The Hellenistic Paintings of Marisa

The Hellenistic paintings found in a pair of tombs at Marisa/Maresha in Israel were among the most important surviving examples of Hellenistic art to survive into recent times. The unique painted frieze in the main chamber of one of these tombs depicts 22 different wild animals native to Africa, the Levant and Asia, and few mythical beasts that were believed to inhabit lands beyond India. Also among the painted subjects were the triple-headed Cerberus and a pair of elegant musicians. These paintings were first brought to public attention by John Peters, an American archaeologist and theologian, and Hermann Thiersch, a German classical scholar, who were alerted to the existence of the painted tombs in 1902. Realising that these splendid tombs dated to the 3rd century BC and the importance of the murals, these scholars commissioned a Jerusalem photographer, Chalil Raad, to record them. This was fortunate, because the paintings on the soft chalk walls rapidly deteriorated. Peters and Thiersch were commissioned by the Palestine Exploration Fund to publish a monograph on the painted tombs, illustrated with lithographic copies of the photographs. To mark the centenary of the discovery of the painted tombs, David Jacobson offers a reassessment of the Marisa paintings to accompany a facsimile of the original 1905 publication, now long out of print. The new study examines the religious, cultural and historical significance of the paintings, and also recounts the careers of Peters and Thiersch. This new publication includes, for the first time, the original photographs taken by Raad in 1902, which reveal the fine quality of these ancient works of art.