Gabriel (Gaby) Mazor (; born February 16, 1944) is an Israeli

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

working for the

Israel Antiquities Authority The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, ; , before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of Antiquities. The IAA regulates excavation and conservatio ...

. Mazor is the director and senior researcher of the

Bet She'an Beit She'an ( '), also known as Beisan ( '), or Beth-shean, is a town in the Northern District of Israel. The town lies at the Beit She'an Valley about 120 m (394 feet) below sea level. Beit She'an is believed to be one of the oldest citie ...

Archaeological Project. He is the co-author of "NYSA-Scythopolis: The Caesareum and the Odeum" and has taught in

Macalester College Macalester College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate institution with an enrollment of 2,142 students in the fall of 2023. The college ha ...

and the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

as a visiting professor. Mazor is also a project consultant on the Horbat ‘Omrit (in the northern Galilee) project. Mazor obtained his Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology from

Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...

in 2004. He is a father of two and resides in Jerusalem.

Research

Nysa-Scythopolis, a

Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman world , also Greco-Roman civilization, Greco-Roman culture or Greco-Latin culture (spelled Græco-Roman or Graeco-Roman in British English), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and co ...

polis of the

Decapolis The Decapolis (Greek: ) was a group of ten Greek Hellenistic cities on the eastern frontier of the Greek and late Roman Empire in the Southern Levant in the first centuries BC and AD. Most of the cities were located to the east of the Jordan ...

, originated during the

Hellenistic period In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

, while its remarkable historical chapters ended at 749 CE in a destructive earthquake. Its vast excavations (1986–2000) and the subsequent research conducted by Mazor, the expedition director, focused mainly on the city's civic center and its monumental public buildings. Mazor's research was naturally devoted to the history of the

polei in the region during the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods. His research is focused on the

classical architecture Classical architecture typically refers to architecture consciously derived from the principles of Ancient Greek architecture, Greek and Ancient Roman architecture, Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or more specifically, from ''De archit ...

of the various monuments revealed during the excavations, such as city-gates, colonnaded streets, theaters and odea, municipal and state fora, their basilica and temples, all integrated within the polis urban planning. Mazor's research focused on architectural analysis of monuments and their décor, seeking patterns of traditional origins and influences. The analysis of the Roman period architectural patterns and their political and ideological part in shaping the image of Empire was followed by the research into social religious and economic topics, such as the polis inhabitants' ethnicity, their religious affiliations throughout the polis' history, the origins of its economic prosperity and its administrative status throughout the

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

periods. These fields of interest were gradually widened to include other Roman polei in the region as well as cultic centers of the region throughout the Roman period.

Publications

Books

* Mazor G. 2004. Free Standing City-Gates in the Eastern Provinces During the Roman Imperial Period. Ph.D. dissertation Bar-Ilan University * Mazor G. and Najjar A. 2007 Nysa-Scythopolis: The Caesareum and Odeum-Final Report. Bet She'an 1. IAA Reports 33, Jerusalem. * Mazor G. and Atrash V.. Nysa Scythopolis: The Theater. Final Report. Bet She'an 2–3. IAA Reports (two volumes) Jerusalem. * Mazor G. and Najjar A. Nysa Scythopolis: City-Gates and the City' Northern Entrances. Final Report. Bet She'an 4–5 IAA Reports (Two volumes) Jerusalem. * Mazor G. and Sandhouse D. Nysa Scythopolis: The Hellenistic City. Final Report. Bet She'an 6. IAA Reports Jerusalem. * Mazor G. and Atrash V. Nysa Scythopolis: The Western and Eastern Thearma. Final Report. Bet She'an 7. IAA Reports Jerusalem (in preparation). * Mazor G., Atrash V. and Sandhouse D. Nysa Scythopolis: The Agora. Final Report 8. IAA Reports Jerusalem (In preparation). * Mazor G. 2007. Historical and Archaeological Guide to Bet She'an.

