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Image: The carved head of Alexander the Great
In a previous post, I wrote about the gemstone carved with the head portrait of Alexander the Great. According to archaeologists, the gemstone is about 2,300 old, probably carved after the Alexander’s death in 323 B.C.
The gemstone was found at a large building from the Hellenistic period located at Tel Dor, “an archaeological site that once was a major port on Israel’s Mediterranean coast.”
Discovery News has a good article on the gemstone engraved with the image of Alexander the Great. The article emphasizes the “young, resolute, sexy Alexander the Great.”
According to the article, the village of Dor “was indeed known to Alexander the Great, who passed through there in 332 B.C. on his way to Egypt. The people of Dor submitted to Alexander without resistance and remained a center of Greek culture in Israel for about two centuries, until it was conquered by Alexander Jannaeus, King of Judea, in 100 B.C.”
The article says that the image presents “A compelling evidence of exquisite Hellenistic minor art, the carving shows a head in left profile, with rather sexy features: wavy locks of hair, wide, deep-set eyes with an intense stare, high brows and fine-cut neck.”
You can read the article here.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Alexander the Great, Archaeology, Tel Dor
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Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament 