Ancient Synagogues in Palestine

Abstract Dozens of ancient synagogues have been discovered around the Mediterranean, most of which date to the fourth-sixth centuries CE and are concentrated in Palestine. In his 1930 Schweich Lectures, Eleazar Sukenik established a typology and chronology for these buildings. This volume evaluates Sukenik’s conclusions in light of new discoveries since his time. It opens with an overview of ancient synagogues in Palestine, followed by a survey of the historiography of the study of these buildings, highlighting its ideological roots in the early Zionist movement. The last two chapters examine the evidence for the dating of the synagogues at Khirbet Wadi Hamam and Capernaum. The results indicate that instead of being sequential – as Sukenik thought – different synagogue types were contemporary or overlapped and date to the fourth-sixth centuries CE. This conclusion contradicts a widely accepted view that late antique Jewish communities in Palestine suffered and declined under supposedly oppressive Christian rule.