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The oldest original synagogue building in the Diaspora: the Delos synagogue reconsidered

Hesperia, Fall, 2004 by Monika Trumper

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[FIGURE 21 OMITTED]

Despite their modest construction, the granite walls are of paramount importance to our understanding of the building because they define its actual form, especially that of the courtyard in the east. While they can safely be dated later than the first gneiss wall and the mixed gneiss and granite walls, establishing the sequence of the granite walls and the marble spoil wall is highly problematic.

GRANITE-GNEISS-MARBLE WALL

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The last wall system to be discussed involves only the partition wall A/B, which divided the hall into two separate rooms of virtually equal size. Its remains are even thicker than those of the east wall of A/B and consist primarily of large regular granite blocks, small gneiss blocks, and reused marble blocks. (54) Its remarkable thickness might have been associated with an alteration of the roof and ceiling, or it could be attributable simply to the apparent absence of a proper foundation, and to the fact that it is not bonded with the adjoining walls. Of the three doorways, two are still equipped with a marble threshold; the better preserved of the two shows pivot and bolt holes for a door, thus confirming that the entrances between A and B could have been closed by double-leaf doors. Whereas the central entrance in the east wall of A/B was certainly blocked by this huge partition wall, the north entrance, which gave access to room A and was found blocked at the time of excavation, could have been walled up at any time. (55) Once closed to courtyard C, room A was accessible only from room B, which certainly would have had consequences for its use and lighting. Indeed, without additional windows (56) room A would have been rather somber, in any case darker than B and the former hall A/B. The small niche in the west wall of A might have been created for this reason; its reduced size, low position above the floor, and modest, improvised construction with spoil material suggest a function as a lamp niche (Fig. 22). Contrary to White's view, the off-center position of this niche with regard to room A does not prove that it belonged to an earlier phase; its position is equally off-center with regard to the large hall, the size and lighting of which did not require a lamp or a lamp niche. (57)

[FIGURE 22 OMITTED]

Even if the arrangement of the visible equipment with marble benches and a marble throne (see below) is clearly dependent on the establishment of the separate rooms A and B, it cannot be disproved that the furniture had been used in an earlier phase and was adapted to the new situation. (58) The benches (and especially their supports) are partially made of reused material, which could have been integrated from the beginning or added after a destruction or rearrangement of the building. Similarly, there is no evidence that the famous marble throne was carved specially for this edifice and not taken from another building; indeed, several scholars are convinced that this throne was originally set up in the theater, which is a considerable distance from GD 80. (59) The current arrangement of the benches along the north and west walls of A and the south wall of B need not necessarily correspond to the original layout; according to Plassart, the visible marble benches, and several inscribed marble blocks found on and under the benches or at the bottoms of walls, escaped the lime kiln that was later installed in room A only because the neighboring walls had collapsed and covered them completely. Therefore, benches could also have been set up against other walls, for example the west wall of B or even walls with doorways. (60) As previously mentioned, the pavement with marble chips and the stuccoed wall with its red plinth course that certainly served to decorate the large hall by this time were partly destroyed and crudely repaired for the installation of the partition wall, but otherwise were used continuously after the subdivision of the hall.

The oldest original synagogue building in the Diaspora: the Delos synagogue reconsidered

Hesperia, Fall, 2004 by Monika Trumper

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