Door Handle

Knocker

29-108-105

Location: On Display in the Rome Gallery

From: Israel | Beth Shean

Curatorial Section: Near Eastern

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Object Number 29-108-105
Current Location Rome Gallery - On Display
Provenience Israel | Beth Shean
Archaeology Area Level III or IV, Summit, Room 147
Period Iron Age IIB | Hellenistic | Roman
Date Made 925 BCE-400 CE
Section Near Eastern
Materials Bronze
Iconography Lion
Description

In the form of a hollow lion's head holding a ring in his mouth. Around the head at regularly spaced intervals are nine projections, each terminating in a knob. The object is pierced in four places for attachment; in each of the piercings there remains a fragment of an iron nail.

Fitzgerald: “From the southern part of the Western Slope comes the fine door handle, or knocker, in the form of a lion’s head, and which was found in Room 147. It does not, however, follow that its original situation was in this quarter of the Tell; the contents of the Round Church and other Byzantine buildings, which fell into ruins after the Arab occupation were doubtless carried away and scattered in all directions.”

Height 13.5 cm
Width 11.6 cm
Depth 5 cm
Credit Line Expedition to Beth Shean (Beisan); Clarence Fisher, 1921-1928
Other Number 3303 - Field No SF

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