who are the deities concealed behind the rabbinic expression

7/27/2019 Who Are the Deities Concealed Behind the Rabbinic Expression

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Harvard Divinity School

Who Are the Deities Concealed behind the Rabbinic Expression "A Nursing Female Image"?Author(s): Emmanuel FriedheimSource: The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 96, No. 2 (Apr., 2003), pp. 239-250Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Harvard Divinity SchoolStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4151860 .

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WhoAre the Deities ConcealedBehind the RabbinicExpression"ANursingFemaleImage"?EmmanuelFriedheimBarIlan University, srael

0 IntroductionThe Tosefta reads: "If a person found a ring on which was the image of the sun, the imageof the moon, the image of a dragon (snake), he should bring it to the Dead Sea. And also anursing female image ([np'%1] p' imn-) and Sarapis."' Each component of this intriguingpassage in the Tosefta deserves close examination; the current article will reexamine thephrase a "nursing female image," and attempt to identify the two pagan characters repre-sented by this cryptic wording. Saul Lieberman, one of the leading scholars who attemptedto answer this question, was of the opinion that this phrase refers to Isis nursing her sonHorus ("Harpocrates" in Greek).2 Because the pair Isis-Sarapis was extremely commonduring the time of the Roman empire and especially in the second century C.E.,the listingof Sarapis after the "nursing female image" probably led Lieberman to conclude that this

'tos. 'Abod. Zar. 5(6):1 (ed. Moshe Shemouel Zuckermandel, 468). The term 1p'3 followsMS Erfurt,while the version in MS Vienna is np'%(. he latter is preferable.This passage in theTosefta almost certainly belongs to the second centuryC.E.Althoughthis dictum is unattributed nthe Tosefta, b. 'Abod. Zar. states that R. Judahtaught the baraita concerning the nursing femaleimage or Sarapis (see b. 'Abod. Zar. 43a, and ShragaAbramson, Tractate 'AbodahZarah of theBabylonian Talmud[New York:Jewish Theological Seminary of America] 77). "R. Judah" s R.Judah barIlai, a fourth-generationTanna,who was active in the Land of Israel in the Usha genera-tion (second centuryC.E.).2SaulLieberman,Hellenism in Jewish Palestine (New York:Jewish Theological Seminary ofAmerica, 1962) 136.Actually,he was not the firstto note the connectionbetween the nursingfemaleimage andIsis. See Isidore L6vy, "N6bo, Hadaranet S6rapisdans l'apologie du Pseudo-Meliton,"RHR 20 (1899) 373 n. 6; Marcus Jastrow,A Dictionary of the Targumim, he TalmudBabli andYerushalmi,and the Midrashic Literature (London: Luzac, 1903; repr., Jerusalem:Horev, 1985)103, s.v. "o,', ' -o,"; Heinrich Blaufuss, Gitter, Bilder und Symbole nach den Traktakeniiberfremden Dienst (Nuremberg:Buchdruckerei von J. L. Stich, 1910) 19; Jacob Levy, Worterbuchiiber die Talmudimund Midraschim(vol. 3; Berlin: Harz, 1924) col. 107a.

HTR 96:2 (2003) 239-50

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240 HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW

character can be none other than Isis.3 Furthermore, Isis nursing Horus (Isis Lactans) is aquite well-known motif in Hellenistic-Roman sculpture.4Lieberman concluded from this thatIsis, like Sarapis, is "specifically mentioned" in Rabbinic literature.5Although this assertionwould be correct regarding Sarapis, who is mentioned by name both in the Tosefta and inthe Babylonian Talmud,6 the name "Isis" and similar theophoric names, such as' Ioiag and'IYicopog, are absent from Rabbinic literature.Other scholars who have discussed this issue have followed Lieberman in arguingthat the phrase "nursing female image" refers to Isis.7 The question that must be asked iswhether this conclusion can withstand geographical-historical scrutiny. When the Rabbisof the Land of Israel mention the "nursing female image," they are voicing their oppositionto a religious-ritual phenomenon apparently prevalent among the pagans there. This poseda religious threat to Jews and thus merited the attention of the halakhah. This attests to the

3Plutarch,De Isi. et Osi. 28.361 and many more. For the affinity between Isis and Sarapis,already in the Hellenistic period, see Robert Turcan,Les cultes orientaux dans le monde romain(2d rev. ed.; Paris: Les belles lettres, 1992) 78-79.4RogerPackmanHinks, "Isis Suckling Horus,"The British MuseumQuarterly 12 (1937-1938)74-75; JohnDucey Cooney, "Harpocrates, he Dutiful Son," Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum ofArt (1972) 284-90; Vincent Tran TamTinh, Isis Lactans-Corpus des monumentsgreco-romainsd'Isis allaitant Harpocrate (EPRO37; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1973); idem, "De nouveau Isis Lactans,"in Hommagesa' M. J. Vermaseren EPRO 68; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1978) 3:1231-68, pls. 226-49,figs. 1-56. The expression, the "nursing emale image,"usually refersto Isis nursingher son Horus;however, on occasion we see Isis nursingthe bull Apis. See G. J. F. Kater-Sibbes and Marteen J.Vermaseren,Apis I (EPRO48; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1975) no. 106; no. 141, pl. 81. According to theBT interpretationof the baraita, it is proven that the nursing female image to which R. Judah barIlai referred is that of a woman nursingher son. See 'Abod. Zar.43a; Rashi ad loc., s.v. meniqah:"A woman nursing a son." It may also be noted that in the first centuryC.E.,men commonly worerings bearing depictions of HarpocratesandEgyptian gods. See ShuaAmorai-Stark,"Isis in the Artof Gems of the Hellenistic-Roman Period,"Ph.D. diss. (Hebrew), Hebrew University, Jerusalem,1988, 13 (primarysources).5Lieberman,Hellenism, 136.6b. 'Abod.Zar. 43a. In this source, the traditionregardingthe nursingfemale image and Sarapisis transmittedby R. Judahbar Ilai (see above, n.1). The fact that R. Judahtaughtthis exegesis isapparentlya furtherproof that the tradition of the nursing female image originated in the Egyp-tian cults, since R. Judah bar Ilai was known to be a sage who possessed a number of traditionspertainingto Egypt and its religions. See Gen. Rab. 87 (ed. JudahTheodor and ChanochAlbeck,1071-72); Cant. Rab. 1:1 (ed. ShimshonDunsky, 1). For a theoretical and historical interpretationof this tradition, see Samuel Tobias Lachs, "An Egyptian Festival in Canticles Rabba,"JQR 46(1960) 47-54. For othertraditionsrelatingto Egypt that were transmittedby R. Judah,see tos. Kip-purim 2:5 (ed. Lieberman,231-32); y. Yoma6:6, 43(d); tos. Sukkah 4:6 (ed. Lieberman,273-74).It is our opinion that R. Judah's frame of reference for the nursingfemale image is not Egypt, butrather the Land of Israel. R. Judah's halakhic stance on this issue almost certainly derives fromthe fact that the nursingfemale image comprised a quite common and widespread religious-ritualphenomenon in the second century C.E.Gentile community in the Land of Israel, as reflected inRabbinicliterature.We will show (below) that the cult of Isis Lactans did not exist in the Land ofIsrael in the Roman period.7Thus, or instance, Zeev Wolff Rabinowitz, Sha'are TorathBabel: Notes and Commentson theBabylonian Talmud ed. EzraZion Melamed;Jerusalem:Jewish Theological Seminaryof America,1961) 182 (Hebrew);MartinHengel, Judaism and Hellenism: Studies in Their Encounter in Pal-estine during the Early Hellenistic Period (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1973) 1:158; David Flusser,"Paganismin Palestine," in CompendiaRerumIudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum ed. ShemuelSafrai et al.; Amsterdam:VanGorcum, 1976) 2:1085; GerardMussies, "The InterpretatioJudaicaof Sarapis," n Studies in Hellenistic Religions (ed. Marteen J. Vermaseren;EPRO78; Leiden:Brill,



