” he said.
The Israel Antiquities Authority said the statues will now undergo cleaning, conservation and further research, during which researchers will try to identify with certainty the figures depicted and the exact context in which they were displayed some 1,700 years ago.
Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said the discovery demonstrates the power of archaeology.
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Israel Antiquities Authority excavations at the entrance to Binyamina
(Photo: Shatil Emanuelov, Israel Antiquities Authority)
“One moment, people are working on a modern infrastructure project, and the next, a window opens into the lives and cultural world of those who lived here many hundreds of years ago,” he said. “The role of the State of Israel is to preserve these findings, study them and make them accessible to the public, so that everyone can encounter and be impressed up close by the rich past of this land.”
The statues will be shown to the public for the first time at the “In the Center VII” archaeological conference, which this year will focus on the theme of the home. The conference, open to the public free of charge, will take place Thursday at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv.
The event is a collaboration between the Israel Antiquities Authority’s central district, Tel Aviv University’s Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University’s Institute of Archaeology and the Eretz Israel Museum.
Gil Omer, director general of the Eretz Israel Museum, said: “We are proud to be the place where the public will be able to encounter this extraordinary discovery for the first time, and continue to be exposed to it after the conference as well.”