BAR 38:02, Mar/Apr 2012 Tales from Tombstones Amid the desolate,
rocky wasteland of Biblical Zoar, Konstantinos Politis and
others have discovered hundreds of remarkable tombstones that
preserve detailed portraits of life—and death—among the
Christians and Jews who once dwelled there. The often brightly
colored and intricately decorated stones are a treasure trove of
information about these two communities during the fourth to
sixth centuries C.E. when Zoar (then known as Zoara or Zoora)
was the seat of a major Christian bishopric and also home to a
significant Jewish population. In the accompanying article, two
scholars expert in interpreting the epitaphs and iconography of
these burial markers—Professor Steven Fine of Yeshiva University
in New York and Kalliope I. Kritikakou-Nikolaropoulou of the
National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens, Greece—provide
separate discussions of the Jewish and Christian tombstones of
Zoar. Each examines the host of names, occupations and religious
titles found within th