A group of researchers from Tel Aviv and Leipzig universities who worked on excavations in the city of Ashdod, discovered an untouched Christian mosaic on the walls of an ancient monastery. Find about 1500 years old.

The walls of the ancient fortress of Ashdod-Yam still rise on the coast in the southern part of modern Ashdod. Once this place was one of the most important in Israel Byzantine period. The ruins of the temple, found near the fortress, hide many secrets.

One of them archaeologists found by chance - the ideally preserved 1500-year-old Christian mosaic. The inscription on it was dedicated to the builder of the temple: "By the grace of God, this work was carried out under the auspices of Procopius, our holy bishop, in the month Dios, in the third indict, 292".

Researchers believe that the mosaic is the earliest evidence of the presence of the Georgian population in Israel. On that is the basis - Ashdod, according to some information, served as a home for the largest community of Jews of Georgian origin.

Historical sources say that the Georgian prince and Bishop Peter Iver lived in the fortress of Ashdod-Yam until his death. Evidence of the presence of Georgian Jews in the Byzantine period is found in dozens of kilometers from Ashdod, even in Jerusalem.

However, archaeologists have perfectly preserved the Christian mosaic together with the Georgian church on the Israeli coast for the first time - hence the sensation.

The first documented settlement on the site of modern Ashdod dates from the 17th century. before. , which makes it one of the most ancient cities in the world. Ashdod is mentioned thirteen times in the Bible (in the synodal translation - Azot). In different periods the city was inhabited by Philistines, Israelis, Byzantines, Crusaders and Arabs.

Source: My planet.