Apollonia; Sozousa; Reshef; Arsuf - Basilica

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Church Name, type, function

Site Name:

Apollonia; Sozousa; Reshef; Arsuf

Identification:

A city in the coastal plain between Caesarea and Ioppe, medieval Arsuf. Named after the Canaanite god Reshef, identified with Apollo. In the Byzantine period, the name was changed to Sozousa. May also to be the location of the monastery Aphtoria of the Syriac Life of Peter the Iberian (but there are other proposal for the identification of this monastery). Episcopal see in the fifth-sixth centuries. Ruins of church. Excavated site.

Church name:

Basilica

Functional Type:

Parochial

Church type:

Basilical

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

182,064.00

677,680.00

Location:

Urban

Geographical region:

Sharon

Topographical location:

in the vicinity of Herzlia

Distance from Roman roads:

on the Via Maris

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina I

Bishopric:

Apollonia

Source of knowledge

Literary sources

HideEpigraphy

Text number	Summary
1	Damaged three-line mosaic building inscription of Marinus written in hexameters, in the western portion of the nave.

Archaeological remains

Excavated site

Excavators:

Name	Date
Israel Dept. of Antiquities	1962, 1976

Bibliograpy:

Editor, 1962
Ovadiah, A., 1970
Birnbaum, R. and Ovadiah, A., 1990
Tsafrir, Y., Di Segni, L. and Green, J., 1994	65
Oren, T., 2017

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

According to Ovadiah, the church was basilical in plan, oriented along an east-west axis, of which only a part of the nave and a number of column bases survived. The pavements were of polychrome mosaics with geometric motifs. A three-line Greek inscription 2.5 m. in length was preserved in the western part of the nave. It mentions a donor named Marinus.

Description

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Figures

Small finds

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation:

Facing east

Architectural Evolution

Phase 1
Abandonment

Phase name (as published):

Byzantine

General outline:

Mosaic floor with a Greek building inscription of a church by Marinus.

Dating material:

Epigraphy, 5th-6th c.

Phase date

Century:

5th-6th c.

Phase date

Century:

Unknown