Archaeological Evidence for First-century Synagogues in Ancient Judaea

Dr. James F. Strange PhD



In Israel there are ancient structures at Gamala, Capernaum (beneath the white limestone synagogue), Qiryat Sefer, Masada, Jericho, Modi'in, and Herodium. The archaeologists who unearthed these buildings have identified them as synagogues of the first century CE. These halls resemble later synagogues recognized as such from their Jewish art and from dedicatory inscriptions in Greek or Aramaic that actually identify the buildings as "synagogues."
But are the first century examples actually synagogues? After all, they do not seem to contain Jewish art, nor do they have inscriptions identifying them as such.
There are at least five reasons to identify these seven possible synagogues as the real thing:

1. These buildings organize innermost space in a similar manner, namely, it is rectangular and surrounded on three or four sides by rows of columns, then by ranges of benches on two, three, or four sides.

2. One must use the benches as steps to move from the top bench or landing to the floor. This calls to mind a saying of Jesus in Mark 12:39 and parallels that excoriates the Scribes for preferring the "first seats" in synagogues, presumably on the top rank.

3. Worshipers sitting or standing on the benches must look through a balustrade of columns to see what is going on centrally. This is echoed in the construction of the Diaspora synagogues at Priene in Greece and at Ostia in Italy.

4. The “Jewishness” of these structures is not given by art or inscriptions, but by their presence in a Jewish town or village, or even in a Jewish fortress.

5. Although parts of these buildings resemble structures in the Roman Empire, their total organization is novel. The closest analog is the ancient basilica, but the basilicas we know are far larger than most of these buildings. These buildings resemble one another more than anything else. The commonality between them also suggests strongly that their builders were seeing some structure or structures that gave them the extraordinary idea of arranging seating between the columns and the walls. I believe that "something else" to be the stoa on the temple Mount in Jerusalem.
That is, the space from wall to columns is in effect a porch or stoa. Two porches running parallel with a roof on top is a basilica, as is usually reconstructed on the south side of the Temple court in Jerusalem, following Josephus. The first century synagogues that we have found tend to model themselves after Israel's holiest shrine.These structures surely represent those mentioned by Josephus and by the New Testament authors and situated in the Holy Land in the first century CE