Jews and Others
tion of elements: firstly, in Hebrew, a list of biblical ancestors, then the signs
of the zodiac, then the Hebrew names of the months, and finally two brief
lists of biblical figures. Then, in Aramaic, come the names of benefactors,
and a list of offences which will incur divine punishment, followed by a two-
line blessing, and finally an account, not yet published, of the repair of the
synagogue.^73
Even more striking is the long inscription, also never fully edited, from
the mosaic floor of a synagogue at Rehov near Beth Shean (Scythopolis).
As the excavations, conducted in –, have also never been the subject
of a final report, the archaeological dating remains uncertain, but the later
fifth century is suggested.^74 The inscription, written in Hebrew, comprises
lines and words, and is thus by some margin the longest known docu-
mentary text from an ancient synagogue. What is more, this text incorpo-
rates versions of a passage from theToseftaand one fromSifre Deuteronomy,
along with two from the ‘‘Palestinian’’ Talmud (where they appear in Ara-
maic). The passages deal with the rules for tithing and for the Sabbatical year.
All that need be remarked here is that the text, filled with contemporary
place-names, some of Greek origin, and written in Hebrew, constitutes the
decisive proof that in this period Hebrew was not simply a dead language,
long since supplanted, as regards active composition, by Aramaic. In the con-
temporary context, it is clear, Jewish religious prescriptions could be current
in both an Aramaic and a Hebrew version. This document also illustrates as
concretely as anything could the maintenance of the rules of a religious com-
munity in a landscape marked by place-names which reflected the long-term
effects of colonialism and the dominance of another language.
Even this text is rivalled in significance by the newly discovered syna-
gogue-mosaic from Sepphoris, a place whose archaeological record strik-
ingly demonstrates the co-existence of religious communities in late Roman
Galilee.^75 The new mosaic, which is thought to date from the early fifth cen-
tury, shows a succession of scenes from biblical history, with some written
identifications of individuals and objects supplied in Hebrew; it shows the
signs of the zodiac, also (once again) labelled in Hebrew; and it incorpo-
. See Ovadiah and Ovadiah (n. ), no. , and E. Stern et al., eds.,New Encyclopedia
of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy LandII (), ff.
. See Ovadiah and Ovadiah (n. ), nos. –, and Stern et al. (n. ), IV (),
ff.
. For Sepphoris in the light of recent excavations, see, e.g., Stern (n. ), IV, ff.;
and cf. R. M. Nagy, C. L. Meyers, E. M. Meyers, and Z. Weiss, eds.,Sepphoris in Galilee:
Crosscurrents of Culture().