Page 275 - ירושלים: גיליון רפואי

there was a strong military presence. The cult of Serapis was popular in Jerusalem. This is
evident from Jerusalem-Aelia Capitolina city coins depicting his image, and from a bust of the
bearded god Serapis, a dedicatory inscription, and an amulet bearing his name. Another deity
sometimes appeared beside him – Neotera, whose name means “the younger one, the newer
one.”Testimonies from throughout the Roman Empire imply that Neotera was an independent
goddess, and her attributes were snakes and the moon. Her name appears on a second-century
CE fibula (a Roman clothing brooch) displayed in the museum at the Franciscan Monastery of
the Flagellation in Jerusalem. Alongside the name, two snakes can be seen rising up to face each
other with entwined tails, and they may be identified with Serapis and Isis.

Hygieia usually symbolizes healing spas, therefore her cult in Jerusalem may appear rather
strange; however, some believe that the cult may have been linked to the Gihon Spring that
wells up in the Kidron Valley riverbed. Sacredness was attributed to the Gihon waters from
ancient times: King Solomon was crowned there. King Hezekiah blocked the spring and
quarried a tunnel to divert the Gihon waters to the Siloam Pool, mistakenly called the Siloam
Spring ever since. During the Second Temple period the pure, sweet Siloam waters were used
for special purposes – for rituals, bathing, and healing. In Christianity too, the Siloam Pool
gained great significance: Jesus is said to have sent a blind man to bath in it, restoring his sight.
Another source of water that was used for healing and ritual practices was the Bethesda Pool,
where Jesus healed a paralytic. Archaeological finds from the Roman-Byzantine period indicate
the site’s distinctive character as a pagan-Christian healing center.

The snake as a symbol of healing also appears in the 'Cista Mistica' – the “casket of vermin”
containing the sacred snakes and used in the Greek ritual of the underworld mysteries. In Eretz-
Israel, the mystery cults reached their peak during the Roman period, probably encouraged by
the soldiers of the Roman army who particularly favored them. There is no mention of the 'Cista
Mistica' on the coins of Aelia Capitolina, but it appears on a gemstone from the second century
CE discovered at the Temple Mount excavations. Another symbol of healing is the caduceus, the
traditional attribute of the Greek god Hermes, who is identified with the Roman god Mercury.
It is a winged rod with two intertwined snakes. The caduceus is one of the symbols related to
aspects of the cult of the underworld that appear on the coins of Eretz- Israel. Despite it being
a pagan object, the Jews adopted the caduceus and may have chosen it from the pantheon of
Greek symbols in order to represent the Nehushtan, the copper serpent set on a pole by Moses
and used as a cure for snake bites and for any injuries caused by animals.

The famous symbols of healing were minted on the city coins, and these served as a means to
publicize Jerusalem throughout the Roman Empire. The coins, which were an effective form of
mass communication, promoted Jerusalem-Aelia Capitolina's reputation as a site of healing,
attracting many visitors who sought to be healed and contributed in turn to the city’s economy.
The healing sites in Jerusalem – the Gihon Spring, the Siloam Waters, and the Bethesda Pool – are
symbolically connected with the gods of health and medicine, and may be regarded as a kind
of “nature reserve” of classical culture.

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