Archaeology of the Ancient Synagogue

The Temple’s destruction by the Romans in 70 CE was a catastrophic blow to the Jews and their collective identity. While memory of the Temple did not fade away, and hopes for its reconstruction persisted, the synagogue eventually emerged as the new locus of Jewish worship. The origins and early history of the synagogue are poorly understood, but we can safely conclude that the synagogue had become a full-fledged institution by the first century CE, as attested by numerous textual references. Importantly, the Theodotos inscription), which was found in a cistern in the City of David and is dated to the late first century BCE or the early first century CE, shows that by this time the Greek term synagōgē could be used to denote a building, not just an assembly of people.

First-century buildings that seem to have been built for this specific purpose have been identified at Masada, Herodium, Magdala, and Gamala, among other places. These buildings are characterized by the use of ashlar masonry, architectural elements such as columns, and benches along the walls.

The synagogue at Magdala is unique among first-century synagogues in having a mosaic pavement and brightly colored walls. It is also the only synagogue from the first century to contain cultic iconography, namely a stone engraving of a menorah carved on an enigmatic tablelike stone. What identifies most of these buildings as synagogues is their architectural layout, which attests to their nature as public buildings and their use as spaces for assembly. However, these buildings were likely multifunctional. In addition to being a place for reading, studying, and expounding scripture on the Sabbath, the buildings we call “synagogues” were also used for a wide range of socioeconomic, political, and judicial purposes.

Although few remains of synagogues can be dated to the second and early third centuries CE, this fact should not be taken to reflect an actual absence of synagogues. It is likely that synagogues from the period did not survive later construction activity, particularly in the more urbanized areas. The picture is dramatically different when it comes to the late third through seventh centuries. A large number of synagogues, all from this broad period, have been either excavated or identified through the presence of architectural elements on their surface. Most of these are concentrated in the Galilee and the Golan, with a few exemplars in the Beth Shean Valley, the coastal plain, Judaea, and the Dead Sea region. Synagogues from this period had diverse architectural layouts, but the main hall was typically either a basilica (a long building with or without an apse at the far end) or a broadhouse (a building that is broader than it is long). Many synagogues were embellished with architectural decorations, including columns, capitals, lintels, and friezes, which often contained floral and geometric decoration and either figurative images or Jewish symbols carved in relief. Some synagogues also had splendid mosaic pavements depicting biblical scenes and figures, a wide assortment of Jewish motifs, geometric and floral patterns, inscriptions, and iconography borrowed from the wider Greco-Roman world, most notably the Helios-and-zodiac motif.

The majority of these synagogues were oriented toward Jerusalem, and many had a Torah shrine and a bimah (a podium or platform from which the Torah was read). The Torah shrine, also known as the Torah ark (’aron kodesh, lit., holy ark), was an architectural structure that housed the Torah scrolls. The shrine was the most sacred place within the synagogue building. It was generally built against the wall that was closest to Jerusalem and usually consisted of stone or wooden steps leading up to a platform, which had a ritual cabinet—made of stone or wood—built atop it to house the scrolls. The platform could be hollow and be used as a storage space, or geniza. In some synagogues, the ark or chest was placed within a niche in the wall, as at Eshtemoa. The shrine could be closed off with a parokhet (curtain), which formed a divider between the audience and the scrolls, a reminder of the curtain that covered the ark of the covenant (see Exodus 40:21). The scrolls themselves would have been placed in a separate box, or ark, within the shrine or on wooden shelves. Over time, the ark of the covenant—a symbolic abbreviation for the Jerusalem Temple as a whole—and the Torah shrine containing the scrolls became blended entities. Thus, depictions of Torah shrines on mosaic floors or reliefs are simultaneously a depiction of the synagogue shrine containing the scrolls and of the holy of holies containing the ark of the covenant.

In addition to a Torah shrine, some synagogues were furnished with other fixtures connected to the liturgical function of the buildings, the most frequently attested object being a freestanding (seven-armed) menorah. A few synagogues were fitted with chancel screens depicting Jewish symbols. Some also had a stone seat, identified as the Seat of Moses. Fragments of colored frescoes from walls and columns indicate that some synagogues had vivid, colorful interiors.

A notable shift in the nature and function of synagogues pertains to their religious dimension, which became increasingly pronounced in this period. Nonetheless, synagogues remained first and foremost community centers, and some of them formed part of a complex of buildings, comprising various auxiliary rooms, courtyards, and cisterns. These rooms would have been used for storage, group gatherings, communal activities, study, and learning, and also as hostels. Although it is possible that the different synagogue layouts, furnishings, and decorative systems attest to divergent liturgical practices and worldviews, it is more likely that the differences simply reflect the socioeconomic status of the respective communities, along with regional factors and preferences.

Unlike their counterparts in the land of Israel, synagogues in the diaspora were often repurposed buildings. Accordingly, their layouts and features were even more diverse. For example, the synagogue at Sardis (in modern-day Turkey), the largest known from the ancient world, was formerly a gymnasium and bathing complex, located along one of the main streets of the city. Subsequently, the structure was transformed into a civic basilica, and after that, in the second half of the third century CE, it was converted into a synagogue. The building underwent further remodeling: its hall, which could accommodate a thousand people, was decorated with a mosaic pavement displaying geometric and floral motifs, and its walls were affixed with colored marble inlays. Two Torah shrines flanked the main doorway, and a marble table stood on the opposite end of the building, in front of an apse. The table—which might have been used for the opening and reading of Torah scrolls—had legs carved with two eagles in relief and was flanked by two pairs of sculpted lions.

In contrast, the synagogue at Dura-Europos (in modern-day Syria) was originally a domestic residence, situated in the middle of a major town along the eastern border of the Roman Empire, by the Euphrates River. At its most advanced stage, the complex consisted of various rooms, including a colonnaded courtyard that led into an assembly hall lined with benches. From top to bottom, the walls of the assembly hall were covered with frescoes, depicting more than fifty biblical episodes, biblical personages, and Jewish symbols and motifs.

Diaspora synagogues in the Roman period reveal multifaceted and vibrant Jewish communities thriving in different ways in the cities in which they settled while remaining faithful to their Jewish identity.