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The bronze figurine of a crouching panther with lolling tongue and raised left fore-leg, was found at the excavations of Avdat. The figurine shows the mixed Greco-Oriental character of the Nabataean culture of that period.
Avdat was founded as a caravan station by the Nabataeans near the junction of the two main Negev trade routes.
Art was introduced into the many new synagogues built after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the first century CE: mosaic floors and architectural relief decorations. The low-relief stone menorah, with flowers and pomegranates alternating on its seven branches comes from a second century CE synagogue excavated near Tiberias.
The ivory relief depicts a "sphinx" - a mythical figure with the body of a lion, wings and a human head - in Phoenician style. It was found at Arslan Tash in Northern Mesopotamia together with many ivories, one of which bore the biblical name of Hazael.
These were decorations and inlays for wooden furniture. The sphinx and the other ivories are similar to those found in the palaces at Samaria (9th Cent. BCE). From the collection of E. Borski.
This head of an ibex - a wild goat with recurved horns - is part of a tiny gold earring; of Persian style, it was discovered in the "Persian stratum" at Ashdod, together, inter alia, with a Hebrew ostracon and Attic red-figure vases, indicating that harbor's far-flung cultural and commercial links. Similar items are known from Cyprus.
At the great royal city of the Achaeminian rulers, Persepolis, the capitals which supported the ceilings were composite in style, with floral and animal ornaments set one upon the other. This 5th century BCE golden model of one of them - possibly used by sculptors or architects - is extremely rare.
The six stamps depict a bronze panther figurine; a synagogue stone menorah; a Phoenician ivory sphinx; a gold earring; a miniature gold capital; and a gold drinking horn.
Drinking horns in gold, silver and terracotta with heads of griffins, rams, bulls and lions have been found. At least one bears an inscription mentioning an Achaeminian king (550 to 330 BCE).
