250 original sepultures dating back to the first century AD have been unearthed near downtown Beirut. I passed by there yesterday and watched the scene. Among the new antiquities, there's a sphinx over a lamb. It was sculpted in the local stone. The dean of the Faculty of Archaeology at the Lebanese university said that studies are now being carried out to find out the meaning of that lamb. There were many other finds including gold tools and the skeletons of animals being buried in graves. They're all Roman I managed to buy the daily newspaper which is published in the French language " "L'Orient - Le Jour " and scanned some live photos from the paper. Here they are..
I read in the newspaper that some sepultures have 10 meters of width in their ground basement. As for the dimensions of the sculptings, I think I would rather consult a former colleague and friend who is now currently teaching archaeology at the Lebanese University . For the time being, I've scanned 3 more photos from the same article in " L'Orient- Le Jour ". Here are they..
The statue of the lion and the lamb is very interesting because the notion of a lion lying with a lamb -- contrary to popular belief -- does not appear in the Bible. This statue apparently predates any reference to a lion lying down with a lamb by several centuries. The closest Biblical passage is Isaiah 11:6, which reads: "And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the kid, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them." (NASB) There is another Old Testament passage that is similar, Isaiah 65:25: "'The wolf and the lamb shall graze together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,' says the LORD." (NASB) Revelation 5 mentions a lion and a lamb, but nothing at all about them lying together. Indeed, they both almost certainly refer allegorically to Jesus, the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God. The juxtaposition of lion and lamb goes a very long way back in Christian tradition, back to the Church Fathers in fact. Here, for example, is Chrysostom on Isaiah 11:6: "I have heard many saying, 'The threats of a king are like the wrath of a lion,' (Proverbs 19:12) being full of dejection and lamentation. What then should we say to such? That He who said, 'The wolves and the lambs shall feed together; and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox,' (Isaiah 11:6-7) will be able to convert the lion into a mild lamb." (Homily 3 on the Statues) There's also a long tradition of portraying Christ as combining the attributes of the lion and the lamb. Thus Augustine: "Who is this, both lamb and lion? He endured death as a lamb, he devoured it as a lion. Who is this, both lamb and lion? Gentle and strong, lovable and terrifying, innocent and mighty, silent when he was being judged, roaring when he comes to judge. Or perhaps in his passion both lamb and lion, and also in his resurrection lamb and lion." (Sermon 375A on the Sacraments) But not one of these ancient references speaks specifically of a lion lying down with a lamb! We have to get pretty far into the modern period before this notion is clearly documented. The earliest reference I could find after a pretty thorough search online comes from this book, which states the "Lion and Lamb" was a popular symbol on English signboards in the 17th century. By the 19th century, the notion of the lion lying with lambs was firmly in place and is quoted or alluded to by a number of major English poets, usually in the context of a utopian or millenarian imagination. Shelley's Queen Mab (VIII 124-28) reads: "The lion now forgets to thirst for blood; There might you see him sporting in the sun Beside the dreadless kid; his claws are sheathed, His teeth are harmless, custom's force has made His nature as the nature of a lamb." And Blake's "Night" reads (33-42): "And there the lion's ruddy eyes Shall flow with tears of gold: And pitying the tender cries, And walking round the fold: Saying, 'Wrath, by His meekness, And, by His health, sickness, Are driven away From our immortal day. 'And now beside thee, bleating lamb, I can lie down and sleep ...'" Henry James, in The Death of the Lion, depicts the soirees of socially predatory Mrs. Weeks Wimbush, "proprietress of the universal menagerie," as times in which "the animals rub shoulders freely with the spectators and the lions sit down for whole evenings with the lambs." In the visual arts, this notion was explored by Edward Hicks (1780-1849) in dozens of "Peaceable Kingdom" paintings, such as this one in the Brooklyn Museum: There's a 1937 song called "Peace in the Valley" that was written for Mahalia Jackson and recorded by many many singers in the twentieth century, including Elvis, Little Richard, Johnny Cash, and Connie Francis. It has the line "And the lion shall lay down by the lamb." Very interesting archaeological find, indeed.
purdy interesting paper. i found it on the web and looked at my 15 free articles. now i'll have to pay to see more Lebanon's got it goin' on
Thanks a lot for this intimate, clever and generous participation. I feel courage myself to share more and contribute more and more.
7 Calbrey, What a spectacular find, thank for sharing. The Romans (and a lot of other cultures for that matter) always buried outside the city. Do you have the name of the neighborhood?
I was talking about this with a classicist in Greece, who reminds me that Virgil's 4th Eclogue contains a similar sentiment about lions and herds living peacefully in Ultima Cumaei venit iam carminis aetas; magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo -- "the last age of the Cumaean prophecy" when "the great cycle of periods is born anew." Among many things to come at that time, Virgil's poem reads, nec magnos metuent armenta leones -- "and no more will cattle fear great lions" (Line 22). So we have a whole series of similarly-themed notions. Wolves and lambs (Hebrew Bible); lions and cattle (Roman Paganism); lions and lambs (English-language, Christian-influenced poetry, literature, and song). The whole thing seems to have been a symbolic adynaton in common use, a recurring symbol for paradise (the elimination of combat even in the animal kingdom, implying also the elimination of hunger and other forms of suffering).
Yes I have the name.It's the square of " Bachoura " inside the city of Beirut. It's heavily populated.
the site is bordered by Chehab Ave. N, Assad Khorshid St. S kamel Mrouve St.W Tyan and Khanak Al-Ghamik E and covers 10,000 sq. meters.
