Early Judaism- A Comprehensive Overview

(underground chambers), most of them used for an entire family. The

bodies were placed inloculiorkokhim(niches) hewn into the rock rectan-

gular to the tomb’s inner chamber. The head was often placed on an

earthen “cushion,” and the body received no embalming or decoration.

More than eighty Greek tombstones (few foundin situ) may be Jewish, but

identification is notoriously difficult. The earliest inscription dates to 117

b.c.e., but most belong to the first centuryc.e.Both the size of the ceme-

tery and the shape of the graves suggest that the population was well estab-

lished and organized until its end in the uprisings of 116-117c.e.

Other Sites in Egypt

Through inscriptions, ostraca, papyri, and burials, Jewish communities

are also attested in many towns and villages in the Delta (Schedia, Athribis,

Nitriai) and in Middle Egypt and the Fayyum (Arsinoe, Alexandrou Nesos,

Oxyrhynchus, Hermoupolis Magna, Edfu, Sedment el-Gebel).

Greece

Archaeological evidence from Greece is scant before the second century

c.e.Delos plays an especially prominent role. 1 Maccabees 15:23 attests a

Jewish community there in 140b.c.e.One building, built as a private

home in the second centuryb.c.e., was rebuilt as a local assembly hall in

two phases, first between the late second centuryb.c.e.and 88b.c.e., and

then in the first centuryb.c.e.The identification as a synagogue is based

on the existence of a large assembly room and five dedicatory inscriptions

mentioningTheos Hypsistos(the Most High God) and another inscription

nearby mentioning aproseuch 3 .A cistern nearby could have been used as a

miqveh,and a seat may have represented the “seat of Moses.” Like syna-

gogues in pre-70 Palestine, the assembly hall at Delos has a simple archi-

tecture and little decoration. The translation ofepi proseuch 3 in the in-

scription as “house of prayer” is uncertain, since the phrase can mean “in

(fulfillment of ) a prayer/vow” (IJO1:227). Several lamps with pagan motifs

were also found in the house. The building itself followed the pattern set

by other Delian associations, whose structures had a porticoed courtyard

and a marble chair. The “mixed” profile of material culture leaves two al-

ternatives: either a synagogue for a Jewish community deeply assimilated

335

Archaeology, Papyri, and Inscriptions

EERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:04:13 PM