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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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(149.) Bruneau 1970, p. 489; Binder 1999, pp. 306, 339-340; Levine 2000, pp. 100, 122; and esp. Runesson 2001c.

(150.) For private houses on the western coast, see Delos XXXIX, pp. 63-85.

(151.) The nearby meeting place in the Quartier du stade (GD 79a) included no shops, but there was a room/workshop for the large-scale production of perfume; see Brun 1999, 2000. Although the Maison de Fourni (GD 124) has, to date, an astonishingly remote position in the largely unexcavated southern part of the island, it is, nevertheless, provided with a series of shops, workshops, and cellars/magazines.

(152.) For an extensive discussion of the location of synagogues near water, see Runesson 2001c, pp. 119-129.

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(153.) See below, nn. 192, 193.

(154.) Until now, at least, no sanctuaries have been excavated in the Quartier du stade. Some pagan sacred precincts are positioned in equally remote places, but on the southern part of the western coast (GD 123, 125, 126). It is not clear, however, whether idol-free zones were really necessary or desirable for Jewish or Samaritan assembly halls in the Diaspora, so this argument does not necessarily support the identification of GD 80 as a synagogue. But see the extensive discussion in Runesson 2001c of the impurity of non-Jewish land, of idols, and their significance with regard to the place where Jewish communication--in the Diaspora--with God is to take place.

(155.) The example closest in date is the building that Netzer has recently excavated in Jericho and identified as a synagogue. It was probably built between 75 and 50 B.C. and destroyed by an earthquake in 31 B.C., but the identification as a synagogue is still much contested (see Netzer 1999, 2000a, 2000b; Ma'oz 1999; Shanks 2001; Schwarzer and Japp 2002). In recent books on early synagogues it is cited as such with varying degrees of confidence: Levine 2000, pp. 68-69; Runesson 2001a, pp. 181-182; Claussen 2002, pp. 185-186. Safely identified synagogues date to the first century A.D. in Palestine and to the second half of the first century A.D. (most likely the late Julio-Claudian period) in the Diaspora (Ostia); see Binder 1999, pp. 155-341; Levine 2000, pp. 42-123; Runesson 1999; 2001a, pp. 174-189; 2001b; 2002; ClauBen 2002, pp. 166-208.

(156.) For comprehensive, clear, and critical summaries of the most recent research and challenging theories on early synagogues, see Runesson 2001a, pp. 67-168; Levine 2001.

(157.) See Rutgers 1996; Binder 1999, pp. 389-450; Levine 2000, pp. 124-159; Runesson 2001a, pp. 193-234; Claussen 2002, pp. 209-223; Gruen 2002, pp. 115-119.

(158.) Rutgers (1996, p. 95), however, emphasizes that "structurally and functionally these buildings [the Diaspora synagogues] have surprisingly much in common," referring mostly to the later examples. Against a standardization and a uniform pattern prevailing across the Mediterranean, see, e.g., Gruen 2002, pp. 113-115 with further literature in n. 54. Further supporters and opponents need not be cited here.

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

Hesperia, Fall, 2004 by Monika Trumper

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