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EMMANUEL FRIEDHEIM 241

importance and extent of the phenomenon of the "nursing female image" among the diversepeoples found in urban centers.

If we were to accept the conclusion drawn by Lieberman and like-minded scholars thatthis "nursing female figure" should be identified with Isis, we would expect to find that thecult of Isis was common in the Land of Israel during the time of the Mishnah and Talmud, atleast as widespread as the cult of Sarapis there in the Roman period. Important archaeologi-cal finds attest to the broad geographical scope of the Sarapis cult in the Hellenistic-Romanperiod.8 Quite surprisingly, however, finds from this period attesting to the cult of Isis inthe Land of Israel are extremely rare,9 even though it is considered to be one of the mostwidespread pagan cults in the Mediterranean basin during the Roman period.10Furthermore,the rare finds of the Isis cult that originate from the Land of Israel do not provide evidenceof the existence of an Isis Lactans (nursing Isis) cult.

0 The Isis Lactans Cult in the Land of IsraelandSurroundingsn theRoman PeriodAshkelon provides some of the few Roman period testimonies to the presence of the cultof Isis-Harpocrates in the region." These finds included seven figurines of Harpocrates and

1977) 191-92; Mireille Hadas-Lebel, "Le Paganisme a travers les sources rabbiniquesdes IIe etIIIe si&cles -Contribution g l'6tude du syncr6tismedans l'empire romain,"in ANRWII, 19.2 (ed.WolfgangHaase and Hildegard Temporini;New York: de Gruyter,1979) 406; Jacob Neusner, TheTosefta, V:Neziqin(New York:Ktav,1981)329; MargaretteSchltiter,"Deraqon"undGitzendienst;Studienzur antiken iidischen Religionsgeschichte, ausgehend von einem griechischen Lehnwort nMAZIII, 3, Judentum und Umwelt(Frankfurta.M.: P. Lang, 1982) 4:128-29; JoshuaEfron, "TheDeed of Simon Son of Shatah in Ascalon," in A. Kasher, Canaan, Philistia, Greece and Israel:Relations of the Jews in Eretz-Israel with the Hellenistic Cities (332 BCE-70CE) Jerusalem:YadItzhak Ben Zvi Press, 1988) 315 (Hebrew); Gideon Bohak, "RabbinicPerspectives on EgyptianReligion,"ARG2 (2000) 228; CorinneBehar,"Lest6moignagesdu culte de S6rapisdansla palestineet le traitdAboda Zara,"REJ 161 (2002) 568.'See EmmanuelFriedheim,"PaganCults in Roman Palestine,"M.A. thesis, Ramat-Gan(1995)199-201 (Hebrew). For a general survey of the deployment of the Sarapis worship in Syria andLebanon, see idem, 201-3.9See Friedheim,"PaganCults," 10-18.1'Forgeneral surveys of the spread of the Egyptian cult throughoutthe Roman empire, seeTurcan,Les cultes orientaux, 83-104; FranqoiseDunand,Le culte d'Isis dans le bassin oriental dela Miditerannde (EPRO26; 3 vols.; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1973); Michel Malaise, "La diffusion descultes 6gyptiens dans les provinces europ6ennesde l'empire romain,"in ANRWII, 17.3 (ed. W.Haase and H. Temporini;New York: de Gruyter,1984) 1615-92."Isis appearson coins of Roman Ashkelon, standingon three lions, or lion's heads, holding ascepterandwhip. See YaakovMeshorer,City-Coinsof Eretz-Israeland theDecapolis in theRomanPeriod (Jerusalem:The Israel Museum, 1985) 28, no. 52 (MarcusAurelius period 161-180 C.E.);MayerRosenberger,City-Coins of Palestine (vol. 2; Jerusalem:Mayer Rosenberger, 1975) 66, no.232 (230-231 C.E.).Seyrig, however, maintains that these depictions are of Osiris, and not of Isis;see Henri Seyrig, "Heliopolitana,"Bulletin du Musde de Beyrouth 1 (1937) 90 n. 2. A column was

discovered in Ashkelon depicting the mythological scene of Isis searchingfor her brother-husbandOsiris, with the emperorCaracalla(211-217 C.E.)appearingas Harpocratesbehind her. See HenriSeyrig, "La qu&ted'Osiris," Syria 32 (1955) 46 n. 2. The excavations in Ashkelon also yieldeda Roman statue of Isis, with her son Harpocrates standing next to her; see Raphael Savignac,"D6couverted'une statuen Ascalon," RB 14 (1905) 426-28; John Garstang,"Askalon II. RomanPeriod,"PEFQS (1924) 28. Isis in Ashkelon is also mentioned in a second century C.E.papyrus



