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The Sepphoris Synagogue Mosaic

Abraham, the Temple and the sun god—they’re all in there

By Zeev Weiss

Sepphoris—“the ornament of all Galilee”1—is a city of mosaics. It seems that wherever excavators dig they turn up mosaics. More than 40 mosaic floors, many of them extremely elaborate, have been uncovered to date. BAR readers are already familiar with the mosaic scene that features the lovely woman known as the “Mona Lisa of the Galilee”2 and with the scenes that decorate the Nile festival building.3 To these masterpieces we can now add another stunning example of mosaic art: a 44-by-15-foot carpet that covered the floor of a fifth- to seventh-century C.E. synagogue. The Sepphoris synagogue mosaic is remarkable […]

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Endnotes

1.

Josephus, Antiquities 18.27.

2.

See “Mosaic Masterpiece Dazzles Sepphoris Volunteers,” BAR 14:01. Also see Mark Chancey and Eric M. Meyers, “How Jewish Was Sepphoris in Jesus’ Time?” BAR 26:04.

3.

See Ehud Netzer and Zeev Weiss, “New Mosaic Art From Sepphoris,” BAR 18:06.

4.

The excavation was conducted by the Institute of Archaeology at Hebrew University. Additional work was carried out in the synagogue area during the summers of 1994, 1996 and 1997. The first two seasons were directed jointly by Ehud Netzer and Zeev Weiss, while the last two seasons were conducted under the sole direction of Weiss. The photos of the mosaic were taken by Gabi Laron and the drawings are by M. Kaplan and Pnina Arad. Translation of the Greek dedication inscription was done with collaboration of Dr. Leah Di Segni. For more on the mosaic, see Weiss and Netzer, Promise and Redemption, A Synagogue Mosaic from Sepphoris (Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1996); and Weiss and Netzer, “The Sepphoris Synagogue: A New Look at Synagogue Art and Architecture in the Byzantine Period,” in Eric M. Meyers, ed. The Galilee from Rabbinic to Medieval Times, (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1999), pp. 199–226.

5.

Eliezer L. Sukenik, “The Ancient Synagogue at Yafa Near Nazareth—Preliminary Report,” Louis Rabinowitz Fund Bulletin 2 (1951), pp. 6–24; Na’im Makhouly and Michael Avi-Yonah, “A Sixth Century Synagogue at Isfiya,” Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine 3 (1934), pp. 118–131; Shimon Dar, “The Synagogue at Hirbet-Sumaqa on Mt. Carmel,” in Aaron Oppenheimer, Ciriel Kasher and Uriel Rappaport, eds., Synagogues in Antiquity (Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben Zvi, 1987), pp. 213–230 (in Hebrew).

6.

Shmuel Safrai, “Was There a Women’s Gallery in the Ancient Synagogue?” Tarbiz 32 (1963), pp. 329–330 (Hebrew). In Ze’ev Safrai’s opinion, separation between men and women, and the consequent construction of women’s galleries, only began at the end of the ancient era. See Ze’ev Safrai, “Dukhan, Aron and Teva: How Was the Ancient Synagogue Furnished?” in Rachel Hachlili, ed. Ancient Synagogues in Israel, British Archaeological Reports, International Series 499 (Oxford, 1989), pp. 78–79.

7.

Jerusalem Talmud, Bikkurim 3.4, 65d.

8.

Yoram Tsafrir, Eretz Israel from the Destruction of the Second Temple to the Muslim Conquest, Archaeology and Art (Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben Zvi, 1984), pp. 366–369 (in Hebrew).

9.

Carl-Otto Nordström, “The Temple Miniatures in the Peter Comestor Manuscript at Madrid,” in Joseph Gutmann, ed., No Graven Images: Studies in Art and the Hebrew Bible (New York: Ktav, 1971), pp. 39–74.

10.

See Yitzhak Magen, “Samaritan Synagogues,” Qadmoniot 25 (1993), pp. 70–72 (in Hebrew). See also Reinhard Pummer, “How to Tell a Samaritan Synagogue from a Jewish Synagogue,” BAR 24:03.