The Roman Mausoleum at Mazor: New Perspectives on an Outstanding Monument

Cercetări Arheologice 32.2, 2025, 471-500
https://doi.org/10.46535/ca.32.2.06



The Roman Mausoleum at Mazor: New Perspectives on an Outstanding Monument

Mausoleul roman de la Mazor: perspective noi asupra unui monument remarcabil

Authors: Boaz Zissu

Keywords:

Roman mausoleum, columbarium, funerary architecture, dove breeding, Hauranite construction, religious syncretism, Atargatis-Derketo, Syrian goddess cults, Late Roman Palestine, archaeological dating, AMS radiocarbon dating, Mediterranean funerary practices, agricultural technology, religious devotion, Mazor

Mausoleu roman, columbarium, arhitectură funerară, creșterea porumbeilor, construcție hauraniană, sincretism religios, Atargatis-Derketo, culte ale zeiței siriene, Palestina romană târzie, datare arheologică, datare radiocarbon AMS, practici funerare mediteraneene, tehnologie agricolă, devoțiune religioasă, Mazor

Abstract:

This study reexamines the Roman mausoleum at Mazor (El’ad, Israel), focusing on its unique integrated columbarium installation and its significance within the broader context of the ancient eastern Mediterranean. Through archaeological analysis, architectural documentation, and AMS radiocarbon dating of mortar samples, the study establishes that the mausoleum was constructed during the 3rd–4th centuries CE, with the columbarium representing an original component rather than a later addition.

The Mazor mausoleum is the only documented structure in Israel where a pigeon installation is definitively connected to a tomb, bridging the gap between the predominantly agricultural columbaria found throughout the region and the cultic applications evidenced in Syrian and Transjordanian inscriptions. The structure exhibits distinctive “Hauranite construction” techniques, including stone stairs recessed into walls and transverse arches supporting stone slab roofing, suggesting Syrian architectural influence.

Comparative analysis with epigraphic evidence from Philadelphia-Amman and the Hauran region reveals that funerary columbaria served multiple overlapping functions: practical dove breeding for agricultural fertilizer, religious devotion connected to Syrian goddess cults (particularly that of Atargatis-Derketo), and commemorative purposes within necropolis contexts. The study examines iconographic supporting evidence from Palmyrene funerary portraiture depicting children with doves, demonstrating the widespread symbolic association between doves and death in Syrian religious traditions.

The study contextualizes the Mazor installation within broader patterns of religious syncretism in the Roman East, where local Semitic traditions were adapted through Greek religious idioms while maintaining essential theological functions. The preservation of the mausoleum provides crucial architectural evidence of practices that inscriptional sources suggest once existed throughout the ancient Levant but have not survived elsewhere, thereby offering new insights into the intersection of agricultural technology, religious devotion, and funerary commemoration in Late Roman Palestine.

Acest studiu prezintă o reexaminare a mausoleului roman de la Mazor (El’ad, Israel), concentrându-se asupra instalației sale unice integrate de columbarium și asupra semnificației acesteia în contextul mai larg al Mediteranei de est antice. Prin intermediul analizei arheologice, documentației arhitecturale și datării radiocarbon AMS a probelor de mortar, această cercetare stabilește că mausoleul a fost construit în secolele III-IV d.Hr., columbarium-ul reprezentând o componentă originală, mai degrabă decât o adăugire ulterioară.

Mausoleul de la Mazor constituie singura structură documentată din Israel în care o instalație pentru porumbei este conectată în mod definitiv cu o mormântare, făcând legătura între columbaria predominant agricole găsite în întreaga regiune și aplicațiile cultice evidențiate în inscripțiile siriene și transiordaniene. Structura prezintă tehnici distinctive de „construcție hauraniană”, incluzând scări din piatră încorporate în pereți și arcuri transversale care susțin acoperișuri din lespezi de piatră, sugerând influența arhitecturală siriană.

Analiza comparativă cu dovezile epigrafice din Philadelphia-Amman și regiunea Hauran relevă că columbaria funerare au servit multiple funcții suprapuse: creșterea practică a porumbeilor pentru îngrășământ agricol, devoțiunea religioasă conectată cu cultele zeiței siriene (în special Atargatis-Derketo) și scopuri comemorative în contexte de necropolă. Studiul examinează dovezile iconografice de susținere din portretistica funerară palmireniană care înfățișează copii cu porumbei, demonstrând asocierea simbolică răspândită între porumbei și moarte în tradițiile religioase siriene.

Cercetarea contextualizează instalația de la Mazor în cadrul unor modele mai largi de sincretism religios în Orientul roman, unde tradițiile semitice locale au fost adaptate prin idiomuri religioase grecești, menținând în același timp funcțiile teologice esențiale. Conservarea mausoleului oferă dovezi arhitecturale cruciale pentru practici pe care sursele inscripționale sugerează că au existat cândva în întregul Levant antic, dar nu au supraviețuit în altă parte, oferind noi perspective asupra intersecției dintre tehnologia agricolă, devoțiunea religioasă și comemorarea funerară în Palestina romană târzie.

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How to cite: Boaz Zissu, The Roman Mausoleum at Mazor: New Perspectives on an Outstanding Monument, Cercetări Arheologice, Vol. 32.2, pag. 471-500, 2025, doi: https://doi.org/10.46535/ca.32.2.06

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