1 Earliest Rome

4.14 Jewish synagogues in the Roman Empire
4.14 Jewish synagogues
Already before the Roman Empire period began, Jewish communities had
spread out from Palestine throughout the Mediterranean area, as far as Rome
and Italy and even further west. We call these Diaspora communities, literally
meaning communities of the 'dispersion'. For all Jews their symbolic centre
was in Jerusalem and particularly in the Temple, which was the only site in
which the traditional sacrifices could take place; the Temple's prominence in
Jewish thought and emotions continued - and still continues - despite the
destruction of the actual building by the Romans in A.D. 70. (See Vol. 1, 223
fig. 5.2.)
The synagogue could never replace the Temple, but it undoubtedly played a
crucial role in the maintenance of Jewish practice throughout the Empire and
beyond. Its origin is debated, but there is no doubt that there were synagogues
both in Jerusalem itself and the Greek cities of the eastern Mediterranean by the
time of Jesus and Paul, as the New Testament texts show. Later, when whole districts
of Alexandria were Jewish, the synagogues were to provide a target for anti-
Jewish rioting. The form and decoration of these buildings varied across the
Empire, according for instance to the size and wealth of the particular community,
or to the degree of local acceptance of, or hostility towards, the Jews —
sometimes a distinctive building might be inadvisable, while elsewhere synagogues
might be both distinctive and central and in some cases adapted from an
earlier civic building. There were nevertheless features that were shared by many
synagogues: an orientation towards Jerusalem; a shrine for To rah (The first five
Books of the Bible, containing the Jewish Law); space set aside for teaching and
instruction; a platform (bema) from which the Law could be read out.
See further: Vol. 1, 266-7; Gutmann (1975); Kraabel (1979); Age of
Spirituality (1979) 390-4; Shanks (1979)*; Gutmann (1981); Leaney (1984)
145-8*; L. M. White (1990) 60-101. For other evidence on Jewish religion,
see 12.6.
4.14a The synagogue at Ostia
This synagogue is the only one firmly identified and excavated in the Italy of
this period, though the existence of others, including some in Rome, is known
from literary sources and from inscriptions. It falls into the category of those
that were prominent and public in character; although it is definitely outside
the town of Ostia proper, it is both distinctive and very close to a gate and the
walls. The surviving remains belong to the building as it was remodelled in the
fourth century A.D., though the earliest phase that can be detected dates from
the first century A.D.
See further: Vol. 1, Map 5; Squarciapino (1961-2); (1963)*; (1965); Shanks
(1979) 162-9*.
107