Selected scholarly articles

* 1987–88. Bet She'an Project. City Center of Ancient Bet She'an (South). ESI 6:10–24 * 1988–89. Bet She'an Project 1988. Department of Antiquities Expedition. ESI 7–8:22–32 * 1990. Le Quartier du theatre. Le Monde de la Bible 66: 22–28 * 1992. City Center (South) and Tel Iztaba Area 1988–89; Excavations of the Antiquity Authority Expedition. ESI 11:33–52 * 1994. Bet She'an during the Hellenistic Period. Qadmoniot 107–108:87–92 * 1994. Scythopolis-Capital of Palestina Secunda. Qadmoniot 107–108:117–137 * 1994. The Gates of Roman Scythopolis and its City Planning. La Ciutat el Mond Roma. Actes XIV Congress International d'Arqueologia Classica pp. 268–271 * 1995. Dionysus and Theosevius "Citizens" of Scythopolis. Michmanim 8:87–103 * 1996. The Bet She'an Excavation Project 1992–1994. ESI 17:7–39 * 1996. A Columbarium Cave at Ras Esh-Shekh 'Anbar, East of Jerusalem. 'Atiqot 21:51–57 * 1999. Public Hygiene and Public Baths in Nysa-Scythopolis. Michmanim 13:59–72 * 2000. A Church at Khirbet el-Masani north of Jerusalem. 'Atiqot 40:17–24 * 2000. Roman Byzantine Bath Houses at Scythopolis. JRA Supplementary Series 37 II:292–302 * 2001. The Gates of Scythopolis and the Northern Entrances to the City during the Roman-Byzantine Period. Settlement, Civilization and Culture. Proceedings of the Conference in Memory of David Alon. Bar Ilan University. pp. 199–224 * 2002. Survey and Excavations of the Caves along the Fault Escarpment Above Horbat Qumran. 'Atiqot 41.1:189–200 * 2003. The Survey of Jerusalem IAA Archaeological Survey of Israel * 2006. The Northern City Wall of Jerusalem on the Eve of the First Crusade. 'Atiqot 51:49–54 * 2006. A Farm House of Late Iron Age and Second Temple Period at the French Hill, North Jerusalem. Atiqot 54:1–9 * 2007. The Temple at Omrit: A Study in Architectural Iconography. BAR International Series. In print * 2007. The Architectural Orders of Omrit Temples. BAR International Series in print * 2007. Bet She'an Scythopolis. The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. Vol. V Jerusalem * 2007. in print. Nysa-Scythopolis: The Eastern Therma. Second International Conference on Ancient Bath. Varna 22–27 April 1996. * 2009 Forthcoming. A Magical Amulet from Aelia Capitolina. Atiqot * 2009 Forthcoming. A Graeco-Egyptian Amulet from Nysa-Scythopolis. Atiqot * 2009 Forthcoming. An Engraved Carnelian Gem from Nysa-Scythopolis. Atiqot * 2009. Byzantine Wine Presses in the Negev. In E Ayalon, R. Frankel and A Kloner (eds.) Oil and Wine Presses in Israel from the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Periods. BAR International Series 1972. pp. 399–411 * 2010 Forthcoming. The Temple at Omrit and Rome's Eastern Policy. Festschrift in Honor of A. Kloner Bar Ilan * 2010. Mazor G and Regev E. (eds) festschrift in honor of S. Dar. Bar Ilan * 2010 In print. Nysa-Scythopolis: History of Ethnicity and Religion. In R. Kratz (ed.) One God, One Cult, One Nation. Göttingen * 2010 In print . Urban Architecture of the Eastern Roman Provinces and the Image of Empire. In G. Charlesworth (ed.) Methodological Approaches to the Historical Jesus: The Second Princeton-Prague Symposium on * Jesus Researches, Princeton 2007. Princeton. Eerdamans * 2010 In print. Imperial Cult in the Decapolis, Nysa-Scythopolis as a Test Case. In A. Killebrew (ed) festschrift in honor of R. Hachlili

Notes

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