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two of Isisnursingherson'2 hatare datedto thefourthcenturyB.C.E.13Withtheexceptionofthesetwo statuettes romthePersian-Hellenisticperiod,we possess noproofof the existenceof the Isis Lactans cult in Roman-periodAshkelon.An inscribedgem fromthe firstcenturyC.E. hatdepictsIsis nursinghersonHarpocrateswas discoveredin RomanGadara n Transjordan.14To the present,this gem constitutesthesole proof for the existence of Isis Lactans worship in the Land of Israel in this period.This findclosely corresponds o thepassage in theTosefta,since this gem was probablyanintegralpartof a ringfromthe firstcenturyC.E., uite close to theperiodin which R. Judahbar Ilai was active. It shouldnot be concluded,however,on the basis of this one findthat anofficial rite of Isis Lactansexisted in RomanGadara. ncontrastwithnumismaticfinds,thepresenceof a gem is no proofof the existence of the cult at that ocation;it was quite likelybrought herefromanother ocationwherethe Isis cultwas practiced.Gems canattestto thepresenceof cultpractices f the samepaganmotifappearson anumberof gems at thesite, orif otherevidenceconfirms hegemologicalfinds.No othercorroboratoryvidence- literary,numismatic,or archaeological inds of the Isis Lactans cult exists in RomanGadara.Thelone figureof Harpocratesappearson two additionalgems,'5and a statueof this mythicalfigurefromthe Romanperiodwas unearthed n the city.16However,theevidence is slim tosupport he existence of anIsis Lactans cult in RomanGadara.Otherfinds there include a torso from the late Hellenistic or EarlyRoman periodun-covered in Berytus (the present-dayBeirut)depicts a goddess holding an infantin her lefthand,whileexpressingmilkfrom her breastwith herrighthand.This scene is reminiscentofIsis nursingher son Horus-Harpocrates.However,S6bastienRonzevalle maintains hat wecannotconfidently dentifythis as Isis since the findis incompleteandsince the goddess isnot actuallynursingherchild,who seems to be asleep.17 Dura-Europos, n the easternbankof the Euphrates,yielded a depictionof Isis nursingHorus,18 nd a Romanperiodstatuetteof Isis nursingHoruswas unearthed n Tafas in northernSyria.19To the present,these arethe only Romanperiodfinds fromthe religious expanse of Syria,Phoenicia,andthe Landof IsraelthatpresentIsis nursingher son Harpocrates.In a studyof considerablemportance,FranqoiseDunandcollectedall the findsindicativeof the existence of a cultof Isis throughout he easternMediterranean asin. She concludes

from Oxyrhyncus;see Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, "Graeco-EgyptianLiteraryPapyri1380-Invocation of Isis," in The OxyrhyncusPapyri (London: Egypt Exploration Fund, 1915)11:190. None of these sources, however, shows Isis nursingHarpocrates.12JohnHenryIliffe, "AHoardof Bronzes fromAskalon c. FourthCenturyB.C.,"QDAP 5 (1936)64 and pl. XXXI, nos. 4-5.13Iliffe, "AHoardof Bronzes fromAskalon,"61: "Itseems clear thatthe bronzes are of the sameapproximatedate as the pottery,i.e., about the fourthcentury B.C."14MartinHenig and Mary Whiting, Engraved Gemsfrom Gadara in Jordan: The Sa'd Collec-tion of Intaglios and Cameos (Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, 1984) 24,no. 219.'5Ibid.,24, nos. 217-18.'6ThomasWeber, "Gadaraof the Decapolis: PreliminaryReport of the 1990 Season at Umm

Qeis," ADAJ 35 (1991) 231, pl. 111:2.'7S6bastienRonzevalle, "D6esses syriennes: 2. D6esse-Mere de Beyrouth,"MUSJ 12 (1927)161-62.18G. . F. Kater-Sibbes,Preliminary Catalogue of Sarapis Monuments(EPRO36; Leiden: Brill,1973) 80, no. 456.19Tran amTinh, Isis Lactans, 77, no. A-29.



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thatthe evidence for Isis worshipduring heRomanperiod n the Land of Israel s extremelysparse.20RobertA. Wild has comprehensivelyresearchedall of the knowntemples of Isisand Sarapisthat were active throughout he Romanempire,but found no Isaeum or Sera-peumin the Landof Israel.21VincentTranTamTinhexamined all the known Greco-Romandepictionsof Isisnursingher sonHarpocrates, ssemblinganextensive corpusof finds fromEngland o Mesopotamia, ncludingAfrica,Anatolia,and otherregions.In the Landof Israelhe found no trace of Isis nursing Harpocrates, xcept for the fourth-centuryB.C.E.xamplefromAshkelon previously discussed.22The sole finds from the time of the Romanempirein the area thatdepicts Isis nursing Harpocratesare, as was noted, the gem from Gadaraand the two statuettes--one fromTafas and the other fromDura-Europos,both in Syria.Itwould thereforeappearthat R. Judahbar Ilai did not refer to Isis nursingHorus when hespoke of the "nursing emale image,"since the type of Isis Lactans is extremelyrare n theSyrian-Phoenician xpanse duringthe time of Roman rulein generalandis entirelyabsentfrom theperiodunderdiscussion. Thequestionthen arises:who are thedivinitiescrypticallyreferred o by this puzzling expression?0 Nysa NursingDionysus in BaalbekandBeth Sheanin the RomanEraThe nursingfemale and infantimage were most likely to be located within the cult of Dio-nysus-Bacchus,the Greco-Romangod of wine, whose worshipwas quitewidespread n theLand of Israel and its surroundingsn the Romanperiod.Numerousarchaeologicalremainsrelated o this cult havebeenuncoveredatmanyRomansites.23Thecity of Scythopolis/BethShean was unquestionablythe most importanturban center practicing this cult,24 while

