Synagogues in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods: Archaeological Finds, New Methods, New Theories and The Synagogue in Ancient Palestine: Current Issues and Emerging Trends

Abstract

The modern study of ancient synagogues began in the early nineteenth century with the pioneering work of Leopold Zunz on liturgy and homiletical traditions of the ancient synagogue and then the reports of European explorers—mainly of the Palestine Exploration Fund. Since that time, synagogue studies have always attracted an international and intercreedal community of archaeologists, historians, art historians, liturgists, midrashists, classicists, and scholars of the early Christian church. From the very start, it has been the ultimate “interdisciplinary” area of specialization—so much so that its multifaceted reality IS the discipline, and the term “interdisciplinary” seems an imposition.The first generation of monographs in this field was published during the fin de siècle and included a history/handbook by the great historian of Roman-period Judaism, Samuel Krauss, Synagogale Altertümer (1922); Jüdisch-palästinisches Corpus Inscriptionum (1920) by the Hungarian historical geographer Samuel Klein; and Heinrich Kohl and Carl Watzinger’s Antike Synagogen in Galilaea (1916). The next wave took place in Hebrew and English and continued until the early 1960s. The monumental books and figures of this generation of archaeologists were E. L. Sukenik’s Ancient Synagogues in Palestine and Greece (1934) and Carl H. Kraeling’s preliminary and final reports of the Dura Europos synagogue (in Rostovtzeff et al. 1936 and Kraeling 1956, respectively).The third phase opened with E. R. Goodenough’s Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period (1954–1966) with its counter-history of Judaism and important corpus of ancient Jewish art that surprised Christian scholars by its very existence; updated corpora created by Rachel Hachlili beginning in 1988, which helped scholars to keep abreast and made visual sense of every new discovery, and most of all the monumental project of Lee I. Levine, who organized conferences and publications and ultimately created The Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years (2005), a history/handbook of everything synagogue that will sit proudly beside Krauss’s work for generations. Levine’s vision was expansive, bringing together the entire international panoply of scholars to focus on the ancient synagogue.Conferences and hence conference volumes relating to the ancient synagogue abounded during this period. In the late 1980s alone, no less than three were published—one edited by Levine (1987), a second by A. Kasher, A. Oppenheimer, and U. Rappaport (1987), and a third by R. Hachlili (1989).1 In 1995, Dan Urman and Paul Flesher joined this group. In 1997, I joined in with a major international exhibition and catalog, adding my own conference volume in 1999. Like the founders of the first generation, this community was deeply “interdisciplinary,” with archaeologists, historians, and text scholars participating in almost equal measure. I have explored some of the amazing history of synagogue scholarship in a number of contexts and mention these highlights only to set a context for the volumes under discussion (Fine 2005). Synagogues in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods: Archaeological Finds, New Methods, New Theories and The Synagogue in Ancient Palestine: Current Issues and Emerging Trends were published a year apart by the same German publisher. Each brought together archaeologists and text scholars to present recent discoveries and, in some cases, to reevaluate older work.The first section of Synagogues in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods, entitled “Advances in the Archaeology of Synagogues from the Hellenistic and Roman Periods,” opens with a survey of recent discoveries in Israel by Zeev Weiss, “The Synagogue in an Age of Transition, from the Second Temple Period to Roman Times: Recent Developments in Research,” which brings to bear important excavations northwest of the Sea of Galilee. Uzi Leibner then dives in the complex and seemingly never-ending debate on “The Dating of the ‘Galilean’-Type Synagogues: Khirbet Wadi Ḥamam as a Case-Study.” Mechael Osband and Benjamin Arubas next present results of their “Discovery of a Roman Period Synagogue in the Golan at Majduliyya,” bringing this site to the cognizance of readers not fluent in Hebrew. Monika Trümper crosses the Aegean to the Island of Delos in “The Synagogue in Delos Revisited,” cogently presenting the dilemmas inherent in this early site.The next section is called “Interpreting Material Remains and Literary Sources.” The task taken up by the authors of this section is formidable, focusing on the synagogue at Magdala and its enigmatic ashlar. Lutz Doering begins with “The Synagogue at Magdala: Between Localized Practice and Reference to the Temple,“ followed by Judith H. Newman in “Contextualizing the Magdala Synagogue Stone in Its Place: An Exercise in Liturgical Imagination.” Both suggest interpretations that are indeed imaginative. The jury is still out on the meaning of this stone, and I expect this will be the case for some time. Next comes Andrew R. Krause with his “The Rhetoric of Synagogue Space: Theoretical Issues in the Study of Jewish Institutions in Literary Sources.” By “literary sources” Krause means Josephus and the Theodotus inscription, using “Critical Spatial Theory” to help him bridge between his philological training and synagogues as actual places. Jordan J. Ryan concludes this section with “The Contributions of Historical and Archaeological Study of Early Synagogues to Historical Jesus Research.” Ryan’s work focuses on clearing the ideological thicket that is “New Testament history.”The next section is entitled “Theorizing Practice in Ancient Synagogues.” In a focused study, Jutta Leonhardt-Balzer asks “What Were They Doing in Second Temple Synagogues? Philo and the προσευχή.” The next two articles focus on synagogue life in late antiquity. In his contribution, “In Search of the Petichah: Some Thoughts on the Torah, the Prophets, and the Scriptures in the Synagogues and Beyond,” Hermut Löhr explores late antique rabbinic homilies. Liturgist Ruth Langer returns to well-known texts in “Rabbis, Nonrabbis, and Synagogues in Roman Palestine: Theory and Reality,” refining Levine’s conclusions in light of recent