gogue, local realities were far more complex even in the
most rabbinically oriented medieval and early modern com-
munities.
Archaeological evidence for purpose-built synagogues
begins to appear during the late third or early fourth century,
becoming quite common between the fifth and ninth centu-
ries. Undoubtedly there were many other buildings that are
archaeologically unidentifiable as synagogues. More than one
hundred synagogues are known archaeologically from the
Land of Israel, and another ten structures have been discov-
ered that served Diaspora communities. At least 150 Diaspo-
ra synagogues are known from literary and archaeological
sources. The earliest extant late-antique synagogue is also one
of the most important. The synagogue discovered at Dura
Europos, a city in the Syrian desert, is the earliest yet discov-
ered, and among the most important. Excavated in 1932, the
Dura synagogue was built as a renovated private dwelling.
Sometime before 244–245 this dwelling was renovated as a
synagogue. The largest room was renovated for this purpose,
with a large Torah shrine built on the western (Jerusalem-
aligned) wall and benches around the walls. The façade of
the Torah shrine was decorated with the image of the Jerusa-
lem Temple, flanked on the right by the Binding of Isaac
(which according to 2 Chronicles 3:1 took place on “Mt. Mo-
riah,” the Temple Mount) and on the left by a seven-
branched menorah, a palm frond (lulav), and citron (ethrog).
There was some other painting, lost in a massive renovation
of the synagogue that took place in 244–245. At that time
the walls were completely covered with paintings drawn from
the Hebrew Bible and read through the prism of Jewish bib-
lical interpretation (midrash). Sixty percent of the paintings
have been preserved. Themes are generally heroic, reflecting
such themes as the Discovery of Moses by the Daughter of
Pharaoh, the Crossing of the Read Sea, the Tribes encamped
around the Tabernacle, Ezekiel’s Vision of the Dry Bones,
and Esther before King Ahasveros. The paintings show pro-
found parallels with traditions preserved in rabbinic litera-
ture, as do Aramaic and Persian inscriptions on the paintings
and a Jewish liturgical parchment found near the synagogue.
The Dura synagogue has been interpreted as a forerunner of
Christian art and as evidence for a supposed late-antique
“nonrabbinic Judaism.” The evidence is actually much closer
to rabbinic tradition than most contemporary scholars have
suggested.
Archaeological evidence for synagogues increases from
the fourth century onward. Synagogues conforming to three
main architectural types were constructed by Jews in late an-
tique Palestine: the broadhouse (e.g., Horvat Shema, Eshte-
moa), the “Galilean-type” basilica (e.g., Capernaum, Kefar
Baram), and longhouse basilicas (e.g., Hammath Tiberias B,
stratum 2a), which from the latter fifth or sixth century on-
ward often were apsidal (Beth Alpha, Na’aran).
The interior space of most of these synagogues was
aligned toward a permanent Torah shrine, which usually
stood on the Jerusalem-aligned side of the synagogue. The
basilica form was used by both Jews and Christians begin-
ning around the turn of the fourth century. “Broadhouse-
type” synagogues have benches built around the interior
walls, focusing attention upon the center of the room. The
broadhouses from the Hebron Hills (e.g., Eshtemoa, Khirbet
Susiya) form a regional type. The entrances of these halls
were aligned toward the east. The eastward alignment is per-
haps modeled upon the Temple, and parallels Tosefta Megil-
lah 3:23. The interior of the synagogue hall was aligned to-
ward the Torah shrine, which stood on the Jerusalem-aligned
wall.
Galilean-type basilicas are architecturally related to the
narrow gable churches of nearby Syria. Like these churches,
most Galilean-type synagogues were entered through three
portals. A unique feature of these synagogues is the arrange-
ment of the interior columns. Columns were constructed on
the northern, eastern, and western sides of the hall. This
served to focus attention on the interior of the southern, Je-
rusalem wall with its three portals. Scholars have posited that
Torah shrines were constructed between the doors on the Je-
rusalem wall at Capernaum, Chorazin, and Meiron. In an
instructive parallel, S. D. Goitein notes that in synagogues
in Yemen two entrances flank the Torah shrine on the Jeru-
salem wall and that this arrangement existed in a synagogue
in medieval Hebron.
Basilical synagogues were constructed throughout the
Land of Israel. In “basilica-type” synagogues the visitor
might cross the expanse of the atrium, sometimes a narthex,
and the nave, to reach the Jerusalem-aligned wall. At the cen-
ter of this wall was the building’s focal point, the Torah
shrine, which often stood upon a raised platform. Following
contemporary church architecture, synagogues from the late
fifth century onward often included an apse on the Jerusalem
wall that housed the Torah shrine, and the platform was
often surrounded by a low partition (called in Christian con-
text a “chancel screen”) decorated with Jewish iconography.
The art of Palestinian synagogues, particularly decorat-
ed mosaics, is an integral part of the late Roman and Byzan-
tine artistic tradition. The synagogue at Beth Alpha contains
the most completely preserved Byzantine period mosaic and
well exemplifies this tradition. It builds on iconography well
known from the Hammath Tiberias B, 2a mosaic, with its
images of the zodiac and a panel containing a Torah shrine
flanked by two menorahs. The Beth Alpha mosaic is divided
into three panels. As at Hammath Tiberias, closest to the
Torah shrine of the synagogue is a panel containing the
image of a shrine flanked by lighted menorahs. In the center
is a zodiac wheel, personifications of the seasons in the cor-
ners, and unique to this building, closest to the entrance to
the synagogue, the image of the Binding of Isaac (Genesis
22).
Zodiacs and some other images are often labeled in He-
brew, the language of Scripture and most liturgy, even as
dedicatory inscriptions appear in Aramaic and Greek. At
Beth Alpha the narrative of the scene is glossed with biblicalSYNAGOGUE 8923