A Bronze Ring from Roman Palestine Depicting Zeus Heliopolites

In a salvage excavation carried out in Nesher-Ramla Quarry in 2000– 2001,1 a bronze ring dating to the early Byzantine period (Fig. 1) was found in a burial cave. The cave belongs to an early Roman – late Roman/ early Byzantine period cemetery.2 The ring (15×20 mm. diameter with an oval bezel 13×17 mm) has an engraved scene (intaglio) that includes a schematic figure of Zeus Heliopolites (Jupiter Heliopolitanus) facing front, wearing a tall kalathos.3 He is holding a whip in his raised right hand and an ear of corn in his left. Two elliptic objects, probably depicting foreparts of two bulls, flank the figure. A straight line underneath the scene indicates the ground.