At a time when the Jews carved the symbols of their religion and in which Christians covered the walls of public buildings with crosses, the numerous adherents of the Greek religion did not remain idle. The study of the Grati leads to the - not surprisingly - finding that the symbols of the three religious groups are very close to each other, suggesting a "dialogue". The fact that Grati can engage in a dialogue is familiar to every contemporary inhabitant of a modern city. In the late antique context and always in close proximity to other religious symbols, especially to cross representations, one sees many representations of double axes.
For example, on the floor of the gate leading to the Temple of Aphrodite, or on the wall of a cistern. The labrys (double ax) was in Aphrodisias the symbol of the Carian Zeus. The context suggests that the double axes were carved by pagans in response to the very similar-looking symbol of the Christians.
In the case of the Jews of Aphrodisias we rely exclusively on the Grati and the inscriptions. However, we also have archaeological, literary and other epigraphic evidence for the struggle between pagans and Christians. In the seventh century, the city was renamed Stauroupolis - "City of the Cross". The ancient name of Aphrodisias, like the name of the goddess, was removed from older inscriptions. These examples show that even the most insignificant testimonies can help to complete our picture of ancient life.
This does not mean that the ancient historian does not prioritize the study of ancient testimonies and does not distinguish between the trivial and the innovative, the meaningful and the ordinary. But only the consideration of all categories of sources - that is, written and iconographic, literary and documentary - makes the study of ancient culture meaningful.
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