Systemic excavation at Hippos reveals Byzantine cathedral’s dual baptismal halls and ritual marble block, challenging Eurocentric narratives of Christian architectural evolution

The discovery at Hippos likely reflects continuity with pre-Byzantine Levantine traditions, where ritual spaces were embedded in local cosmologies rather than imposed by imperial decree. Indigenous Palestinian heritage practices, such as oral traditions about sacred sites, are systematically excluded from archaeological narratives, reducing the cathedral to a 'mystery' rather than a living cultural artifact. The marble block’s cavities may echo earlier Canaanite or Phoenician uses of stone vessels for ritual oils, a connection erased by Eurocentric periodization.

Byzantine emperors like Justinian systematically built dual-baptistery cathedrals to assert imperial control over Christian orthodoxy, with Hippos serving as a provincial outpost of this policy. The marble block’s standardized cavities align with the empire’s bureaucratic standardization of ritual practices, mirroring administrative reforms in other provinces. Comparable dual-baptistery sites exist in Ravenna (Italy) and Thessaloniki (Greece), suggesting a pan-Byzantine architectural strategy tied to imperial Christianization.

The dual-baptistery design parallels the Zoroastrian practice of separate ritual spaces for purification, reflecting shared Near Eastern cosmological themes of duality in sacred space. In South Asia, Hindu temple complexes often feature multiple *kundas* (water tanks) for ritual bathing, echoing the Byzantine emphasis on spatial multiplicity for spiritual renewal. The marble block’s functional ambiguity mirrors the use of ambiguous sacred objects in African traditional religions, where artifacts often serve multiple ritual purposes.

The photisterion’s dual design aligns with Byzantine ecclesiastical texts describing separate baptismal halls for clergy and laity, supported by epigraphic evidence from other sites. The marble block’s cavities likely held chrism (anointing oil) and myrrh, as suggested by chemical residue analysis from similar artifacts in Syria. This discovery challenges the assumption that Byzantine architecture was static, instead revealing adaptive regional variations in ritual practice.

The cathedral’s dual baptisteries may have been designed to evoke the duality of divine and human realms, a theme common in Byzantine mosaics and iconography. The marble block’s cavities could symbolize the Trinity or the threefold nature of baptismal grace, reflecting the empire’s theological preoccupations. Such sacred geometry would have been legible to both clergy and laity, reinforcing communal identity through visual and tactile ritual.

This discovery suggests that future archaeological surveys should prioritize sites at the margins of empires, where hybrid religious practices often emerge. The standardization of ritual artifacts (like the marble block) could inform models of imperial cultural assimilation and resistance. It also highlights the need for decolonial approaches in Levantine archaeology, integrating indigenous knowledge into site interpretation.

Palestinian archaeologists and heritage workers, who often face restrictions on fieldwork, are systematically excluded from narratives about sites like Hippos. Local Bedouin communities, who preserve oral traditions about the region’s sacred geography, are rarely consulted despite their intimate knowledge of the landscape. The framing of the find as 'unique' erases the collective memory of Levantine Christians, Muslims, and Jews who have interacted with the site across centuries.