20Dunand,Le culte d'Isis, III, 132.21Robert.Wild,"TheKnown sis-Sarapisanctuariesrom heRomanPeriod,"ANRWI, 17.4(ed.W.HaaseandH.Temporini;ewYork: eGruyter,984)1754.22Tran amTinh,Isis Lactans,8-9 n. 9. The few finds thatemphasizehis scenebelongtothepre-Romaneriod; or the finds n Mechmesh,ee NachmanAvigad,"Mechmesh,"heNewEncyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (ed. EphraimStern;Jerusalem: Is-raelExplorationociety,1992)3:944(Hebrew);nTelMegadim:MagenBroshi,"TelMegadim,"The New Encyclopedia, 1100; in Tel Marissa: Amos Kloner, "Marissa,"Hadashot Arkheologiyot(Archaeological ewsletter) 9 (1987)61 (Hebrew);nAtlit:CedricNorman ohns,"Excavationsat Atlit(1930-1931),"QDAP22 (1933)62, no. 312, fig. 18,pl. 17;in KibbutzLohameiHagetaot:BaruchBrandl,"APhoenician carab romLohameiHagetaot," tiqot22 (1991) 153-55.In sum,thedecisivemajorityf archaeologicalinds rom he Landof Israel elating pecificallyo thecultof Isis Lactansbelong o periodsmuchearlier han heRomanperiod.23Archaeologicalemainsattestingo the cult of Dionysus n the Landof Israel n the Romanperiodand n Transjordanave been found n CaesareaMaritima, shkelon,Raphia,SheikhZu-wayd,Sepphoris, urmus-'AyainSamaria), rez,Diospolis-Lydda,ntipatris/Rosha-Ayin,AeliaCapitolina,Gadara,Capitolias/Bet eisha,Kanatha,Gerasa,Esbus/Heshbon,Madaba, nd Petra.See Friedheim,PaganCults," 2-74.24pliny, at. Hist.5.74;Dionysusappears n thecity coins. See GeorgeFrancisHill, "SomePalestinian Cults in the Graeco-RomanAge," Proceedings of the British Academy 5 (1911-1912)4-5; Meshorer,City-Coinsof Eretz-Israel, 40, no. 105 (periodof Antoninus Pius, 138-161 c.E.),41no. 107(timeof Commodus, 80-192c.E.),42, no. 109(207 c.E.),42 no. 110(241c.E.),42 nos.110a,112(241 c.E.);AsherOvadiah,"GreekCults n Beth-Shean/Scythopolisn the HellenisticandRomanPeriods," rlsr 12(1975)122-23 (Hebrew); aruchLifshitz,"Scythopolis: 'histoire,les institutionst les cultes de la ville Bl'6poquehell6nistiquet imperiale," NRWI,8(ed.W.Haases and H. Temporini;New York: de Gruyter, 1977) 275; idem, "Notes d'6pigraphiegrecqueIII:Autel de Dionysos au th6atrede Skythopolis (Beisan) en Palestine," ZPE 6 (1970) 62, pl. Va.



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in Syria and Lebanon, it was Heliopolis-Baalbek and surroundings.25n fact, MercuriusHeliopolitanus, he second male memberof the Heliopolitantriad hat was dominant n thepantheonof this Lebanesecity,was identifiedwithDionysus,as Ronzevalle andHenriSeyrigdemonstrated.26 templededicated o Mercury-Dionysuswas discovered and excavatedinBaalbek,close to the centraltempleof JupiterHeliopolitanus.27It is noteworthythatnursing occupied a prominentplace in the urbanreligious life ofthe cities in the region in which the worshipof Dionysus was dominant.The iconographyof nursingpossessed considerable mportancebothin Heliopolis-Baalbek,whereMercury-Dionysus formedpartof the Heliopolitantriad28ndin Scythopolis/BethShean,wheretheworshipof Dionysus comprisedthe centralurbancult.29Two largereliefs were uncoveredthat flanked he staircase eadingto thecella of the templeof Mercury-DionysusatHeliopo-lis-Baalbek.In the relief to the right,we see Maenadnursingthe infantDionysus with herlegs entwined n agrapevine,30andin the left relief, the birthof Dionysus from thethighof

See also Ovadiah,GreekCults, 122;for an additionalnscription elating o Zeus-Bacchus,eeidem, 123;andfor an opposingview, see HenriSeyrig,"Notessurles cultes de Scythopolisal'6poque romaine,"Syria 39 (1962) 209-10 [= Antiquitis syriennes, 6 (Paris:Paul Geuthner,1966)116-17]. For the sculpting,see HadashotArkheologiyot(ArchaeologicalNewsletter) 1(1961) 12-13(Hebrew); Lifshitz, "Scythopolis:L'histoire,"275; Gideon Foerster and YoramTsafrir,"A Statueof Dionysos as a YouthRecently Discovered at Beth-Shean,"Qad 89-90 (1990) 52-54 (Hebrew).For a general survey of the cult of Dionysus in Beth Shean, see also Yehudit Tornheimand AsherOvadiah,"Dionysus in Beth-Shean,"Cathedra Quarterly71 (1994) 21-34 (Hebrew).

25Thus, n Hierapolis-Bambyce, Berytus, Damascus, 'Ain-El-Goug (near Baalbek), Hermel,Beshouat, Niha, and Ra'hle (on Mt. Hermon). For bibliographical references, see Friedheim,"PaganCults,"73-74.26S6bastienRonzevalle, "Notes d'arch6ologie orientale,"MUSJ 10 (1925) 215-17; idem, MUSJ15 (1930-1931) 158-61; Ronzevalle,MUSJ21 (1937) 130;HenriSeyrig, "Latriadehdliopolitaineetles temples de Baalbek,"Syria 10 (1929) 348-53 [= idem, in Scripta Varia:Milanges d'archdologieet d'histoire (ed. E. Will; Paris:P. Geuthner,1985) 42-47].27Ronzevalle,"Notes d'archdologie orientale";Seyrig, "La triadeh61iopolitaineet les templesde Baalbek";Youssef Hajjar,La triade d'Hiliopolis-Baalbek, 3 (Montreal, 1985) 339-41.28Thegeographical distributionof the Heliopolitan triad throughoutthe Roman empire wasextremely broad;see Turcan,Les cultes orientaux, 153-56; Hajjar,La triaded'Hiliopolis-Baalbek,1, 348-78; idem, La triade d'Hdliopolis-Baalbek (vol. 2; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1977) 523-58; idem,"Baalbek:Grand centre religieux sous l'empire," ANRWII, 18.4 (ed. W. Haase and H. Temporini;New York: de Gruyter,1990) 2501-08.

