Early Evidence for the Synagogue

The earliest archaeological evidence for the synagogue comes from Greek dedicatory inscriptions from Egypt. The inscriptions attest to the existence of Jewish public buildings called proseuchai (sg. proseuchē), “houses of prayer” or “prayer halls.” The earliest of these inscriptions date to the third century BCE, but the term proseuchē is also encountered in epigraphic, documentary, and literary sources from the second and first centuries BCE and, much less frequently, the first and second centuries CE. Many scholars see proseuchai as forerunners to later synagogues, although a direct correlation to or identification between the two institutions should be resisted, not least because the synagogue was not a monolithic institution in antiquity and because Jews are known to have met in a wide variety of buildings that they called by different names. For a few additional examples of archaeological sites presumed to be prayer halls, see SYNAGOGUES, in VISUAL AND MATERIAL CULTURE.