The mystery of early synagogues
The Beit Alfa Synagogue is an ancient Byzantine-era synagogue.
The central nave floor is divided into three panels: a depiction of the Binding of Isaac; a representation of the sun pulled by a star chariot surrounded by the constellations and signs of the zodiac; and a tableau representing the Temple of Jerusalem and religious objects associated with Judaism. The zodiac has the names of the twelve signs in Hebrew. In the center is Helios, the sun god, being whisked away in his chariot by four galloping horses. The four women in the corners of the mosaic represent the four seasons.
It is important to learn the history of the earliest synagogues so we may learn how Judaism developed, most especially in the formative centuries - the last century of the past era and the first two of our present era.
This history is interwoven with that of both Greece and Rome, and appears in all the major cities across the Levant. If we fail to grasp this, then the whole history of Classical Antiquity will continue to be riddled with mythology, legend, tradition and, frankly, both holes and misconceptions.
The few textual sources that are clear are also late. We must look to archaeology to try and understand their founding and development.
In time, we shall examine these earliest sites in detail. For now, let us glance at the broad subject and highlight some of the problems and opportunities.
The first problem is: what are we looking for - what is a synagogue?
In its most simple terminology, a synagogue is a place of congregation - which doesn't tell us much. We think it derives from Aramaic bet kenisah ("house of the gathering"), or the Hebrew bet mo'ed ("house of the meeting"). Note that in both, we are dealing with houses and houses are not so special.
Synagogue is Greek and there is another Greek term meaning "house of prayer". This term tends to be used outside Judea. I am not using 'Palestine' for the earliest archaeology - Second Temple - for we are not yet in the period in which Romans desired to insult Jews with the new, national name. (This is how I detest the terms Palestine and Palestinian today - they continue the insult.)
For a fine introduction to the subject, you will not do better than Second Temple Synagogues, the site of Donald D. Binder, who is also a co-author of The ancient synagogue from its origins to 200 C.E.: a source book by Anders Runesson, Donald D. Binder, Birger Olsson, which presents the situation well:
Exploring the nature and origin of ancient synagogues thus becomes crucial not only to scholars working within the fields of early Jewish and Christian history respectively, but also to researchers interested in the so-called “parting of the ways” between Judaism and Christianity - an interest that is itself popular both inside and outside the academy.
However, these concerns and interests of scholars are not enough to explain the stream of synagogue studies that have recently poured over academic libraries in the form of articles, monographs and edited volumes. Rather, the explanation for this development is found in the recent loss of major scholarly consensuses in academia, a phenomenon not limited to synagogue studies.
Since the 1970s and 1980s, many long-held ideas about the nature and origin of the synagogue - such as the claim that the institution had its beginnings in the Babylonian exile as a replacement for the lost temple cult (Sigonius 1583), or that synagogue architecture displays certain stylistic patterns that indicate stages of development - have been rejected by synagogue scholars. New archaeological discoveries and the use of new methods and perspectives in reinterpreting known sources have been at the forefront of this movement.
Consequently, we are currently experiencing a new process of consensus formation, in which a multitude of diverse theories compete to attract the approval of the majority of researchers.
You can therefore see how we are in the formative stage, full of uncertainty.
Synagogues in the sense of purpose-built spaces for worship, or rooms originally constructed for some other purpose but reserved for formal, communal prayer, however, existed long before the destruction of the Second Temple. (Second Temple Synagogues)
The earliest archaeological evidence for the existence of very early synagogues comes from Egypt, where stone synagogue dedication inscriptions dating from the third century BCE prove that synagogues existed by that date. (Pohick.org, Egypt)
While no synagogue remains have yet been discovered in Egypt, a sizable number of synagogue dedications have been recovered in Middle and Lower Egypt, some dating as early as the third century BCE. In addition, numerous references to synagogues exist in pre-70 papyrological and literary sources. By the first century CE, they were clearly established throughout Egypt. Philo, writing in this period, states that in Alexandria alone many synagogues existed in each section of the city.
A synagogue dating from between 75 and 50 BCE has been uncovered at a Hasmonean-era winter palace near Jericho. (Archaeology.org, Israel's Oldest Synagogue; and Jewishsf.com)
More than a dozen Second Temple-era synagogues have been identified by archaeologists. (Second Temple Synagogues)
One of the earliest sites in on the island of Delos: the synagogue of Delos is the oldest synagogue known today, its origin dating between 150 and 128 BCE. The synagogue was discovered in 1912 by a team led by archaeologist André Plassart. Actually, study of the archaeology is less clear than may be supposed.
