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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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In addition to the components of the Corinthian columns, several other architectural elements are stored in the building, such as fragments of an entablature with dentils and a lintel of white marble. The latter is situated in the west portico, in front of the D-complex; if this really functioned as a lintel and not as a crown above the lintel (see Delos VIII, figs. 134, 135), its length (1.68 m on the lower surface, 1.87 m on the upper) would allow a restoration not only above the marble jambs of one of the east doorways of hall A/B, but also above one of the lateral doorways between rooms A and B. Yet only a detailed architectural study might show which of the numerous marble blocks and other architectural elements could have belonged to the building and which were just stored there, to be burned in the lime kiln. 85. Dimensions of the plain Doric capital are as follows: Diam. lower 0.45 m; H. 0.32 m; abacus in plan 0.59 x 0.59 m; H. abacus 0.10 m. The capital is much more smoothed overall than the plain white marble drum just south of it, and its diameter is probably too small in comparison to that of the drum for the two to be identified with the same column. The Doric capital with 20 flutes on the necking has a lower diameter of 0.33 m, and in the bottom surface is a socket containing bronze; the abacus measures 0.38 x 0.38 m in plan and is 0.05 m high; the height of the entire capital is 0.15 m. This capital cannot be associated with the plain marble drum because of its size and the flutes on the necking. Perhaps one of the two capitals is to be identified with the Doric capital that, according to Plassart (1914, p. 526), was used to support marble benches. It is not clear, however, whether Plassart actually found the capital in such a position; today, no capital functions as a support for the benches (see Bruneau 1970, pls. C, E). Therefore, the precise provenances and functions of the two Doric capitals found in this building (parts of colonnades, supports for benches, or material for the lime kiln?) must remain indeterminate.

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(86.) Binder (1999, p. 308) concludes from the width of the stylobate (0.725 m) that the diameter of the columns at the bottom was no less than 0.65 m and that the height exceeded 5 m. Yet because the slabs of stylobates usually vary slightly or even considerably in width, it is difficult to determine the bottom diameter of the columns on the basis of the stylobate (see Delos VIII, p. 246; Delos XXVII, p. 19). Nor is the Etablissement des Poseidoniastes (GD 57), as cited by Binder (1999, pp. 308-309, n. 162, fig. 14), a good example on which to base his conclusion, since not even a quarter of that stylobate is preserved, and even the 10 existing slabs vary in width (Delos VI, pp. 90-91, pl. I). Furthermore, his statement (Binder 1999, p. 308) that "columns in Delian private homes--even the grandest of them" did not reach heights of over 5 m is not correct: the columns of the Maison du Dionysos (GD 120) measured 5.60 m, and the larger ones of the Maison du trident (GD 118), 5.39 m (Delos VIII, pp. 146-149, 247-255, fig. 67, pl. XXVII).

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

Hesperia, Fall, 2004 by Monika Trumper

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