291t is noteworthythat the cult of Dionysus was perceived as the most importanturbancult in theRomanperiodnRaphia s well.Thecitycoinsalsodepicta number f scenesrelated oDionysus'schildhood. We do not see, however, Tyche, the city-goddess, nursingthe infantDionysus; at most,we can discernTyche holding the infant Dionysus in her arms, without suckling him. See Ya'akovMeshorer,"Monnaiesde Raphia,"Revuenumismatique18, 6eme sdrie(1976) 60, 63, no. 2 (178-179C.E.)no. 7 (same year), no. 10 (180-181 C.E.);66, no. 43; Meshorer,City-Coins of Eretz-Israel, 32.Some of thecity coins depict Dionysus being born from the thigh of Zeus; see Meshorer,"Monnaiesde Raphia."For Raphia as the birthplaceof Dionysus, see Seyrig, "Latriadeh61iopolitaine,"321.To the present, there is no evidence that the depiction of Dionysus being nursed was prevalent inRaphia duringthe Roman period. However, the religious importancethat this city ascribed to thechildhood of this god enables us to assume that the myth of Nysa nursingthe infantDionysus wasmost likely known here as well. Furthermore,numerousmosaic pavements that were unearthed nthe excavations of Antioch in Syria contain scenes from the life of Dionysus, including Hermesentrustingthe baby Dionysus to the care of the nymphs of Mount Nysa; see Glanville Downey,Ancient Antioch (Princeton:PrincetonUniversity Press, 1963) 206.30Seyrig,"La triadehdliopolitaine,"319, fig. 1.



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his fatherZeusmightbe reconstructed.31isible in the ceiling of the templeare two figuresof Tyche,the Greekgoddess of luck, nursinginfants.32t is highly probable hatthe babiesappearingn thesetableauxrepresentDionysus. Support orthis conclusioncomes fromthefact thatthemanyscenes in thetempleof Dionysus in Baalbek thatdepictthe mythologicallife of this god mainly emphasize Dionysus's childhood.33

Similarly, nursing was afforded an importantplace in the cult of Dionysus in BethShean as well. Pliny the Elder(firstcenturyC.E.)notes thatScythopolis hadformerlybeencalled Nysa, afterDionysus's wet nurse,who was buriedtherenext to him.34Nysa appearsa numberof times on the city's coins from the thirdcenturyC.E.as the goddess of the citywho is identifiedwith the GreekTyche, depictedas nursingthe infantDionysus.35Nysa'sconnection with Beth Shean is, therefore,not only mythological, but also cultic. YoramTsafrirand Gideon Foerstermaintain hat the templethat was uncovered n the excavationsof Roman Beth Shean was also dedicatedto Nysa and not exclusively to Dionysus.36Asthese numismaticfindsdemonstrate,Tyche-Nysawas perceivedin RomanScythopolis, asin Baalbek,as a full-fledgedcentralcultic figurefrom the first to the thirdcenturiesC.E.Seyrigmentions hatnursinghadvenerableculticsignificance n theworshipof Dionysusand ater ntheperformanceof his mysteries.37n the archaicperiod,none of the Greekgodsseemed so close to thefertile,flourishing,and wild world of natureas Dionysus.38The act ofthe nymphs nursing Dionysus was initially intended to accelerate and advance the fertility ofthe earth,which the infantDionysus represented.39n the Romanperiod,the religious role

31Ibid.32Ibid.,352; Hajjar,La triade d'Hdliopolis-Baalbek, 1, 331; Nina Jidejian, Baalbek-Heliopo-lis- "City of the Sun" (Beirut:Dar el-MachreqPublishers, 1975) 284. For the terra-cotta statuettediscovered in Baalbek that depicts a goddess nursing an infant, see ibid., 285. For a monumentalrelief in Baalbek which depicts Tyche/Atargatisnursing Dionysus as seen until the end of the eigh-teenthcentury,see Louis-FranqoisCassas, Voyage pittoresque de la Syrie, de la Phdnicie et de laBasse-Egypte, Paris 2:1797-1801, pl. no. 34.33Seyrig,"La triadehdliopolitaine,"321.34pliny,Nat. Hist. 5.74. Avi-Yonahasserts that the name "Nysa"refers to the niece of AntiochusIV;see MichaelAvi-Yonah,"Scythopolis," n TheBeth-SheanValley(Jerusalem:IsraelExplorationSociety, 1962) 54 (Hebrew). It should be recalled, however, that Pliny's book was published in 77C.E.,andhe, too, undoubtedlybased this passage on ancienttraditionsconcerning the founding ofBeth Shean. It would seem, therefore, that the connection between the geographical name Nysa

and the woman by this name nursing Dionysus is quite early, and was alreadyknown in the timeof Pliny. It shouldbe noted in this context that the Beth Shean excavations yielded an altar dated to141-142 C.E.dedicated to "thegod Dionysus, the founder."See YoramTsafrirand Gideon Foerster,"The HebrewUniversityExcavations at Beth-Shean 1980-1994," Qad 107-108 (1995) 99 (Hebrew).According to Di Segni, Dionysus was perceived as the city's founderonly beginning in the secondcenturyC.E.See Leah Di Segni, "A Dated Inscriptionfrom Beth-Shean and the Cult of DionysusKtistes in Roman Scythopolis," Scripta Classica Israelica 16 (1997) 144-46. It is significant thatin the Tannaiticperiod the city of Beth Shean considered Dionysus its founder, and therefore thename "Nysa"almost certainly refers to Dionysus's legendarynurse.35Meshorer,City-Coins of Eretz-lsrael, 42, nos. 110-110a (241 C.E.); ee ChristianAugd, "Di-vinit6s et mythologies sur les monnaies de la Ddcapole,"MdB 22 (1982) 44.36Tsafrirnd Foerster,TheHebrew University,102-3.37Seyrig,"La triadehdliopolitaine,"322-23.38Andr6 eanFestugiere, "Les mysteres de Dionysos," RB 44 (1935) 193-94.39Seyrig,"La triadehdliopolitaine,"322. See also Theodora Hadzisteliou Price, Kourotrophos:Cults and Representations of GreekNursing Deities (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1978) 19, 200-3; SylvieVilatte, "Lanourricegrecque:Une question d'histoire sociale et religieuse," L'antiquitdclassique60 (1991) 27.



