Excavation in Israel Unearths an Ancient Roman Pagan Temple Within an Ancient Jewish Village.

Click here to read more about it on Foxnews.com.

Archaeologists have found an ancient Roman Pagan temple (dating back to around the second century A.D.) while excavating the ancient Jewish village of Zippori. A Christian church, from a later period, was built on top of it, and discovered during an earlier dig.

The temple is in ruins, but parts of it have been well preserved through the ages, and the layout of it is clear. Another building has also been discovered, and seems to have held great importance for the people of the time, though the proverbial 'they' aren't yet certain what it's original function was.

The article I found on Foxnews contains a photo of the ruins.

Apparently, their best guess so far is that the temple was perhaps dedicated to Jupiter (Zeus) and/or Fortuna (Tyche). They're basing this on some coins found at the site that show a temple(s) honoring these Gods.

Perhaps the best, and most interesting, aspect of this recent discovery, is the knowledge that at one time Jews, Pagans, and even early Christians apparently got along quite well, or at least lived together fairly harmoniously. These ancient peoples were able to coexist within the same village, and yet we (the more civilized?) often cannot. That's not to say that fights didn't inevitably break out between the various people. I'm sure they must have. I'm sure fights broke out, at that time, between people who shared identical beliefs as well. Still, it's uplifting to realize that likely people back then, as hopefully in many locations today, were able to at least respect one another, though their beliefs differed greatly.

*On somewhat of a side note, it really does irritate me to a degree that the writers at Foxnews chose to use the Greek names for the Gods, when they said it was a Roman temple that was discovered. On the other hand, I suppose since the Greek names are more commonly known, they may have felt that it was a better way to go, so that the average reader would instantly know who they were talking about. *shrug*