A glass pendant in the shape of Harpokrates from Yavneh-Yam, Israel

A glass pendant in the form of Harpokrates, son of the Egyptian goddess Isis, was found at Yavneh-Yam, Israel. The pendant (H. 2.75 cm) was made of translucent deep blue glass in a two-piece mold that left vertical seam marks along the length of the figure. It belongs to a well-known group of pendants defied as molded "full figure in the round," a subtype of pendants "in the round." These pendants are widely distributed throughout the Mediterranean and other areas, but most of them do not come from secured excavated contexts. Since the Yavneh-Yam pendant was found in a well-defined archeological context (end of the second century B.C.E.), it could hint at the existence of a domestic cult dedicated to Harpokrates (implicitly Isis) during the Seleucid occupation of the site. Furthermore, it enables us to state that the group of molded "full figure in the round" pendants originated in the late second century B.C.E., earlier than has been suggested.