The diverse populations who made up ancient Palestine's rich tapestry included Samaritans (see Chapters 3 and 4). Like their Jewish neighbors, during the fourth to sixth centuries C. E. the Samaritans worshiped in synagogues. A few of these buildings have been discovered in the district of Samaria, where the Samaritan population was concentrated. Samaritan synagogues resemble Jewish synagogues and Christian churches in being congregational halls with features such as benches to accommodate assemblies, and liturgical elements such as orienting the building toward the direction of prayer. The Samaritans also decorated their synagogues with mosaic floors, which include depictions of many of the same ritual objects shown in Jewish synagogue mosaics, such as the Ark of the Covenant, menorahs, and incense shovels. However, not all the motifs depicted in Samaritan and Jewish art are the same, because of differences between their respective sacred scriptures and liturgies. For example, Samaritan synagogues are oriented toward Mount Gerizim (their sacred mountain) instead of Jerusalem's Temple Mount. In addition, the lack of any figured images in Samaritan synagogues suggests a stricter interpretation of the Second Commandment than that among their Jewish neighbors. There are also differences in details — for example, Samaritan mosaics depict trumpets instead of shofars among the ritual objects.
The emperor Justinian (see Chapter 15) closed Samaritan synagogues and attempted to convert the Samaritans forcibly to Christianity. This sparked the outbreak of a Samaritan revolt in the mid-sixth century, which was suppressed brutally. As a result, the Samaritan population was decimated and subsequently declined. Today there are fewer than 1,000 Samaritans, most of them living near Mount Gerizim and in the Israeli town of Holon.
Roman and Late Antique Period Synagogues in Palestine Recommended Reading
Bernadette Brooten, Women Leaders in the Ancient Synagogues (Atlanta: Scholars, 1982).
Moshe Dothan, Hammath Tiberias (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1983).
Steven Fine, This Holy Place: On the Sanctity of the Synagogue During the Greco-Roman Period (South Bend, IN: University of Notre Dame, 1997).
Erwin R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, Vols. 1-13 (abridged edition; Princeton, NJ: Princeton University, 1988).
Lee I. Levine, The Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years (New Haven, CT: Yale University, 2000).
Lee I. Levine (ed.), Ancient Synagogues Revealed (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1983).
Anders Runesson, The Origins of the Synagogue: A Socio-Historical Study (Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell International, 2001).
Zeev Weiss, The Sepphoris Synagogue: Deciphering an Ancient Message through Its Archaeological and Socio-Historical Contexts (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2005).
Michael J. White, Building God's House in the Roman World: Architectural Adaptation among Pagans, Jews and Christians (Baltimore: ASOR/Johns Hopkins University, 1990).
World History
