Hachlili, Rachel. “Synagogues: Before and After the Roman Destruction of the Temple,” Biblical Archaeology Review 41.3 (2015): 30–38, 65.
Church-of-the-Apostles-Found-on-Mt.-Zion-Pixner-BAR by Bargil Pixner. The PDF is also in his directory in Dropbox. The link is to the pdf at Tabor’s site and is recommended by Dr. Tabor. It contains great info about synagogues. Extracts listed below.
- What was all this [Hezikia’s Tunnel] doing under the eastern hill? A subsequent century of excavation has now conclusively established that the Canaanite (or Jebusite) city that David captured in about 1000 B.C. and that then became known as the City of David (2 Samuel 5:7) was on the eastern hill, not on the western hill. The reason why is clear: The abundant waters of the Gihon Spring flow at the base of the eastern hill.
- Indeed, Zion has been something of a movable mountain.
- The Bible tells us that David captured Metsudat Tsion, the fortress of Zion (2 Samuel 5:7). As noted above, archaeologists have established beyond cavil that the original City of David and the original Mt. Zion (Zion I) that David captured were on the eastern hill. The recent excavations on the eastern hill led by the late Yigal Shiloh may even have uncovered the substructure of the fortress of Zion — the famous stepped-stone structure, the largest structure ever uncovered in Iron Age Israel, a full five stories high.
- First century residents of Jerusalem could not imagine the splendid palace of David having stood on the lowly eastern hill. Common opinion held that it must have stood on the highest hill of the city as they perceived it, the western hill. The first-century Jewish historian Josephus already refers to the City of David on the western hill.In this way a third place, the western hill, became known as Mt. Zion (Zion III), which name it still retains, although erroneously.
- The Wandering Tomb of King David
- Not only were the original Christians all Jewish, but for several centuries Judeo-Christians and even some gentile Christians referred to their houses of worship as synagogues. In Hebrew the Jewish house of prayer was – and still is – called Beit or Beth Knesset, which means simply “house of assembly.” Under Hellenistic influence, this became “synagogue,” a Greek word meaning “assembly.” The synagogue was used for various activities of a Jewish community. The main purpose was for the reading of the Torah, its translation (targum) into the vernacular, the reading of the prophets and on shabbat and feast days the sermon. But it also served other purposes, for example: for the study of the Bible, for holy meals (especially on shabbat and feast days), as a depository of the collection and the funds of the community, as a religious tribunal and occasionally as a guest house; nearby dwelled the guardian of the synagogue.
- To distinguish themselves from the Jews, the gentile Christians began to refer to their gatherings by the Greek word ekklesia, also meaning “assembly.” This word was then applied to the gathering place and later to the church building itself. Another word for the building was the Greek kyriake, meaning “belonging to the Lord (kyrios),” from which the English word “church” is derived.
Ryan, Jordan J. “Jesus in the Synagogue,” Biblical Archaeology Review 49.1 (2023): 34–41.
All four of the Canonical Gospels situate Jesus’s ministry within synagogues. According to Mark 1:39, Jesus “went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.” Matthew 4:23 and Luke 4:14-15 similarly set Jesus’s Galilean teaching activity within synagogues, and Luke 4:43-44 places Jesus’s proclamation of the Kingdom of God within the synagogues of Judea. Finally, in John 18:20, Jesus states that he has “always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together.”
The synagogue was intrinsic rather than incidental to Jesus’s life and career: He taught in synagogues, customarily attended synagogue gatherings (Luke 4:16), performed exorcisms and healings in synagogues (Mark 1:21-28; Mark3:1-6; Luke 13:10-17), and discussed and debated the interpretation and practice of Jewish law in synagogues (Mark 3:1-6; Luke 13:14-17; John 6:30-59). The study of ancient synagogues can help us to better contextualize and interpret the Gospels and their depiction of Jesus’s activities. In turn, this can greatly aid us in reconstructing a Jesus who was fully at home in first-century Jewish Galilee.
Matthew 9:35
…tells us that “Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness.”
Qatzrin synagogue
A stone’s throw from the Gamla synagogue in lower Galilee sits the Qatzrin synagogue. Although the two are close geographically, they date to different periods. The Gamla synagogue dates to the Second Temple period—before the Temple was destroyed. The well-preserved synagogue at Qatzrin, however, dates to the early sixth century C.E. The Qatzrin synagogue has the features typical of a synagogue built after the destruction of the Temple. Benches line the wall, and the focal point of this synagogue is the Torah Shrine, which sat on a raised platform along the hall’s southern wall that faced Jerusalem. From here.
Navoraya Synagogue
The Nabratein synagogue or Navoraya synagogue[1] (Hebrew: נבוריה) is a former ancient synagogue and archaeological site, located in a pine forest northeast of Safed, in the Upper Galilee region of the Northern District of Israel.[2] Naburiya was a Jewish village in the Galilee region of the Kingdom of Israel during the First and Second Temple periods.[3] Neburaya, identical with Nabratein, is located north of Safed.
The Synagogue at Meroth: Does It Fix Israel’s Northern Border in Second Temple Times?
by Zvi Ilan, Emmanuel Damati. Late 4th to early 5th CE.
Clear as a floor plan, the Meroth synagogue, seen from the air, displays its large, rectangular prayer hall, 60 feet long and 25 feet wide. Three entrances in the short southern wall may be identified with the help of the plan (see plan). After entering the synagogue, worshippers would turn around to face Jerusalem, the customary direction of prayer. From here.
Golan Gem at BAR, November/December 2007. [some info appears to this amatuer as dated]
Of the approximately one hundred ancient synagogues from, say, 150 B.C.E. to 850 C.E. found in the ancient Land of Israel, an astounding 25 percent are located in the central Golan. How do we explain this? As it happens, one of the earliest synagogues is also in the Golan: the famous synagogue in Gamla, a Jewish town destroyed in 67 C.E. by the Romans at the beginning of the First Jewish Revolt. Gamla was never rebuilt.a
The central Golan is the least desirable part of the Golan, rugged and hilly, which may help explain why there are so many ancient synagogues there. When Josephus (the first-century Jewish historian) and rabbinic sources speak of the Golan, they mean only the central Golan. In the Bible, Golan is a name only of a town, not an area. (See, for example, Deuteronomy 4:43 and Joshua 20:8.) From medieval to modern times, Golan has referred to a much larger area—from the Hermon mountains in the north to the Yarmuk River in the south. But in the Hellenistic, Hasmonean, Herodian, Roman and Byzantine periods, Golan referred only to what we today recognize as the central Golan. It was this Golan, central Golan, that became part of the Jewish Hasmonean kingdom in the early first century B.C.E., when Alexander Jannaeus simply annexed it to his kingdom. But no synagogues from this period have been found in this area. The synagogues in central Golan date only from the Byzantine period.
Part of the reason for the later abundance of synagogues in the central Golan is Jewish law, which regards riding—even on a donkey—as work and hence forbids it on the Sabbath (the donkey is also entitled to a rest). Even walking more than about 1 kilometer [0.6 miles] is forbidden. Hence, synagogues must be within walking distance of the homes of the congregants and thus, a synagogue was required in every small village.
Gamla Synagogue in the central Golan
By contrast, the synagogue at Gamla, a large town in the Golan, represents the sort of synagogue that might be typical of a larger settlement. It is very well constructed—with carved basalt ashlars and columns—and estimated to have seated more than 400 people. From here.
