Imperialism and Jewish Society, 200 B.C.E. to 640 C.E. - Seth Schwartz

214 CHAPTER SEVEN
In sum, it is not unlikel ythat late antiquit ywas a period of unprecedented
prosperit yin Palestine, as in S yria. But this alone cannot explain the burst of
synagogue and church construction. Contrary to what some scholars have
assumed, there is no reason to think that most Jewish villagers before the fifth
centur yregarded a s ynagogue as an essential component of their settlement.
And the Bet Alfa mosaic at least warns us that even in late antiquity, the
construction and decoration of a monumental building was no trivial matter
for a village. The source of surplus needed for the construction of the syna-
gogues ma ywell have been a strong econom y, but the choice of how to use
it has no necessar yconnection with the econom yper se.