HAIFA, ISRAEL—LiveScience reports that recent excavations at the Greco-Roman city of Hippos near the Sea of Galilee may shed light on the discovery last year of a remarkable bronze mask depicting the half-man half-goat god Pan. University of Haifa archaeologist Michael Eisenberg led a team that unearthed a six-foot-tall Roman gate near a stone building where the mask was found, leading him to speculate that the gate might have led to a sanctuary dedicated to Pan. "The mask, and now the gate in which it was embedded, are continuing to fire our imaginations," Eisenberg says. "The worship of Pan sometimes included ceremonies involving drinking, sacrifices and ecstatic rituals, including nudity and sex. This worship usually took place outside the city walls, in caves and other natural settings." The possible sanctuary was located near the city gates and was constructed sometime during the reign of Hadrian, who was emperor from A.D. 117 to A.D. 138. To read more about Roman cults, go to "Saving the Villa of the Mysteries."