advances in the study of Rabbinic literature. Finally, Clemens Leonhard returns to the Second Temple period when he explores “The Origins of Torah Reading as a Ritual and Its Social Context.”The last section of this volume is entitled “Legal, Political, and Cultural Contexts of Ancient Synagogues.” As its title suggests, it is a tasty medley indeed! Kimberley Czajkowski explores “‘Synagogues’ in Ptolemaic and Early Roman Egypt.” This is followed by Benedikt Eckhardt with “Synagogues as Associations in the Roman Empire.” The exploration of a relationship between synagogues and Roman associations is an important advancement since Levine’s work. Markus Öhler returns to a well-known text in “Synagogues in Inscriptions from Asia Minor: The Iulia Severa Inscription Reconsidered.” Finally, Katrin Kogman-Appel explores “Dress Codes in the Synagogue of Dura Europos?,” bringing her well-trained eye to bear on this important question. The Synagogue in Ancient Palestine: Current Issues and Emerging Trends, by contrast, is focused upon a single region. There is some overlap among the participants of both volumes. The first section, “Early Synagogues and Their Historical Context,” includes articles that address the origins and the early history of synagogues up to 200 CE. Anders Runesson and Wally V. Cirafesi are “Reassessing the Impact of 70 CE on the Origins and Development of Palestinian Synagogues.” This question is pertinent, as recent discoveries bridge the chasm between the First and Second Revolts and reflect considerable continuity. Rick Bonnie continues this discussion with his conjectural “Hasmonean Memories and Hellenistic Building Traditions: The Appearance and Disappearance of Synagogue Buildings in the Late Second Temple Period.” Tom McCollough then presents the results of his excavations at “The Synagogue at Khirbet Qana in Its Village Context,” a building that straddles this transition. Next, Matthew J. Grey turns to “Priests, Judean Community Assemblies, and Synagogue Development in the Second Temple Period.” Jordan Ryan closes this section with a quite competent discussion of the “Socio-Political Context of Public Synagogue Debates in the Second Temple Period.”The next section is called “Architecture and Dating.” Here, Jodi Magness places her discovery at Huqoq within the larger problem of Galilean-synagogue dating in “The Huqoq Synagogue: A Regional Variant of the Galilean Type.” Chaim Ben David follows and presents the results of his work “On the Number of Synagogues and Their Location in the Holy Land,” an outgrowth of the (extremely useful) Bornblum Eretz Israel Synagogue Website (https://synagogues.kinneret.ac.il). In his essay, Ben-David counts 128 synagogues total, including ten from the early Roman period. Finally, Svetlana Tarkhanova presents “The Friezes with the ‘Peopled Scrolls’ Motif in the Capernaum Synagogue: Dating by Stylistic Method and Some Aspects of the Reconstruction,” in which she dives into the mirky world of dating on the basis of style.The third section is called “Leadership, Power and Daily Life.” Karen B. Stern explores “Prayer as Power: Amulets, Graffiti, and Vernacular Writing in Ancient Levantine Synagogues.” Eric Ottenheijm and Jonathan Pater then turn to archaeological and literary evidence for “Meals in the Synagogue: Reassessing the Evidence.” Raimo Hakola’s “Galilean Synagogues as Local Responses to Cultural Globalization in Late Antiquity” attempts to set these structures in a “global” frame.In “A Quantitative Analysis of House-Synagogues in Ancient Palestine,” Chad Spigel continues his project of calculating the maximal seating capacity of ancient synagogues, focusing on the “synagogue of Kyrios Leontis” at Beth Shean. Spigel might gain, however, from my suggestion on epigraphic and architectural grounds that this space may well have been a study house (beit midrash), which would complicate his conclusions (e.g., Fine 2014: 123–38). Ulla Tervahauta then turns to “Sacred Space and Torah Shrines in Late Antique Synagogues,” correctly drawing on Ann Marie Yasin’s work on churches for parallels.The last section is called “Contextualizing Synagogue Art.” Here, Zeev Weiss surveys synagogue mosaics as “Visual vs. Virtual Reality: Interpreting Synagogue Mosaic Art” and the late Géza G. Xeravits turned to an understudied monument, “Note on the Japhi‘a Synagogue.” Next, Lidia Chakovskaya examines “The Artistic Milieu of the Mosaic of the Beth Alpha Synagogue,” following Sukenik in rightly associating the style of this carpet mosaic with Coptic art—this time as a positive attribute. Gary Gilbert rehearses evidence for “The Appearance of the Menorah in Ancient Jewish Art.” Together, these volumes present some current research on ancient synagogues. Not included are any interactions with the vast literary resources relating to Jewish liturgy published over the last 30 years, with late antique Samaritan sources (beyond Ben-David’s corpus), early-period Islamic sources, or with major discoveries across the Mediterranean in recent decades. In general, the articles reflect some current excavations and reassessments of previous work, much of it by archaeologists, but less of the comparative and theoretical work that is possible—and happening in cognate fields.We have come a long way since the Palestine Exploration Fund first documented Galilean synagogues and Zunz uncovered the riches of Jewish prayer and homiletics (midrash) to present to the larger academic world. Scholars like Sukenik and Goodenough set an agenda that then exploded with excitement during the last third of the twentieth century. This was the moment that drew me into synagogue studies—and still sustains my curiosity. The research presented here brings to the fore some important new discoveries that fill in gaps, particularly relating to the synagogue immediately after 70 CE. Kohl and Watzinger and Krauss provided the first great syntheses of ancient synagogue studies, Sukenik and Goodenough the second wave, and Levine and Hachlili epitomize the third. The volumes under discussion here continue the legacy framed by the third wave of scholarship, adding another ashlar to a century-and-a-half-old edifice. Like many ancient synagogues, this structure continues to grow, expand, and stretch, providing “useful history” to each succeeding generation. These volumes should be purchased by every research library that collects deeply in Jewish studies, early Christianity, and Classics.