Endnote 13 – Turkey’s Unexcavated Synagogues

The archaeological remains of synagogues are uncommon, leaving us with questions regarding the origin and time when these institutions first appeared within Judaism. As Runesson, Binder and Olsson state: “Nearly every region of the Mediterranean world has been proposed as the birthplace of this institution, as has every time period, from the age of the Patriarchs to the Late Roman period” in The Ancient Synagogue from Its Origins to 200 C.E.: A Source Book (Leiden: Brill, 2008), p. 11. The earliest synagogue remains yet known are found in Israel and may date to the first century B.C.E.