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of nursing was apparently not limited to this purpose, but also contained important elementsof the mysteries of the god, which assured the believer of material happiness in this worldand eternal life after death. Seyrig was of the opinion that the infant Dionysus accordinglyrepresented those goals as a young god who had undergone two births, both a natural and adivine one.40Seyrig lists many examples from throughout the Roman empire that accentu-ate the importance of nursing among the various aspects of the mysteries that honored thisgod.41He searched for a common denominator between the appearance of Tyche-Nysa andDionysus in Beth Shean and the Tyche in Baalbek (who, in his opinion, is also Nysa) whonurses Dionysus.42 In another article, Seyrig argues that the extensive spread of the cult ofthe Heliopolitan triad43n the Land of Israel during the Roman period also found expressionin Beth Shean, thus the two city deities of Baalbek and Beth Shean who nurse Dionysus.44In his view, these two city goddesses are merely a later, Greco-Roman manifestation of theDea Syria, that is the Syrian Atargatis ('Atar'ata) (= the Phoenician Astarte), the female

40Seyrig,"La triadehdliopolitaine,"323; Hadzisteliou Price,Kourotrophos;Vilatte,"Lanourricegrecque." According to the mythological story, Dionysus was born twice. First, he was conceivedby his human mother Semele who died before she gave birth.As she was dying, Zeus deliveredDionysus, and sewed him into his thigh so that the pregnancywould proceed normally.When hisfather Zeus gave birthto him, Dionysus was alreadyimmortaland the masterof the gods. See PierreGrimal, Dictionnaire de la mythologie grecque et romaine (11th ed.; Paris: Presses Universitairesde France, 1991) 126-27. The two dimensions, the human(happiness in this world) andthe divine(eternal life after death) are therefore inherent and intertwined in the character of Dionysus fromthe time of his birth. For the manner of attaining eternal life in the cult of Dionysus, see FranzCumont,After Life in RomanPaganism (New York:New Dover, 1959) 35. The various episodesconnected with the childhoodof Dionysus constitute a guide for those interested in attainingeternallife when they become "Bacchus,"hence the importanceof the motif of the nursing of Dionysusby the nymphson many Roman-periodsarcophagi;see RobertTurcan,Les sarcophages romainsareprdsentationsdionysiaques: Essai de chronologie et d'histoire religieuse (Paris:E. de Boccard,1966) 430-31.

41Seyrig, "La triade hdliopolitaine,"323. Thus the mystery villa in Pompei clearly portrays awoman who is worshiping Dionysus andnursinga deer. See MargareteBieber, "TheMystery Fres-coes in the MysteryVilla of Pompei,"RR 2 (1937) 7, and many more. It is also noteworthythat ina few finds related to the cult of the Phrygiangod Sabazius, who is identified with Dionysus, wediscern a woman lying in a cave and nursing an infant. See ibid., 324. For the cultic significanceof the nursingof Dionysus by the nymphs, and for the extent of the phenomenonthroughouttheMediterraneanbasin in the Romanperiod, see ibid., 322 n. 3.42Ibid.,352-53.43Thecult of Jupiter Heliopolitanus was practiced in many places in the Land of Israel in theHellenistic-Romanperiod.ForPtolemais/Akko,see EmmanuelFriedheim,"TheSyrianPaganCultsof Ptolemais-Akko duringthe Hellenistic and Roman Period" in Jerusalem and Eretz Israel-ArieKindler Volume(ed. JoshuaSchwartz,ZoharAmar, and Irit Ziffer; Ramat Gan: Ingeborg RennertCenter for JerusalemStudies, Bar Ilan University and Eretz Israel Museum, TelAviv, 2000) 90-92(Hebrew); for Caesarea: Lewis M. Hopfe, "Caesareaas a Religious Center,"ANRWII, 18.4 (NewYork: de Gruyter, 1990) 2388; for Neapolis-Shechem: Hajjar,Baalbek-Grand centre religieux,2502; for Diospolis-Lydda: ibid.; Meshorer,City-Coins of Eretz-Israel, 55, no. 154 (time of Geta,209-211 C.E.);orNicopolis-Emmaus:see the extensive discussion: EmmanuelFriedheim,"Quelquesremarquessur l'introductiondu culte de Jupiter H6liopolitain ' Emmatis-Nicopolis h'apoque ro-maine,"RB 109 (2002) 101-8; for Eleutheropolis-BetGuvrin:Meshorer,City-Coins of Eretz-Israel64 no. 181 (208 C.E.)116; for Philippopolis-Shohba:Sebastien Ronzevalle, "JupiterHdliopolitain:Nova et Vetera,"MUSJ 21 (1937-1939) 25 and n. 2; for additional locations in which this cultwas practiced in the Land of Israel and its environs in the Roman period, see Friedheim, "PaganCults," 136, 140-42, 144-49.

44Seyrig,"Notes sur les cultes de Scythopolis," 211.



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componentof the Heliopolitantriad,who in Syria and in Phoenicia frequentlyrepresentsthe original essence of the city goddesses that are known by the name of Tyche in theirGreek manifestation.450 Rabbinic Views on PaganBeth Shean, Baalbek,and the WorshipofDionysusThe Rabbis were awareof the special religious importanceof Heliopolis-Baalbek, in thatits templeswere active the entireyear,withoutrespite.46Adolphe Neubauer hinks thattheRabbisalso mention he wine of Baalbek,whichprobablywasunique.47fNeubauer s correctin his assessment,48his wouldexplainthe significanceof the cult of Dionysus-Bacchus,theGreco-Romangod of wine, in Baalbekand surroundings,andwould show thatthe Rabbiswere awarenot only of the temples in Baalbek,but also of the importanceattributedo thecultivation of grapesin the region.The TannaimandAmoraimof the Land of Israel also knew thatBeth Shean was a pagancenter.49 here is no proofthatthey were cognizantof the city's Greekname, Scythopolis,

