Roman-period synagogues of the Golan

Abstract

Synagogue chronology has been the subject of scholarly debate for decades, especially in the Galilee, where synagogues have been dated both to the Roman and Byzantine (= late-antique) periods.1 For the Golan,2 the consensus has been that there is no evidence for them in the Roman period, and especially not in the 2nd-3rd c. The c.30 synagogues there, nearly all in the W central Golan, have always been precluded from the debate since, with the exception of an Early Roman one at Gamla,3 the accepted dates for their construction and use are between the 4th and the 7th c. (fig. 1).4