Samaritan synagogue Complete
ID: 189
Building type: basilical synagogue
Context:
urban/rural
Description:
Set directly above a pottery kiln, the structure is rectangular and measures roughly 7.2 by 7.7 meters. Two parallel rows of pillars subdivided the interior into a broad central nave flanked by two narrow side aisles. Its longitudinal axis runs east–west, with the entrance on the eastern side; accordingly, the prayer hall was aligned toward neither Jerusalem nor Mount Gerizim. A Greek dedicatory inscription stood near the doorway, with a Greek blessing positioned adjacent to it within the nave, while a Samaritan dedicatory text was identified in the southern aisle, approximately midway along the wall. The dating is debated. A probe through the kiln yielded a coin of Mauricius Tiberius (586–602), a find that has supported a placement of the synagogue at the end of the sixth or the beginning of the seventh century. More recent work, however, points to ceramics from the building’s foundation layer that may belong to the fifth century. Tal and Taxel (2015) therefore argue that the late Roman coin recovered from the kiln is likely intrusive. Image source: Tal, Taxel 2015: 211 Further reading: Milson, D.W. 2007. Art and Architecture of the Synagogue in Late Antique Palestine. In the Shadow of the Church, Leiden, 454-455 CIIP III 2166-2168 https://synagogues.kinneret.ac.il/synagogues/tel-qasile/ Kaplan, H. 1978. "A Samaritian Church on the Premises of "Museum Haaretz"", Qadmoniot 42-43: 78-80 (Hebrew). Kaplan, H. 1979. "On the Samaritan Church at Tell Qasile - Reply to Zeev Safrai" Qadmoniot 45, 1979: 30-32 (Hebrew). Macuch, R. 1985. "New interpretation of the Samaritan inscription from Tel Qasile", Israel Exploration Journal 35: 183-185. Pummer, R. 1999. Samaritan Synagogues and Jewish Synagogues: Similarities and differences [in:] Steven Fine (ed.) Jews, Christians, and Polytheists in the Ancient Synagogue: Cultural Interaction during the Greco-Roman Period. Baltimore Studies in the History of Judaism. London and New York, pp. 118-160. Safrai, Z., 1978. "Was there a Samaritan Church at Tell Qasile?" Qadmoniot 44: 129 (Hebrew). Tal, O. and Taxel, I. 2015. "Tell Qasile: The Foundation Layer of the Samaritan Synagogue" in Samaritan Cemeteries and Tombs in the Central Coastal Plain. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, p. 209-212. Tsafrir, Y. 1981. "A new reading of the Samaritan inscription from Tell Qasile" Israel Exploration Journal 31, 223-226.