45Seyrig,"Latriadeh61iopolitaine,"352-53.46b. 'Abod.Zar. 11b:"R.HannabarR. Hisda saidin the nameof R. Hisda(andsome say,R. Hananbar Rabba said in the name of Rav): Thereare five appointed temples of idolatry,andthey are [...]When R. Dimi came, he said that the marketplace n 'En-Beki was added to them"(accordingto theSpanish manuscript); he name "'En-Beki"undoubtedlyrefers to Baalbek. See the extensive discus-sion: IsidoreL6vy,"Cultes et rites syriensdans le Talmud,"REJ 43 (1901) 192-95; Saul Lieberman,"Palestine in the Third and FourthCentury,"JQR 37 (1946) 43; idem, Hellenism, 138 n. 96. Thisplace was alreadyknown in the time of the Mishnah,by the name "Baal Bekhi";see m. Maaserot5:8; tos. Maaserot 3:15 (ed. Lieberman,241); see also Saul Lieberman,Toseftaki-Fshuta,Zeraim(2d ed.; Jerusalem: Jewish Theological Seminary of America and the Maxwell Abbell PublicationFund, 1992) 707. These sources do not relate to Baalbek as a religious center.Notwithstandingthis,it should be noted that the religious center in Baalbek was very greatlyenhanced,especially duringthe reigns of the emperorsAntoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius (138-180 C.E.),who supportedinall possible ways the existence of the religious center there;see Turcan,Les cultes orientaux, 151;Hajjar,La triade d'Hiliopolis-Baalbek, 3, 325-26. In other words, in the Usha period (the time ofthose emperors) in which R. Judah bar Ilai was mainly active, the temples of Heliopolis-Baalbekcomprised an extremely importantreligious center in Syria and the surroundingarea.47AdolpheNeubauer,Lagdographiedu TalmudParis:MichelL6vyfrbres,1868;repr.Hildesheim:G. Holms, 1967) 298 and n. 1.48Neubauer's easoning is based on the traditionbrought by Eccl. Rab. 9:13 (1): "'This thingtoo I observed under the sun about wisdom'-R. Samuel bar Imi said: This is the thought of de-ceivers in their deception, such as: the one who adulterates water with wine, Balbeki with oil";Sifra, De-Boreh de-Hovah 12: 22 (ed. Louis Finkelstein, 213); YalkutShim'oni, Lev. 479 (ed. DovHyman, 1, 191). Neubauer maintains that this is to be read as "Yayin Balbeki [Baalbek wine]."However, in all these versions, water is connected with wine, and Balbeki is connected with oil.Therefore, Neubauer's reading seems quite forced. For the importanceof wine in Za'hle (in thevicinity of Ba'albek) until the twentieth century, see Michel Alouf, Histoire de Baalbek (5th ed.;Beirut:Al-Igtihad, 1928) 26. During the course of ritual meals that were conducted in Baalbek, itwas customaryto drinkwine, which constituted an importantcomponentof the banquet ceremony;see Hajjar,La triaded'Hfliopolis-Baalbek, 3, 273, 279. Neubauer'sproposalto read"YayinBalbeki[Baalbek wine]" is historically plausible, since the productionof wine in Baalbek and its environscorrespondsremarkablywell with the practice of the cult of Dionysus in the region. On the otherhand,it would be difficult to find supportfor this proposal in the different versions in the midrashicsources, and it therefore should be regardedwith care.49m. 'Abod. Zar. 1:4. From the Palestinian Talmud we also learn of the observance of the Satur-nalia festival in Beth Shean in the late thirdcentury C.E.; ee y. 'Abod. Zar. 1:2, 39(c).



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buttheywereapparentlyamiliarwiththecity's otherGreekname,Nysa.5oThus,theRabbisof the Mishnah and Talmudmay also have been aware of the cult of Dionysus. Althoughthis worshipwas widespread n the Land of Israel and the surrounding egion in the Ro-man period--including cities such as Caesarea,Lydda,andSepphoris--with largeJewishpopulations, there is no explicit mention of the names "Dionysus"or "Bacchus"in theTalmudic iterature.However,traces of the cult of Dionysus can be found in theMishnah.51Pine cones wereparticularly ssociatedwith the cult of Dionysus,52 nd are centralobjectsinhis iconographicrepresentation.William Alexander Leslie Elmslierightlylinked the mish-naic wording"whitefigs" primarilywith the cult of Dionysus.53Additionally,the Mishnahforbidsthederivingof benefitfrom"hidespiercedattheheart."Liebermanconcludes fromthis that the Rabbis "hadin mind rites of the Mysteries of Demeter,Attis and Cybele."54Mireille Hadas-Lebel and Liliane Vana attributed his term to the worship of Dionysus.55If this wordingdoes indeed refer to the cult of Dionysus, then this constitutes additionalevidence. These, in our opinion, demonstrate hatthe Rabbis were cognizantof the ritualceremoniesof the cult of Dionysus.0 ConclusionR. JudahbarIlai's ban of the "nursing emale image"most probablydid not refer to IsisandHarpocrates, ince the cult of the Egyptiangoddess hardlyexisted in the Land of Israelin the Romanperiod.In contrast,we have arguedthat the expressionthe "nursing emaleimage"refers to Nysa nursingthe infantDionysus. This mythologicalnarrativewas firmlyanchoredin the religious-cultic consciousness of the inhabitantsof the Heliopolitan cityof BaalbekandNysa-Scythopolis (Beth Shean)in the Romanperiod. Accordingto Seyrig,the phenomenonof nursingis one of the central features of the mysteriesof Dionysus inSyria andthe Landof Israelin Roman times. He arguesthatthe beliefs common to thesetwo centersundoubtedlycreatedanextremelyclose bond that allowed for the transferenceof the theology of the cults of Heliopolis-Baalbekfrom Lebanon to the Land of Israel in

50ob.Erub. 3a: "WhenR. Dimicame,he said thatBonios[Rashi:heperson'sname]sent toRabbia modius ameasure f volume]of artichokeshatcame rom theplace]Nausa."RabbeinuHananel eads:"fromNysa"; ee also Dikdukei oferim n BTEruvin83a,n.3.Scholarly esearchcommonlydentifies"Nausa"n BTEruvinwiththecityof Nausa n Mesopotamia,ut the intentmightpossiblybe to Nysa-BethShean,as is maintained y Zeev Safrai,"Shechemn the Daysof MishnaandTalmud 3 B.C.E.-637 .E.,"n ShimonDarandZeevSafrai,Shomron tudies TelAviv:Hakibbutz ameuchad,986)84 n. 9; 117(Hebrew).51m.Abod.Zar.1:5(MS Kaufmann)52WilliamlexanderLeslieElmslie,The Mishnahon Idolatry: AbodaZara,(ed. JosephA.Robinson;Text and Studies:Contributionso Biblicaland PatristicLiterature,, 2; Cambridge:Cambridge niversityPress,1911)9 n. b;MarcelLe Glay,LareligionromaineParis,1991)228n. 164;Hadas-Lebel,LePaganisme,"48.53Elmslie,heMishnah nIdolatry, , s.v."BenotSu'ah."54Lieberman,ellenism,119.

55Hadas-Lebel,LePaganisme,"45. Liliane Vanasuggests hatthe termdoes not indicatethat he animal'sheart s removedwhile the animal s stillalive,butshe, too, drawsa connectionbetween hiswordingand the cult of Dionysus;n heropinion, he Rabbisreferred o a garmentmade rom he hide of the animal hat he"Myste"wouldwearwhileconductinghemysteriesnhonorof Dionysus.SeeLilianeVana,"LespeauxLebubine u la robeduMystedans esyst-resdionysiaques,"EJ156(1997)266-71.