The island of Delos is one of the most important mythological, historical and archaeological sites in Greece
Delos had a position as a holy sanctuary for a millennium before Olympian Greek mythology made it the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. From its Sacred Harbour, the horizon shows the two conical mounds that have identified landscapes sacred to a goddess in other sites: one, retaining its archaic name Mount Kynthos,[1] is crowned with a sanctuary of Dionysus.
Established as a cult centre, Delos had an importance that its natural resources could never have offered. In this vein Leto, searching for a birthing-place for Apollo, addressed the island:
Delos, if you would be willing to be the abode of my son Phoebus Apollo and make him a rich temple --; for no other will touch you, as you will find: and I think you will never be rich in oxen and sheep, nor bear vintage nor yet produce plants abundantly. But if you have the temple of far-shooting Apollo, all men will bring you hecatombs and gather here, and incessant savour of rich sacrifice will always arise, and you will feed those who dwell in you from the hand of strangers; for truly your own soil is not rich.
- Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo
The Oldest Original Synagogue Building in the Diaspora: The Delos Synagogue Reconsidered; Author: Monika Trümper
Source: Hesperia, Vol. 73, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 2004), pp. 513-598
Published by: American School of Classical Studies at Athens
Summary:
1. Building GD 80 has a complex construction history that comprises five phases of active use and later reuse.
2. Its most characteristic features are a large hall, A/B, a large water reservoir, orientation toward the east and the sea, and an isolated location on the eastern shore of the island, far from the main harbor and the city center. All these features are constitutive, that is, they were integral to the design of the original building. Furthermore, there was a remarkable continuity in design and-most likely-in the use of space from the first through the fourth phases.
3. GD 80 was conceived as a freestanding building and was only subsequently surrounded by neighbors to the north and west. Thus, it was probably the southeast starting point for the development of an insula.
4. The first two phases can be dated to the period before 88 B.c., that is, before the raids of Mithridates' troops, and phases 3-5 to between 88 B.C. and the end of the second century A.D.
5. The division of the large hall A/B into two rooms was not part of any formative restoration phase immediately following the events of 88 B.C., but occurred only later, either in the fourth or-as favored here-the fifth phase.
6. Because a lime kiln was installed in room A in a later period, it is not possible to determine which of the numerous marble objects found in this building were originally part of it or its equipment, and which were merely stored there to be burned in the kiln. Even finds and furniture that probably belonged to GD 80 can be assigned to and interpreted within the context of only the very last use of the building, before its abandonment at the end of the second century A.D. This applies to the characteristic furnishing of rooms A and B, which is dependent upon, and therefore secondary to, the renovated bisected hall. Consequently, in trying to identify the use of the original building, priority must be given to the architecture.
7. The building was certainly never conceived and used as a domestic dwelling, nor, most likely, as a meeting place of a pagan association; its original form has nothing in common with the many private houses in Delos and only very little with the known meeting places. Function as a cultic pagan banquet hall seems similarly excluded as a possibility because clear indications of a pagan sacred precinct (e.g., altars, temples, shrines, cult images, or votives) are missing.
Several issues remain open and might be resolved only by further excavation...
The dating is vague and though (as we learned above) the term synagogue relates to houses, this does not appear to have ever been used as such. One of the means by which a synagogue can be identified is through the objects associated with it, yet here (as noted in point (6) above), this has not been possible, at least for the earliest phases.
If we accept that this is a synagogue, it may have become so through development over time, that is, it became a synagogue. This allows the question as to the original purpose.
We will depart Delos for now, though in passing note that both the island and the synagogue are associated with Lysimachus.
Votive offering by Lysimachus at Delos 1st century BCE, inscribed on the base of what would have been a statuette.
Lysimachus on behalf of himself to God Most Hight, a thank-offering
This votive differs in wording from the other examples found on this site. Also, use of the term Charisterios - thank-offering - parallels usage in both Gentile and Jewish dedications.
The name Lysimachus is also found in a Delos inscription GD79, an insula nearby:
Agathocles
and Lysimachus
for the prayer hall (proseuche).
We have encountered Lysimachus previously and repeatedly; we will continue to do so.