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The oldest original synagogue building in the Diaspora: the Delos synagogue reconsidered
Hesperia, Fall, 2004 by Monika Trumper
No sources give any hints with regard to the possible date and historical background of what is here termed the fifth phase, which had considerable consequences for the use of the rooms and for the entire building. The changes might reflect a shift in the activities performed in the building, for example the abandonment of dining (or at least a change in the dining customs) in favor of liturgical tasks such as teaching, reading, and studying the sacred texts. The setting up of benches in rooms A and B and in the west portico suggests that the community was still quite large, (200) but it is uncertain whether the use of spoil material for the furniture indicates the community's impoverishment.
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Since it is much contested whether the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70 had a major impact on the evolution and function of synagogues, especially in the Diaspora, (201) it is neither safe nor necessary to date any of the phases of the synagogue in Delos in accordance with this catastrophe. With regard to function, it is interesting to note that the synagogue of Ostia was not provided with a separate triclinium with built benches during its second phase (the first half of the second century A.D., probably in the Hadrianic period). The demolition of the first large triclinium, and the reinstallation of a triclinium in the third phase (not before A.D. 306), in a different setting and with a different design, were certainly both intentional measures taken to meet the changing needs of the Jewish community. (202) A provocative explanation for this archaeological evidence is offered by Klinghardt, who argues for a significant shift of activities performed in synagogues after A.D. 70 that included, in part, a distinct separation of prayer and communal dining. (203)
SUMMARY AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
The main objective of this study has been to elucidate the construction history of building GD 80 and to ascertain whether in its initial phase it was used as a synagogue or served some other function. The results can be summarized as follows:
1. Building GD 80 has a complex construction history that comprises five phases of active use and later reuse.
2. Its most characteristic features are a large hall, A/B, a large water reservoir, orientation toward the east and the sea, and an isolated location on the eastern shore of the island, far from the main harbor and the city center. All these features are constitutive, that is, they were integral to the design of the original building. Furthermore, there was a remarkable continuity in design and--most likely--in the use of space from the first through the fourth phases.
3. GD 80 was conceived as a freestanding building and was only subsequently surrounded by neighbors to the north and west. Thus, it was probably the southeast starting point for the development of an insula.
4. The first two phases can be dated to the period before 88 B.C., that is, before the raids of Mithridates' troops, and phases 3-5 to between 88 B.C. and the end of the second century A.D.
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