Hello Grafted In Reader,
Today is Wednesday, October 18 in my corner of BlogLand.
I title this post visit, Did You Ever Wonder?
Of course, you ask, "Wonder about what?"
Historic structures such as Synagogues in the time of Yeshua (Christ Jesus). Is there a connection in the descriptive below with where you gather to practice your faith in a community, congregation, collective of others?
As this blog's purpose includes exploring the roots of Christianity, this post observes that in the following excerpt.
Jordan Ryan, authors an article describing the synagogue in its place in history within the pages of the Summer issue, Biblical Archaeology Review.
I invite you to consider the following:
Synagogue buildings in the early Roman period featured a main assembly hall, which was quadrilateral in shape. Stepped benches typically lined the walls, meaning that the attendees sat facing the center of the room, and people seated along opposite walls would have faced one another. The seating arrangement was thus designed to facilitate discussion, particularly among people seated along different and especially opposite walls. This architecture is reminiscent of other public buildings of the Greco-Roman world, including certain forms of the bouleuterion and the ekklesiasterion.
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Synagogue assembly rooms also typically featured columns, usually in the central floor area, which supported a clerestory ceiling. The columns would have obscured the view of the central floor from the benches, which indicates that synagogues were likely designed with hearing rather than seeing in mind.(2) In short, the architectural evidence reveals that synagogues of the early Roman period were places of community assembly, made for listening and discussing.
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The synagogue at Qiryat Sefer in the West Bank was located in the center of a small agricultural village with an estimated population of just over 100.(3) This shows that very small villages could have a synagogue building, and its location in the middle of the village underscores its importance as a public place. Similarly, the synagogue at Tel Rekhesh in Galilee was located in a small, rural farmstead.
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By contrast, the synagogue at Gamla, a large town in the Golan, represents the sort of synagogue that might be typical of a larger settlement. It is very well constructed—with carved basalt ashlars and columns—and estimated to have seated more than 400 people. Furthermore, archaeological evidence for a synagogue in Jerusalem was discovered in the form of a Greek inscription found in the Ophel, popularly known as the Theodotus Inscription. The inscription, which originally belonged to an ancient synagogue in Jerusalem, describes the synagogue’s main features, including accommodations and water facilities for pilgrims. Thus, synagogues existed in the smallest to the very largest of Jewish towns and communities.
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The decoration of the first synagogue found at Magdala indicates that these buildings could be colorful, vibrant places. It featured multicolored wall frescoes and red painted columns. Its mosaic floor shows us that the practice of paving synagogue floors with mosaics has roots that extend back to at least the early Roman period.
We have altered things in faith practice considerably since that time, have we not?
In North America, many churches have pews or auditorium seating set up from back to front, back to altar, cross, and lecturn, for example.
I don't have time to explore that now. Interesting though is the seating arrangement and the variance in facility that the author points out between found synagogues. Hearing and listening were emphasized over the visual sense and olfactory sense.
I hope you found this informative if nothing else. Until next visit,
May the presence of YHVH be with us always.
Mellow Rock,
David C. Russell, Author
