74.68.32.221 at 02:07, 9 December 2024

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{{Short description|1st century BC building in Mykonos Municipality, Greece}}
{{use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox religious building
| name = Delos Synagogue
| native_name =
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| image = Synagogue of Delos, 224595.jpg
| image_upright = 1.4
| alt =
| caption = Possible Hellenistic synagogue at Delos
| religious_affiliation = {{ubl|'''''Indeterminate''''';|([[Judaism]])}}
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| location = [[Delos]], [[Mykonos]], [[South Aegean]]
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| country = [[Greece]]
| map_type = Greece South Aegean
| map_size = 250
| map_alt =
| map_relief = 1
| map_caption = Location of the ruins in the [[South Aegean|South Aegean Sea]], in [[Greece]]
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| coordinates = {{coord|37.4049|N|25.2745|E|source:wikidata_type:landmark_region:GR|display=it|format=dms}}
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| year_completed = {{circa|150|128}} BCE
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The '''Delos Synagogue''' is the name given to a second century Hellenic structure that is located in [[Delos]], in the [[Mykonos]] Municipality of the [[South Aegean]] region of modern-day [[Greece]]. Constructed between 150 and 128 BCE, the origins of the building were initially proposed as a [[Judaism|Jewish]] [[synagogue]]; however the building's identification as a synagogue is no longer definitive.<ref name=Matassa2018 />{{rp|76-77}}

If its existence as a synagogue were proven, the building would be one of the [[List of oldest synagogues|oldest known synagogues]].

== Discovery and location ==
The structure was discovered in 1912 by a team led by archaeologist [[André Plassart]].<ref name="Delos">{{cite web |title=Delos |url=http://www.pohick.org/sts/delos.html |website=pohick.org |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120907135251/http://www.pohick.org/sts/delos.html |archive-date=7 September 2012 |date=7 September 2012}}</ref> Located on the eastern side of the city of Delos, the building was far from the central areas of the city. Instead, it was built in a section of Delos called the "Stadium Quarter". In contrast to the religious and commercial focus at Delos' centre, this section was mostly residential.<ref name="Delos" /><ref name=Matassa2018 />{{rp|47-48}}

The original identification of the building as a synagogue by Plassart was based in large part on a dedicatory inscription referring to "[[Theos Hypsistos]]", or "God Most High", sometimes used as a name for the [[Adonai|god of the Jews]] in antiquity, though not exclusively.<ref name=Diaspora513/>

== Description ==
The dominating feature of the building is the large hall, which was presumably used in a flexible way, with moveable furniture, since there is no evidence for benches built along the walls.<ref name=Diaspora513>{{cite journal |last=Trümper |first=Monika |title=The Oldest Original Synagogue Building in the Diaspora: The Delos Synagogue Reconsidered |journal=Hesperia |date=October–December 2004 |volume=73 |issue=4 |pages=513–598 }}</ref> The hall is oriented towards the east, with a series of secondary rooms at the southern end.<ref name=Diaspora513/> The structure itself consisted of two large rooms containing a throne and multiple marble benches as well as many smaller rooms which allowed for access to a [[cistern]].{{citation needed|date= January 2022}}

== Purpose ==
The building's initial use is unknown. The identification of the building as a synagogue or a [[Samaritan]] place of worship at any point in its history has been a matter of debate. The first to challenge Plassart's assessment was Belle Mazur in 1935.<ref>{{cite book |author=Mazur, Belle D. |year=1935 |title=Studies on Jewry in Greece |location=Athens |publisher=Hestia }}</ref> The construction of benches around the internal walls is used by some as an argument for a synagogue, although this seating arrangement is also known from two pagan temples and other buildings on Delos.<ref name=Matassa2018 />{{rp|49, 60}} Those who accepted Plassart's identification pushed the date from when the structure is supposed to have served as a synagogue to its early phases, although the benches were only added in its last phase.<ref name="Matassa2018" />{{rp|76-77}} Determination of "synagogue" architecture and inscriptions was further complicated by the presence of a modern (1985) Samaritan community not far from the building.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Bruneau, Philippe |year=1982 |title=Les Israélites de Délos et la juiverie délienne |lang=fr |journal=Bulletin de Correspondance Hellenique |volume=106 |page=465-504 }}</ref>

Plassart's initial identification was based on an inscription that was later found to be at a different location, roughly {{cvt|90|m}} from the alleged synagogue (area GD 80), in a house located in a residential area (area GD 79).<ref name=Matassa2018 />{{rp|47-48}} Matassa writes: "It is important to note that there is nothing in the structure of GD 80 itself that is in any way Jewish in nature."<ref name="matassa2007">{{cite journal |last1=Matassa |first1=Lidia |title=Unravelling the Myth of the Synagogue on Delos |journal=Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society |date=2007 |volume=25 |url=http://www.religion.ucsb.edu/faculty/thomas/classes/rgst116c/Matassa.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804152614/http://www.religion.ucsb.edu/faculty/thomas/classes/rgst116c/Matassa.pdf |archive-date=4 August 2016}}</ref>

Matassa argues that neither the physical, literary, or epigraphic evidence supports the identification of the building as a synagogue.<ref name="Matassa2018">{{cite book |last=Matassa |first=Lidia D. |title=Invention of the First-Century Synagogue |editor1=Silverman, Jason M. |editor2=Watson, J. Murray |publisher=[[SBL Press]] |location=Atlanta, GA |series=Ancient Near East Monographs |number=22 |year=2018 |url=https://www.sbl-site.org/assets/pdfs/pubs/9780884143208_OA.pdf |access-date=26 January 2022 }}</ref>{{rp|76-77}}

More recent studies have concluded that the evidence suggesting that this building was a synagogue is tenuous at best and will remain an open question.<ref name="matassa2007" /><ref>{{cite book |author=Levine, Lee I. |author-link=Lee I. Levine |year=2005 |title=The Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |edition=2nd |page=107 ff. |isbn= }}</ref>

== Literary evidence ==
There is literary evidence indicating the presence of Jews or Samaritans on Delos. The most substantial text is via [[Josephus]], in the form of a letter to [[Roman Empire|Roman]] [[consul]] Julius Gaius and the council of [[Parium]], specifically referring to the Jews of Delos, dated approximately 70 A.D.:

{{blockquote|The Jews in Delos and some of the neighbouring Jews, some of your envoys also being present, have appealed to me and declared that you are preventing them by statute from observing their national customs and sacred rites. Now it displeases me that such statutes should be made against our friends and allies and that they should be forbidden to live in accordance with their customs and to contribute money to common meals and sacred rites, for this they are not forbidden to do even in Rome. For example, Gaius Caesar, our consular praetor, by edict forbade religious societies to assemble in the city, but these people alone he did not forbid to do so or to collect contributions or to hold common meals.|Josephus, AJ 14.213–216}}

==See also==
{{stack|{{portal|Greece|Architecture}}}}
* [[French School at Athens]]
* [[List of oldest synagogues]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Delos}}
{{Jews in Greece}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Synagogues in Greece}}
{{Ancient synagogues}}

[[Category:Ancient Delos]]
[[Category:Hellenistic Greece]]
[[Category:Hellenistic Jewish history]]
[[Category:2nd-century BC establishments in Greece]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in the South Aegean]]

Delos Synagogue - Revision history

74.68.32.221 at 02:07, 9 December 2024