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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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ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA FROM GD 80

The field plan (Fig. 2) and sectional drawings published by Bruneau provide much useful information for the reconstruction of the building's architectural development, such as the materials used, sizes of the walls, wall joints, preserved stucco decoration, and elevation drawings. Some important details are missing, however, and others do not correspond to the archaeological evidence; (19) since the documentation of neither White nor Binder (including plans and photographs) supplies the missing data, a close examination of the actual remains is indispensable.

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Five wall systems, which denote different parts of the building, are distinguished here, and special attention is given to the walls of neighboring edifices and to the features of Binder's "courtyard" C. (20) It is of paramount importance to distinguish clearly between the different wall systems and to determine which walls are to be associated with one another. Furthermore, in each case it must be carefully considered which criterion is the more important and revealing: the material and the technique used to build the wall, or how it was bonded (joined) to another wall. Even though the analysis of wall bonding is, in general, a valuable criterion in the study of architecture, bonding must be evaluated with caution, because walls of different phases can be joined without leaving evidence of their different ages. (21) The disregard of wall systems has led to misinterpretations in previous publications, as will be demonstrated with relevant examples.

GNEISS WALLS

Solid thick walls made of regular gneiss blocks delimited a large hall (A/B) that measured 16.80 m (N-S) x 14.40 m (E-W), (22) with three entrances in the east wall (Figs. 2, 3) that were, from the beginning, provided with marble thresholds (see below). The exterior of the north facade was covered with red, waterproof stucco, but the external face of the east wall may have been decorated with finer white stucco (see below). The floor of the hall was probably surfaced with a simple waterproof pavement of marble chips that was not subdivided or decorated in any way. The interior walls were covered with stucco most likely in "Masonry Style," of which only the red plinth course is preserved (Figs. 4, 5). (23)

[FIGURES 4-5 OMITTED]

Roofing such a large room must have been challenging and might have required interior supports. Because of later changes to the building and its current state of preservation, the issue of supports cannot be addressed, but it is highly improbable that such a room was left open to the sky, that is, built as a rather expensive, luxurious courtyard. (24) The roofing was presumably realized as a simple ridged roof with the ridge beam oriented north-south. Sufficient lighting of the hall would have been admitted by the three doorways and could have been ameliorated with additional windows in the north and west walls, as neighboring buildings had yet to be constructed.

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

Hesperia, Fall, 2004 by Monika Trumper

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