190 I3E1WEENTEXTANDAR11l'ACTnortheast,andAmmaic-speakingSyriansinthenorth.Allthesepeoplesor
theirancestorshaveequallylonghistoriesofpresenceinancientPalestine
asthevariousbranchesofthebiblicaltradition.Thesegroupstestifytoan
indigenous,Semiticpaganismthat,alongsideJewsandforeignerssuchas
someGreeksanda fewRomans,musthaveprevailedthroughoutantiquity
not onlyaround but also inside Palestine. Many ofthese cultswere
absorbedintoHellenisticcu]rureand,liketheirJewishneighbors,adopted
a uniqueblendofarchitecturalandartislicexpression.Othersmightjust
havegatheredaround"holymen"suchasSimonMagusorpracticedtheir
religionin their housesandvillages in a waythat hasleftlittle orno
archaeological trace.Therewereevena fewsitessacredtopagansand
childrenofthebiblicaltraditionalike(Mamre,Gerizim).Bethatasitmay,
David Flusser again points OUI correctly: "Greeks and the Hellenized
pagansli"'inginPalestinedidnotfeeltheywerestrangersintheland,even
fromthereligiouspointofview."5
Mostlikely,therewerenocleargeographicalbordersbetweenjewish
andpaganpopulations,onlyregionaldifferencesinpreponderancewith
regardtoonepopulationoveragainsttheother.Therealwayswasanover-
lapbetweenthesereligiouselements,at leastingeographicalterms, in
urbancenterspossiblymorethaninruralareas,whichbyallthatweactu-
ally knowtendedtobea bitmoreuniformin theircultural andethnic
l..:ulIlpu::,itiull.Huwt::vt:r,litetalleri::,unlyalla~sulllption,sincelllOMofour
evidence(asI havesaidbefore)comesfromcities,whiletheruralhinter-
landdoesnotprovideenoughindisputablypaganmaterial.Paganreligion,
however,doesnotneedtemples,soweshouldnotforgetthaimany"cul-
tural" and "religious indicators" in the countryside might long have
disappearedlikea fruitofferingundera sacredtreeora whisperedincan-
tationat a holyspring.StudyingpaganreligioninPalestinecanopenup
newanglesontherelationshipbetweentownandcountryside,
GiventhesmallsizeofPalestine,tradeandcommunicationwerecon-
stant factors that tied geographical microcosms to a larger entity.
Nonetheless,geographicaloverlapdoesnotmeanthatthesegroupshad
constantinteraction witheachother.Social behavioris notdirected by
geographlGllfactorsalonebutisa resultofreligiousandmoralrulesas
well. Manyjewishtexts(anda growingnumberofChristian)favored a
clearrestrictionofsociallifetoone'sownkin.Tohaveapaganneighbor
nexttoyOlldidnot meanoneactuallylived withhim. However,since
pagansandjewsseemtohaveusedthesamepots,thesamecoins,and
thesameglassvessels,archaeologymayforceustochallengethecertainty
SFlllS5er,"I'ag:misminPalesline."1:1087.