Almost two weeks ago, Haifa University archaeological team, headed by Dr. Michael Eisenberg, discovered an extremely rare bronze mask of the ancient Greek deity Pan at the Sussita archaeological site on the Golan Heights. The area of Hippos-Sussita, has been a significant source of ancient pagan artifacts.

The mask is estimated to date back to the Hellenistic period, nearly 2000 years ago, while the majority of the ancient bronze statues and masks were melted down in later periods. Another thing that makes the mask so rare is the location it was found, far outside the ancient city, in something that could be a shrine.

Dr. Alexander Yarmolin, an archaeologist working with the University, used a metal detector while looking for coins and came across a mass of earth, covering the mask’s surface. Once uncovering the half-goat, half-human features, there was no doubt the mask depicted the ancient deity Pan, god of shepherds, also representing music and amusement.

“The first thought that went through my mind was ‘Why here, outside the city?'” said Dr. Michael Eisenberg.

“After all, the mask is heavy and could never have just ended up there. We could see the remnants of a basalt structure near the place where we found the mask.”

“The thickness of the walls, the method of construction and the high-quality masonry work hinted at a large building from the Roman period,” he added.

North of Sussita, there is in fact a whole ancient city dedicated to Pan, named Panias, where the deity was worshiped within the city’s temples, as well as in the fields around it, utilising a cave as a pagan temple.

“Rituals to worship the gods of pasture and the fields, particularly Dionysus, were held fairly often outside the city,” the doctor further explained.

“They included ceremonies that involved drinking, sacrifice and ecstatic worship that sometimes involved nudity and sex, which is probably the main reason of the reasons the ceremonies were held outside the city walls.”

Eisenberg and the University’s archaeologists have contacted curators at several museums across the globe, unable to find a piece similar to the one unearthed in Sussita. Pan and the satyrs till now have appeared occasionally as ornamentation on furniture, featured in very small sizes.

“Most of the existing masks resemble theatrical masks; sculpted of stone or clay and with cultic, symbolic and ornamental significance, not to mention how tiny they are,” he said.

“The site cannot compete with the richness of some of the cultural centers of ancient Rome, so a find of this sort here, of all places, is amazing.”