Synagogue Complete
ID: 39
Building type: basilical synagogue
Context:
urban
Site:
Gaza
Description:
Gaza may well have been served by more than one synagogue. Among the attested structures, however, one excavated building is notable for its exceptional dimensions and plan. Its reconstructed form is a basilical hall of roughly 26 by 30 meters, arranged with a central nave flanked by two pairs of aisles. The edifice was oriented from southeast to northwest, and the principal entrances opened on the northwest side. On current evidence, it represents the largest synagogue known in Palestine. The site first came to light in 1965, when the Egyptian Department of Antiquities excavated what was initially taken to be a church. That campaign produced mosaic inscriptions (CIIP III 2460; CIIP III 2461) and an inscribed marble basin (CIIP III 2462). Further investigations were conducted by Asher Ovadiah for the Israeli authorities in 1967 and 1976, yielding fragments from four chancel screens; among these are CIIP III 2463 and CIIP III 2466, while CIIP III 2465—also a synagogue screen fragment—does not belong to either of those screens. Other texts from Gaza, published prior to the building’s discovery, have been associated with a synagogue: CIIP III 2467 (an architectural element) and CIIP III 2464 (a bilingual inscription on a pillar). In addition, CIIP III 2488 (listed among Epitaphs) and CIIP III 2521 (in “Fragments”) could be dedicatory plaques from Gaza—and possibly from a synagogue—although both may equally be epitaphs; CIIP III 2521, moreover, is not certainly Jewish. CIIP III 2468, recovered between Jaffa and Gaza, is commonly attributed to a synagogue in Gaza. Epigraphy: two JPA/Hebrew texts—one bilingual with Greek (CIIP III 2464) and another describing a figural motif (CIIP III 2461)—together with approximately five to ten Greek inscriptions, the number depending on how one evaluates stray fragments often linked to the synagogue(s).