BINYAMINA, ISRAEL, June 28 (World Daily Times) — Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered two intact marble Roman-era busts, each about 1,700 years old, in a pit near Binyamina, with one bearing a Greek inscription that may point to a figure from Sparta or Athens.
The Israel Antiquities Authority said the figures were found face down in a Roman-Byzantine winepress pit during an excavation carried out ahead of railway construction. An archaeologist on the team, Reiss, said the statues were not in their original position.
One bust is inscribed “Lycurgus,” but researchers said the name could refer either to Lycurgus of Sparta or to a later Athenian orator. Eliran Oren, one of the excavation directors, said the identification remains uncertain and that the work is still in its early stages.
The second bust has a long beard and no clear identifying feature. The excavation team has only tentatively suggested it may depict a philosopher or other leading thinker.
The Israel Antiquities Authority said the busts are expected to be shown publicly at Tel Aviv’s Eretz Israel Museum, also known as MUZA Eretz Israel Museum, before conservation and further research.
