In the excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority along Via Hebron in Jerusalem, a tomb dating back to the late 4th century – early 3rd century BCE was unearthed, shedding light on a unique historical discovery. This burial cave, representing rare evidence of the Hellenistic period in the Jerusalem region, revealed the cremated remains of a young woman alongside an exceptionally well-preserved rare box mirror.
Charred human bones were discovered in the burial chamber, identified by Dr. Yossi Nagar, the Physical Anthropologist of the Israel Antiquities Authority, as the bones of a woman.
According to Dr Guy Stiebel, from the Department of Archeology and the Ancient Near East at Tel Aviv University | אוניברסיטת תל-אביב, "this is, in fact, the earliest evidence in Israel of cremation in the Hellenistic period".
Several bent iron nails were found next to the bones, and to the archaeologists' surprise, a grave good was further discovered next to the charred woman’s bones – a rare type of folding bronze mirror box.
"This is only the second mirror of this type that has been discovered to date in Israel, and total, only 63 mirrors of this type are known around the Hellenistic world," says Liat Oz, the director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority." The quality of the production of the mirror is so high that it was preserved in excellent condition, and it looked as if it was made yesterday."
In a joint study by Tel Aviv University and the Israel Antiquities Authority, led by Dr. Guy Stiebel from the Department of Archeology and the Ancient Near East at Tel Aviv University and Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Liat Oz, the researchers suggest that the rare mirror belonged to the deceased who was none other than a companion of a senior Hellenistic military staff member or a Hellenistic governmental official during a campaign through the Land of Israel.
The researchers noted that this offering of folding box mirrors was documented in tombs and temples in the Greco-Hellenistic world and clearly indicates a gendered artefact associated with Greek women. The box mirrors were usually decorated with engravings or magnificent reliefs of idealized female figures and goddess figures – particularly that of Aphrodite, the goddess of love.
"The most stimulating question arising from this discovery was – what is the tomb of a Greek woman doing on the highway leading to Jerusalem, far from any site or settlement of the period? The tomb particularly intrigued us, also because the archaeological information regarding Jerusalem and its surroundings in the early Hellenistic period is very scarce", says Dr. Stiebel.
To solve this riddle, the researchers had at their disposal several unique data that characterized the burial from Via Hebron and shed light on a surprising narrative: the rare and expensive box mirror and the cremation, which is well known in the Greek world, as well as the finding of the iron nails in the burial.
Discussing the woman's status, the researchers believe that she was probably a companion woman/courtesan (hetaira) rather than a married woman since the latter rarely left their home in Greece, not to mention joining their husbands on military campaigns. The fact that there was no settlement near the burial cave seemingly indicates that this is the tomb of a Greek woman who accompanied senior military personnel or a Hellenistic government official and was buried on the roadside.
"Bronze mirrors like the one found were considered an expensive luxury item, and they could come into the possession of Greek women in two ways: as part of their dowry ahead of a wedding or as a gift given by men to their hetairai. As such, the mirrors symbolized, among other things, the connection and the intimate relations between the clients and the hetairai.
The hetairai formed part of an Ancient Greek social institution, in the framework of which women – similar to, for example, Japanese geishas – provided social escort services, and not necessarily only, or mainly, sexual services. Some of them became common-law spouses of the Greco-Hellenistic rulers, high-ranking generals, and famous intellectuals.
The hetairai held literary salons and served as muses for the most famous works of sculpture and painting, which were even displayed in temples.
"It is most likely that this is the tomb of a woman of Greek origin who accompanied a senior member of the Hellenistic army or government during its Alexander the Great campaigns or, more likely, during The Wars of the Diadochi (successors)," the researchers conclude.
In a future follow-up study, the researchers intend to gain more pinpointed data regarding the origin of the mirror's production to shed additional light on the woman's background and perhaps even the origin of the senior she accompanied.
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