Israeli-Georgian Mosaic Archaeologist Reveals All

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

As we reported earlier this week, a 1500-year-old Georgian church mosaic was discovered in Israeli Port City, unearthed during an excavation in the coastal city of Ashdod. The mosaic was discovered in August, under the direction of Dr. Alexander Fantalkin of Tel Aviv University’s Archeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations Department, whom GEORGIA TODAY contacted to give our readers more details on this a truly amazing discovery.

What do we know so far?

We’ve been excavating this site since 2013. We made quite few sensational discovers from different historical periods, but this summer we decided to explore the “lower city” for the first time. The Roman-Byzantine city which was discovered by the dunes was basically unknown until today. We believe that we’ve unearthed the long-lost ruins of Ashdod-Yam, a Byzantine port city known in the classical sources as Azotos Paralios. In the early Byzantine period, it was a large and important port town. So not long after the first spot was carefully chosen, we discovered during a very short season of excavation a beautiful preserved mosaic floor with inscriptions of a religious complex of sorts. We had barely touched it, but already the discoveries we made during the trial excavation were impressive because of their inscriptions. The inscriptions are in Greek, the longest one mentioning a certain bishop by the name of Procopius. It also mentions the year that the building, a monastery in fact, was built. And what made this especially unique is that the year is calculated according to what seems to be the Georgian calendar of creation. If this is indeed so, then it would be the first example of a Georgian monastery from the 6th century AD, located on the Israeli coast and also the very first known use of the Georgian calendar, way before it was used even in Georgia. We know quite a few Georgian churches and monasteries in the area of Jerusalem from this period because the Georgian presence in the Holy Land is well-known from the 5th century. But on the Israeli coast, it’s a first to have something related to Georgia from such an early date.

You have yet to unearth the whole complex and there could be more discoveries to follow…

There will definitely be more discoveries related to this monastery because what we excavated is just scratching the surface. Archeologically speaking, this is just the beginning. We conducted some geo-archeological investigations during the excavation and with the use of radar-penetrating technique we’ve seen that there are many walls and floors still unexcavated. We’re going to go back to try and excavate the whole structure. It’s obvious that there are a lot of ancient remains around the area we discovered the mosaic.

Does the fact that a Georgian calendar was used give us enough reason to conclude that it’s a Georgian monastery, built by Georgians?

In this period there were different calendars in use. Evidense suggests that Azotos-Paralios didn’t have their own, so they used those of different eras. In this case, if it fits the Georgian calendar, then there’s no other reasonable explanation that any other community than Georgians would use it. The second inscription is in Greek. It’s of no concern as we know that Georgian monks, unlike Armenian monks in this period, used Greek in their inscriptions. The fact that it uses the Georgian era of creation is a very strong argument in favor of it being a Georgian monastery. In addition to this evidence is that one of the most famous figures of early Christianity, Peter the Iberian, who was a Georgian prince by birth, was extremely active in this area during the late 5th century AD. We know from historical sources that he actually lived and preached in Azotos-Paralios. The date of the monastery on the inscriptions is 6th century AD. So, it’s after his death. But it would be reasonable to assume that the Georgian Church would be established in this place in commemoration of Peter the Iberian. During his stay in Ashdod-yam, he was offered a luxurious villa inside the city. He refused, instead building himself a spot on the seashore; he himself writes that, “I’ve built myself a despicable depot at the seaside” and from there he preached, and people came from all around the area.

Could they have built the monastery to commemorate the place where Peter the Iberian used to preach?

Perhaps. The monastery we discovered is located quite close to the beach, actually.

Some inquisitive souls ask why the discovery was made in August and news broke about it only in November

Usually, in archeology, it takes time to announce finds, and in this case, we wanted to be sure before we released a major statement about the Georgian calendar. We checked all other possible dates of calculation, thanks to which we are now certain that only the Georgian calendar would fit the date. There’s no conspiracy in the delay in announcing.

What are your hopes about the site? What would you like to discover here?

My hope is to continue to excavate there in the coming years and to transform it into a touristic attraction for tourists and pilgrims who enjoy exploring holy sites in different religions. That would be very nice. In archeology, you never know what you’re going to discover.

But what pilgrims would go there? Peter the Iberian was a monophysite and isn’t considered a saint by the Georgian Orthodox Church

A most interesting point, but his role was an extremely important one in early Christianity. There were different ways of thinking, different opportunities, people were struggling with faith, and pondering questions of the nature of Christ, humanity, the divine. They were in the middle of a huge religious dispute that would define Christianity for centuries to come; I think people who are interested in such historical and religious questions would love to come to this site. As for Peter the Iberian, saint or no saint, there is no doubt that he was a huge historical figure. He rejected the council of Calcedon. He was monophysite, but in the eyes of historians, it doesn’t diminish his importance at all.

Vazha Tavberidze