Synagogue Complete
ID: 148
Building type: basilical synagogue
Context:
rural
Inscriptions:
Description:
On the southern flank of a ridge, excavations exposed the remains of a synagogue whose builders had cut back the chalk to form a broad, level surface, setting the foundations and the north wall directly on the underlying rock. The building took the form of a basilical hall measuring approximately 15 by 24 meters; two interior colonnades divided the space into a central nave flanked by aisles. Within the façade, two of three doorways were found still in place, while the jambs of the southern entrance had been displaced. The jambs of the lateral doorways stand on Attic bases and carry decorated capitals, and one dressed stone from the façade bears a small carving of a seven-branched menorah. The main hall was finished with a pale plaster coating. Numerous architectural fragments and abundant broken tiles indicate a tiled roof. Many elements from the original phase were recovered in reused contexts, serving as packing or fill within later walls and foundations. The interior suffered multiple episodes of damage or destruction in antiquity and again during the medieval period, complicating precise chronological assessment. Even so, the synagogue is assigned an initial construction in the latter half of the third century, with substantial refurbishment around the fifth century. An inscribed piece of the local hard chalk was also found reused as a medieval step. Plan source: Dar 1993: 1414. Further reading: - Dar, S. 1993. “Sumaqa.” The New Encyclopedia of Archeological Excavations in the Holy Land, vol. 4, 1412–1415. - Dar, S. 1999. Sumaqa - A Roman and Byzantine Jewish Villge on Mount Carmel; Israel. BAR International Series 815, Oxford, (non videm). - Milson, D. W. 2007. Art and Architecture of the Synagogue in Late Antique Palestine. In the Shadow of the Church, Leiden, 402–404. https://synagogues.kinneret.ac.il/synagogues/sumaqa/