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the Roman period.56The image of Tyche-Nysa that appears in Beth Shean and in Baalbekis merely a Hellenized manifestation of the Syrian goddess 'Atar'ata-Atargatis, and thenursing Dionysus is none other than the Greek parallel of Mercurius Heliopolitanus (theSyrian Malakhbel) of Baalbek.57In other words, Nysa (Atargatis) and Dionysus (MercuriusHeliopolitanus) represent two gods who are components of the Syrian-Lebanese triad ofHeliopolis-Baalbek headed by Jupiter Heliopolitanus (the Syrian Hadad).58It seems that the

56Seyrig,"Notes sur les cultes de Scythopolis," 211.57In he Roman period, several cities in Syria and Phoenicia observed the cult of the ancientpagan triadcomposed in accordancewith the following model. A supreme deity headed the triad,and was identified with the ancient thunder-god,the SyrianHadad or the Phoenician Baal-shamin,who became the Roman Zeus-Jupiter,the Graeco-Roman thunder-godin the Hellenistic-Romanperiod. The second component was a goddess identified with the ancient goddess of fertility, theSyrian Atargatisor the PhoenicianAstarte,who in the Hellenistic-Roman periodbecame Aphroditeor Tyche, the city goddess (who at times bears various names, such as Asteria or Astronoe in Tyre,Asteria in Rabbath-Ammon,Baalath in Byblos, Venus Heliopolitana in Baalbek, and the like).The third element is that of a secondary god, representing a child or a child-god, known by theancient name of Eshmun in Sidon, Adonis in Byblos, Mercury (possibly the original Malakhbel)in Baalbek, and Melqartin Tyre, who were all identified in the Roman period with Dionysus. SeeHenri Seyrig, "Les dieux de Hierapolis,"Syria 37 (1960) 248-50 (= Antiquit6ssyriennes, 6 [Paris:P. Geuthner, 1966] 94-96). In Roman Beth Shean, the pagan triad was composed of the supremegod, Zeus (Hadad);the feminine element, Nysa-Tyche (Atargatis);and the child-god, the infantDionysus (Mercury).In Beth Shean and in Baalbek, the female figureis nursingthe secondaryele-ment. Interestingly, nursingscenes also appear n portrayalsof the triad of Tyre.A relief uncoveredin the city depicts a woman giving birth and an infant nursingfrom a doe. The woman is Astronoe-Asteria, andthe infant is Heracles-Melqart.On the back of the doe is a vulture that almost certainlyrepresentsZeus. See HenriSeyrig, "Les grandsdieux de Tyr il'apoque grecqueet romaine,"Syria40 (1963) 23-24 (= Antiquitessyriennes, 6 [Paris:P. Geuthner,1966] 125-26). The Tyrian pagantriad was thereforecomposed of a supreme god bearing the name Zeus (Baal-shamin),his femalepartnernamedAsteria-Astronoe(theHellenizedAstarte),anda god-child named Heracles (Melqart).This triad is known to us from literary sources; see Eudox. Cnid. ad. Athen. 9:47, 392d; Cicero,De nat. deor. 3:16:42. Like Dionysus, Heracles-Melqartwas perceived as the god responsible forthe fertility of the earth, and this perception is at the basis of the nursing scene depicted on thisrelief. It should also be mentioned that a doe nursing a baby appearson Roman period city coinsof Damascus. See Felicien de Saulcy,Numismatiquede la terre sainte, (Paris:Rotschild, 1874) 47no. 7, 51 no. 7 (the period of TrebonianusGallus, 251-253 C.E.)and passim. The nursing infantand the goddess representedby the doe have not been identified;this divinity may representa localtype of the Syrian goddess, and the nursinginfant, Heracles or Dionysus, who, incidentally, appearon the city coins of Damascus. It should also be recalled that the cult of Dionysus was of consider-able importancein Damascus; see Turcan,Les cultes orientaux, 290. At any rate, it seems that twoelements of a local pagantriad also make their appearance n Damascus. It seems that R. Judah barIlai did refer to these two elements when he spoke of the "nursingfemale image." Since, however,the outstanding example in the Land of Israel of such an image refers to Nysa and Dionysus, itmay reasonably be assumed that R. Judah bar Ilai related more to those cults that existed in thelocations of pagan activity that were known to the Rabbis of the Mishnah than to some other cultof a goddess and a child-god, such as Asteria and Heracles, whose cult, as a triad, was not, to thebest of our knowledge, observed in the Land of Israel.58It hould be mentioned at this point that the Rabbis were quite knowledgeable regardingMer-qulis, i.e., Mercury;see m. 'Abod.Zar.4:1-2; tos. 'Abod. Zar.6:13-18 (ed. Zuckermandel,470-71);y. 'Abod. Zar. 4:1, 43(c-d); y. Sanh. 5:1, 22(d); b. Ber. 57b; 'Abod. Zar. 42a, 50a, 51a, 64a, andmany more sources. According to Lieberman,the Mercurydescribed in the Rabbinic literature isMercuriusHeliopolitanus; see Lieberman,"Palestine in the Third and FourthCentury,"43. SinceMercuriusHeliopolitanusis identifiedwith the GreekDionysus, it may be surmisedthat the Rabbisknew of Dionysus from the cult of Mercuryas well.



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Rabbisused the phrase "nursing emale image"to refer to Nysa-Atargatis,Dionysus, and,indirectly, o the cult of JupiterHeliopolitanus.In light of the fact thatnursingconstitutedan importantpartof the mysteriesin the cult of Dionysus, since the nursingof Dionysusrepresentedthe renewal of nature,the fertility of the earth, and rebirthafter death, thisidentification s well suited to the religious-culticrealityof Gentilesin the Land of Israelatthe time of the Mishnahand Talmud.59

59Finally,t shouldbe addedhatJewish entersn theLandof Israel uchas CaesareandLyddayielded ntriguing rcheologicalemains rom heRomanperiod hatattest o the existenceof thecults of JupiterHeliopolitanus,AtargatisandAstarte,Dionysus and Sarapis;see Friedheim,"PaganCults,"31-2, 35, 62-74, 136, 142, 199-201.TheDionysus-Sarapisombination as well knownin the Roman period; see Adrien Brtihl,Liber Pater: Origine et expansion du culte dionysiaqueaiRomeet dansle monde omainParis:E. de Boccard1953)16,250-52. Perhapshisexplains hecombination of "thenursingfemale image and Sarapis?"

who are the deities concealed behind the rabbinic expression

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