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Feb 17, 2022 · As the world's oldest monotheistic religion, it dates back nearly 4,000 years. In Judaism, architecture and houses of worship serve as places not only for liturgical services but also for assembly ...
- Eric Baldwin
- Overview
- The Dura Synagogue and the circumstances of its preservation
- Phasing and architecture
- Wall paintings
- Ceiling
- Inscriptions and graffiti
By Dr. Karen Stern
Discovery of a 3rd-century C.E. synagogue at the ancient site now known as Dura-Europos (in modern Syria) in 1932/1933 shocked the scholarly world. To that point, many had assumed that Jews would never create such an elaborately painted structure for worship—in antiquity or otherwise—because of traditional interpretations about prohibitions against making figural images in the
.
Yet, extensive representations of biblical figures and scenes on the walls of the synagogue’s assembly hall dispel this notion. Moreover, the presence of Hebrew and
Decades before the construction of the synagogue, sequences of conquest, destruction, and rebuilding had already shaped Dura into a politically, culturally, and demographically complex town. Roman soldiers fortified Dura in the mid-250s C.E., inadvertently protecting the synagogue (their efforts included back-filling buildings along the defense wal...
Yale University’s excavations in the 1930s revealed that the original synagogue building was probably constructed in the late 2nd century or early 3rd century C.E. While much remains unknown about this earlier structure, its foundations are partly documented and indirectly preserved.
The final phase of the synagogue, which was completed in the 240s, is its best understood. The synagogue was primarily composed of an assembly hall and a forecourt (with entry through the adjacent building). The assembly hall may have accommodated up to 120 people. Opposite the entryway, a sculpted
The extensive decorative program on the walls of the final phase of the synagogue included roughly 70 panels depicting stories from the
. The murals were originally applied to dry, rather than wet plaster (using
techniques). [2]
Scenes on the walls were presented, out of chronological sequence, in three registers; black rectangular borders divided each panel from others. The lowest decorative band (dado) was distinctive; its colors and decorative program, representing exotic animals and women’s faces or masks in the middle of a black background, separated the biblical panels—both spatially and stylistically—from the floor below.
Similar artisans might have painted the walls of several buildings in Dura, including the synagogue, Christian building, and
. Nonetheless (and for multiple reasons) the Dura synagogue is exceptional, both locally and regionally; it boasts the most well-preserved decorative program of any Durene building and it contains the only fully decorated walls to survive from any known ancient synagogue.
Until recently, the ceiling had been a neglected feature of the Dura synagogue. The ceiling was originally framed on joists and supported by wooden beams inset with painted terracotta tiles to suggest a
ceiling.
Also painted on some of the ceiling tiles were multiple dedicatory inscriptions, which documented the donations of men to the reconstruction of the final synagogue in 244/5 C.E. Three of the tiles from the Dura ceiling included Greek inscriptions, neatly painted, and surrounded by foliate wreaths, which honored individuals named Abram, Arsaces, Silas, and Salmanes; Samuel son of Yeddayah (“Presbyter of the Jews”); and Samuel son of Saphara (Barsaphara) for their generosity. Two Aramaic tiles described the process of the synagogue’s renovation and were unusually presented in two continuous parts. These inscriptions document the final date of the reconstruction of the synagogue, the synagogue officials who supervised the renovation, records of the hard work undertaken, and honor the participation of unnamed women and children. These also record activities associated with the celebration of the
.
In other synagogues, donor plaques were more commonly placed in areas of synagogues where visitors could view them more easily, such as in floor mosaics and on lower portions of walls. Any explanation for the choice to place donor inscriptions in the ceiling at Dura necessarily remains speculative: these tiles possibly may have been inscribed on the ceiling to bring the donors closer to the higher power of God.
Inscriptions were also found in other areas of the building. An Aramaic dedicatory text was lightly scratched above the aedicula, which attributes the donation of the Torah shrine to a certain “Joseph son of Abba.” The dominance of Aramaic inscriptions inside the synagogue is significant, because, while Aramaic dialects were likely spoken in Dura by Jews and non-Jews alike, Greek is the best documented language in local inscriptions and dedications. Aramaic thus appears to have fulfilled a cultural or ritual importance for Jews who used the synagogue, which is unmatched in other buildings from the town.
Several other types of official inscriptions were also found in the building. Some of these were tituli, or labels, found upon the paintings themselves. Ancient people carefully applied these in paint—in Greek or Aramaic—directly to the paintings. Their work appears to reflect concerns that some of the images were sufficiently ambiguous or difficult for audiences to decipher that they required verbal clarification. Aramaic name labels include those that identify individuals, such as King Solomon (with the Queen of Sheba), Esther, Ahashverosh, and Elijah; a label in Greek identifies the figure of Aaron, the High Priest, who presides over a sacrificial scene. Still panels incorporate fuller captions to help viewers interpret surrounding scenes, such as the label for “Moses when he went out from Egypt and parted the Sea”; or “Samuel, when he anointed David.”
Nearly 70 graffiti were also found inside the synagogue. These include visitor’s unofficial drawings and writings that they applied to the surfaces of the synagogue, during their visits through time. Some record activities of various sorts, such as a carving of an aedicula. Textual graffiti are most abundant. Most textual graffiti are in Aramaic and suggest that writing and carving inside the synagogue was a respectful activity, rather than one of defacement. Examples include the names of individual writers or their families, or several requests that writers should “be remembered,” or “be remembered for good” by future readers and passersby. [3]
Dec 6, 2023 · Discovery of a 3rd-century C.E. synagogue at the ancient site now known as Dura-Europos (in modern Syria) in 1932/1933 shocked the scholarly world. To that point, many had assumed that Jews would never create such an elaborately painted structure for worship—in antiquity or otherwise—because of traditional interpretations about prohibitions against making figural images in the second ...
Theirs was a minority architecture, reflecting a minority existence. The Temple of Solomon (c. 900 B.C.E.), modern scholars tell us, was a typical near eastern temple, while the great synagogues constructed at the turn of the twentieth century were art deco palaces. Even on a quality level, it is hard to include Jewish architecture among the ...
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Asia Minor, in particular, boasted numerous, and often prosperous, Jewish communities. The third-century synagogue in the Roman garrison town of Dura-Europos, like the Christian meeting house and the shrine devoted to the Persian god Mithras that stood just yards away, was adorned with sumptuous painting. Splendid murals with narrative scenes ...
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Dec 6, 2023 · Jewish “architecture” through the ages was a hybrid architecture—a term scorned by nineteenth and twentieth century racial and national purists, but celebrated in our own “post-modern” age. Chendamangalam Synagogue, 17th-century reconstruction of a late-15th- or early-16th-century synagogue on the same site, Kerala, India (photo ...
The Dura Europos (or Dura-Europos) Synagogue is a third-century C.E. Diaspora Synagogue built in Dura Europos, Syria under the Roman Empire. Controlled by myriad powers before and after its Roman annexation, Dura Europos was a city of immense cultural and linguistic diversity. Artifacts found at the site span hundreds of years, many languages ...
