Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 3 - The Greek World, the Jews, and the East

 Jews and Others

All the inscriptions are in Greek, and the mosaic floor exhibits only abstract
designs, with only the most formal representational elements.^33 The func-
tion of the inscriptions is in essence to record the names of the benefac-
tors who had paid for sections of the mosaic floor, but between them these
texts are also notable for giving so full a list of synagogue officials:archisyna-
gogoi,agerousiarchos,presbyteroi,andahazzanordiakonos(CIJII : ‘‘in the
time of Nemias [Nehemiah], thehazzan[who was also] the deacon,’’ so in
IJudOIII, no. Syr ). There seems no reason to posit any substantial gap
in time in the laying of the various sections of the floor mosaic, so we can
take this as a snapshot of the community as it was at the end of the fourth
century. ‘‘Azzana’’ must surely be a transliteration of the Hebrew ḤZN, or
more probably Aramaic HZN’. Naturally, this is no proof of the currency
of either Hebrew or Aramaic in the community at Apamea. But neither the
Hebrew nor the Aramaic form of the word is found in the Bible, so the word
as transliterated into Greek must reflect the subsequent evolution of com-
munal practice. The equivalence in meaning of the two terms,hazzanand
diakonos, with the Greek in a slightly different form, is attested by Epipha-
nius,Panarion, : ‘‘of [the]hazzanitai, that is, in translation thediakonoior
assistant servants among them.’’

Antioch, Syria

By accident, two of the mosaic inscriptions from Apamea (CIJII, nos. –
IJudOIII, nos. Syr –) record that sections of the mosaic floor there
had been paid for by Ilasios son of Eisakios,archisynagogosof the Antioche-
nes. As we will see later, the Jewish community of Antioch was the source of
considerable anxiety to one contemporary presbyter there, the later bishop
of Constantinople, John Chrysostom (see text to n.  below).

Side, Pamphylia

Two Greek inscriptions, which seem to date to the second half of the fourth
century..or the first half of the fifth century, clearly attest the existence
of an organised Jewish community, and (it seems) of more than one syna-

Donateurs et fondateurs dans les synagogues juives(), nos. –. See nowIJudOIII, ff.,
nos. Syr – (with photos of some texts).
. Reproductions of the synagogue mosaics are extremely hard to find, but see V. Ver-
hoogen,ApaméedeSyrieauxMuséesroyauxd’Artetd’Histoire(), pls. –. See also Levine
(n. ), –.