Jewish Art, Ancient

Abstract

The present article considers the visual material of the Jewish world from biblical times through the early Byzantine era in Palestine and the Diaspora that has been unearthed in archaeological excavations. It addresses art historical and visual cultural aspects of especially prominent monuments and artifacts. Historiographic interest in the subject can be traced back to the late 19th century, but it attracted real scholarly attention only at the turn of the 20th century, much later than the start of the art history field. The prevailing view of Jewish art at the time was essentially twofold: Jews were artless, and if art existed it was mostly aniconic. This perception changed with important disparate events and discoveries of Jewish monuments concomitantly with the firm establishment of the discipline: the discovery of synagogue remains in the Galilee; the Jewish catacombs in Rome (1918); Israelite palaces at Megiddo dating from the 8th and 9th centuries bce (1920s–1930s); the synagogue mosaics at Na’aran (1919) and at Beth Alpha (1928), both in Palestine; the ancient synagogue and its murals in Dura-Europos in Syria (1923–1933); and the necropolis at Beth She’arim in Palestine (1936). These and many other archaeological sites and findings and the studies of Palestinian archaeologists such as Eleazar L. Sukenik, Ancient Synagogues in Palestine and Greece (1934), served to discredit the aniconic approach attributed to Jews and the notion of a nonexistent Jewish art. Jewish artistic creation was expressed primarily in synagogal and funereal architecture and related visual media, and to a lesser extent in civic architecture and its decoration. Although it always maintained its distinct character, Jewish art absorbed the influences of the surrounding cultures, especially during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The periodization utilized for this article does not necessarily match that of the neighboring cultures: the “Israelite” or “Biblical” era, which ended with the Babylonian conquest and the destruction of the First Temple (967–586 bce), where the archaeological findings are very sparse except for magical bowls; the Second Temple period (536 bce–63 ce) and the Hasmonean period (164 bce–63 bce), when the finds multiply, showing a distinct aniconism but no evidence of figural arts; the Roman period (63 bce–324) when Jewish art reflects an interest in Roman visual aesthetics but not in its iconography; and the early Byzantine period (324–615), which attests to a return to figural presentation. Unless otherwise indicated, all dates refer to ce.