Tag: synagogue

Report from Jerusalem, #26, 14th October 2010

Herod’s private theatre at Herodion

In the wake of the rediscovery of the tomb of Herod, Prof. Ehud Netzer has now fully excavated a room identified as Herod’s private box at the centre of the 400-seat theatre on the eastern slopes of Herodion. It was decorated by Italian artists sent from Rome in about the year 15 BCE, some eleven years before Herod died, at which point the theatre went out of use. The plastered private box was decorated with painted ‘windows’ looking to a Nile scene and a seascape with a sailing vessel, as well as human and animal figures. The theatre is being restored by the Hebrew University and it is hoped that it will be open to the public next year, but it can already by seen in outline from the upper part of Herodion.

Figure of Tyche at Sussita

In a private house in the Hellenistic city of Sussita (Hippos), above the eastern shore of Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee), Prof. Arthur Segal and Dr. Michael Eisenberg of Haifa University have found a fragment of fresco depicting Tyche, the goddess of fortune (and city goddess), together with the figure of a maenad, associated with the god Dionysus in his rites, dated to the 3rd century or early 4th century CE. This large house and its decoration remained in use in the Byzantine period and thus, according to the finds, these cultic images were not removed with the coming of Christianity, when several churches were built in Sussita.

Ring of Apollo found at Dor

A ring of the early Hellenistic period (late 4th century BCE) was found at Tel Dor, on the coast, north of Caesarea. According to Dr. Ayelet Gilboa, of Haifa University, it is a rare find and shows that high-quality jewellery was appreciated and affordable in a provincial port like Dor. The head on the ring was identified as an image of Apollo, the sun god – and god of healing, prophecy and music. It is an embossed image on a bronze signet ring used as a seal honouring the god. It was found in the same area as a gemstone with the miniature head of Alexander the Great and an elaborate mosaic floor that formed part of a major public building or large residence, uncovered during an earlier season.

Samaritan Synagogue south of Bet She’an

In an excavation south of Beth Shean directed for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) by Dr. Walid Atrash and Yaakov Harel, a mosaic floor from a Samaritan synagogue dating to the 5th century CE was uncovered. This would have remained until the Muslim Conquest of 634 CE. The ruins of the large hall of the synagogue face Mt. Gerizim, the holy site of the Samaritan Temple, and the mosaic has an inscription that the archaeologists read as: ‘This is the temple…’, which would refer either to this synagogue (if it were called a ‘temple’) or to the one formerly on Mount Gerizim site itself.

This synagogue is one of several in the Beth Shean area, once a major centre of Samaritans, and lies close to Nablus (Shechem), not far from the village that is still home to the remaining Samaritan community.

10,000th birthday of Jericho

The city council of Jericho is anxious to attract tourists to the earliest city in the known world, dating back to 8000 BCE. Besides the actual remains of the ancient city, now undergoing its fifth major excavation, this time by an Italian team, the local authority is promoting two other ancient features to interest tourists. One is an ancient sycamore tree with a massive hollow trunk two metres in diameter that, according to local legend, is the tree climbed by Zacchaeus, the short tax collector who, according to the Gospel of Luke (19:1-10), was trying to get a better view of Jesus. A new museum and visitors’ centre is planned, adjoining the tree. However, there is another dead, glass-covered sycamore in the courtyard of the nearby Greek Orthodox Church that claims the same venerable history.

The second feature for development is the colourful mosaic paving of the Hisham Palace, adjoining north Jericho, where the largest local mosaic is being uncovered for public display. Both the museum and the mosaic depend on raising the necessary finance, for the building and for a weather shield for the mosaic. Another problem is that Jericho, located in the Palestinian National Authority, is currently not open to holders of Israeli passports, but it is hoped this may change in the near future.

Forgery trial draws to a close

After five years, the defence has completed its case and Judge Aharon Farkash is due to give his verdict in the local Jerusalem Court before the end of the year, after considering the opinions of many legal and scientific experts and 12,000 pages of evidence. The case has boiled down to a focus on two major artefacts: the Yehoash tablet and the inscribed Ossuary of James, brother of Jesus, and to two defendants, Oded Golan, a Tel Aviv collector, and Robert Deutsch, a dealer and expert on ancient seals. The judge has already said that he will find it nearly impossible to reach a decision where the experts themselves cannot agree, and that he does not see that the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that, if there is forgery, the defendants have carried it out. The prosecution was brought by the IAA, who must await the verdict with some trepidation.

Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg
W.F.Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem

Report from Jerusalem, #17, October 2009

A 3rd century synagogue discovered at Myra, Turkey

The hot news is that Turkish archaeologists have, in September, uncovered the remains of an ancient synagogue at the former port of Myra, today the village of Demre, near Antalya in southern Turkey. It indicates that there was an active Jewish population at the port and that by the third century CE (the estimated date of the synagogue) they were established enough to build their own prayer house The remains include a marble tablet with a menorah, shofar (ram’s horn) and trumpet on one side and a palm and citrus tree on the other. The prayer hall was about 7m. by 5m. and had two entrances, to the west and to the north. No evidence has yet been found of the place for the ark.

According to the excavators, led by Dr. Nevzat Cevik of Akdeniz University, Jews were allowed to become Roman citizens in the province of Lycia by a law of 212 CE and that led to permission to build a synagogue, though the date of the structure may well be later than the third century. The inscriptions found have not yet been fully deciphered but the words “Amen” and “Israel” are evident, as well as the names of two donors, Procles and Romanus.

Trial for forgery continues…

Shuki Dorfman, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), recently gave the sensational testimony that two highly respected epigraphers were suspected of having been involved in recent forgeries. This came out in the ongoing trial of Oded Golan and others (the James’s Ossuary and the Yehoash Tablet trial) when Dorfman stated that Professor Andre Lemaire, of the Sorbonne, and Ada Yardeni of the Hebrew University had been suspected by the IAA of having been involved in the so-called forgeries. On the other hand Dorfman also claimed that the chief prosecution witness, Shlomo Moussaieff had not been telling the truth in his testimony at the start of the trial. The proceedings, which started in 2005, drag on in the Jerusalem District Court.

Nabatean site of Avdat Vandalized

An important public archaeological site has recently been shockingly vandalized. It is the UNESCO World heritage site of Avdat, the Nabatean town in the Negev, on the ancient trade route from Elath to the port of Gaza. On the morning of October 5th local tour guides were shocked to find that many walls and pillars had been demolished and parts of the structures, including the churches, had been daubed in black paint and oil. The chief suspects are local Bedouin villagers, some of whose illegal structures had been removed by the authorities in the previous days. Local farms had also been attacked and crops uprooted, probably in revenge. This is the first time that a public archaeological site has been vandalized and the police have vowed to bring the suspects to justice. The archaeologists estimate that it will take at least six months to repair the damage.

An early synagogue discovered at Migdal, near Tiberias

In September, the IAA made the surprise find of a very early synagogue, this time at Migdal, on the shores of Lake Kinneret. The surprise is that it dates from the time when the Second Temple still stood, and so joins a small band of four or five synagogues from that period. Work is in progress and the finds include a stone inscribed with a seven-branched menorah. The dig’s director, Dina Avshalom-Gornic, believes that the sculptor may well have been to Jerusalem and “seen the Temple menorah with his own eyes”.

Roman Coin hoard from Betar

A large hoard of coins has been found in a deep cave in the Jerusalem area, dating to the time of the Bar-Kochba revolt of 132 CE. 120 coins of gold, silver and copper were found in good condition in the cave which is 20m. deep and contained metal weapons, storage jars, oil lamps, an earring and a glass bottle. The site, whose location has not been revealed, is being investigated by Boaz Zissu and Hanan Eshel of Bar Ilan University and Amos Frumkin and Boaz Langford of Hebrew University. Based on the rich findings and the location of the cave near to Betar (where Bar-Kochba made his last stand), the team speculate that the cave was the last hiding place of an important nucleus of rebels.

Mikvah (ritual bath) discovery

One of the largest miqvaoth (ritual baths) ever found in Jerusalem has been discovered within the chambers of the Western Wall tunnels, within what looks like a large mansion of the Second Temple period, and not 20m. from the western wall of the Temple complex. The miqveh is lined with ashlars of the highest quality, similar to stonework by Herod on the Temple Mount itself. This suggests that it belonged to a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest Court, which met in the “Room of Hewn Stones” within the Temple complex. Alternatively, judging by the large size, it has been suggested by the site’s excavator, Alexander On, that it may have catered for VIP’s among the pilgrims coming to the Temple during the three seasonal festivals.

Stephen Rosenberg,
W.F.Albright Institute, Jerusalem