The Synagogue-Church at Gerasa in northwestern Jordan was originally an ancient Byzantine era synagogue that was later converted to a church. It is located within the Decapolis city of Gerasa and is situated on high ground that overlooks the Temple of Artemis at Gerasa. The synagogue is evidence of Jewish settlement in the Transjordan through late antiquity. [1]
The synagogue was discovered several centimeters beneath the church and is dated to approximately the third or fourth century CE. [2] At the east end of the site existed a vestibule, opening to the nave within which stood two rows of columns creating north and south aisles. At the far western end of the site existed a niche believed to be facing towards Jerusalem and oriented prayer. [3] Under the anti-Jewish persecution of Emperor Justinian, the building was converted to a church in about 530 or 531 CE. [4] As a part of this conversion, a new mosaic with geometric features was laid over the synagogue's original mosaics and the orientation of the building was changed 180° with an apse built over what used to be the synagogue's vestibule. [4]
At the synagogue layer there are several mosaics. One of them depicts the biblical story of Noah and the Flood, with pairs of animals emerging in rows from the ark. [5] Flanking the depiction of the Noah narrative on its border are a cluster of prominent Jewish symbols, consisting of a menorah, a shofar, an incense shovel, a lulabh, and ethrog. [6] The border in this section also contains a Greek inscription ending in "peace to the congregation (synagōgē)." [7] The mosaic floor in the western part of the nave has a benefactor's inscription consisting of a frame with a vertical tabula ansata stating in Hebrew-Aramaic: "Peace be upon all Israel, Amen, Amen Selah, Pinhas son of Barukh, Yosi son of Shemuel and Yudan son of Hizqiyahu." [8] [9]
The Decapolis was a group of ten Hellenistic cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in the Southern Levant in the first centuries BC and AD. Most of the cities were located to the east of the Jordan Rift Valley, between Judaea, Iturea, Nabataea, and Syria.
Jerash is a city in northern Jordan. The city is the administrative center of the Jerash Governorate, and has a population of 50,745 as of 2015. It is located 30.0 miles north of the capital city Amman.
Pella was an ancient city in what is now northwest Jordan, and contains ruins from the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Canaanite, Hellenistic and Islamic periods. It is located near a rich water source within the eastern foothills of the Jordan Valley, close to the modern village of Ṭabaqat Faḥl some 27 km (17 mi) south of the Sea of Galilee. The site is situated 130 km (81 mi) north of Amman: a drive of about two hours, and an hour southwest by car from Irbid, in the north of the country. Pella's ruins – predominantly temples, churches, and housing – have been partially excavated by teams of archaeologists; they attract thousands of tourists annually but especially in spring, during which time the area is awash with spring flowers.
Gergesa, also Gergasa or the Country of the Gergesenes, is a place on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee located at some distance to the ancient Decapolis cities of Gadara and Gerasa. Today, it is identified with El-Koursi or Kursi. It is mentioned in some ancient manuscripts of the Gospel of Matthew as the place where the Miracle of the Swine took place, a miracle performed by Jesus who drove demons out of a possessed man and into a herd of pigs. All three Synoptic Gospels mention this miracle, Matthew writes about two possessed men instead of just one, and only some manuscripts of his Gospel name the location as Gergesa, while the other copies, as well as all versions of Luke and Mark, mention either Gadara or Gerasa. The "Gerasa" reading is problematic, because Gerasa is neither near a sea nor does it border Galilee.
Perea or Peraea was the term used mainly during the early Roman period for part of ancient Transjordan. It lay broadly east of Judea and Samaria, which were situated on the western side of the Jordan River, and southwest of the Decapolis.
The Ancient Macedonian calendar is a lunisolar calendar that was in use in ancient Macedon in the 1st millennium BCE. It consisted of 12 synodic lunar months, which needed intercalary months to stay in step with the seasons. By the time the calendar was being used across the Hellenistic world, seven total embolimoi were being added in each 19 year Metonic cycle. The names of the ancient Macedonian Calendar remained in use in Syria even into the Christian era.
Hamat Gader is a hot springs site in the Yarmuk River valley, located in an area under Israeli control, near the Golan Heights and the border with Jordan.
The Temple of Artemis at Gerasa is a Roman peripteral temple in Jerash, Jordan. The temple was built in the middle of the highest of the two terraces of the sanctuary, in the core of the ancient city. The temple is one of the most remarkable monuments left in the ancient city of Gerasa (Jerash) and throughout the Roman East.
Naaran was an ancient Jewish village dating to the 5th and 6th century CE, located in the modern-day West Bank. Remains of the village have been excavated north-west of Jericho. Naaran is archeologically notable for a mosaic floor of a synagogue, featuring a large zodiac design, which was discovered at the site.
Kursi is an archaeological site in the Golan Heights containing the ruins of a Byzantine monastery and identified by tradition as the site of Jesus' "Miracle of the Swine". Part of the archaeological site is now an Israeli national park. Kursi takes its name from the Talmudic site. A marble slab with Aramaic text discovered in December 2015 seems to indicate that the settlement had, as of c. 500 CE, a Jewish or Judeo-Christian population.
The Kfar Bar'am Synagogue, also known as the Kafar Berem Synagogue, is the archaeological ruins of two former ancient Jewish synagogues, located at the site of Kafr Bir'im, a depopulated Palestinian village, in what is today, the Bar'am National Park, in the Galilee region of the Northern District of Israel, approximately 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from the border with Lebanon. It is estimated that the former synagogue was completed in the 3rd century, during the Roman period, likely by c. 220 CE, and was located in the medieval Jewish village of Kfar Bar'am.
The history of Jews in Jordan can be traced back to Biblical times. Presently, there are no legal restrictions on Jews in Jordan, and they are permitted to own property and conduct business in the country, but in 2006 there were reported to be no Jewish citizens of Jordan, nor any synagogues or other Jewish institutions.
Beth Alpha is a sixth-century CE synagogue located at the foot of the northern slopes of the Gilboa mountains near Beit She'an, Israel. It is now part of Bet Alfa Synagogue National Park and managed by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
Tzippori Synagogue is an ancient synagogue discovered in Sepphoris, a Roman-era Jewish city in the Galilee, now an archaeological site and a national park in Israel.
Ancient synagogues in Israel refers to synagogues located in Israel built by communities of Jews and Samaritans from antiquity to the Early Islamic period.
Hammath Tiberias or Hammat Tiberias is an ancient archaeological site and an Israeli national park known as Hamat Tverya National Park, which is located on the adjacent to Tiberias on the road to Zemach that runs along the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Ancient synagogues in Palestine refers to synagogues and their remains in the Land of Israel/Palestine region, built by the Jewish and Samaritan communities from the time of the Hasmonean dynasty during the Late Hellenistic period, to the Late Byzantine period.
Transjordan, the East Bank, or the Transjordanian Highlands, is the part of the Southern Levant east of the Jordan River, mostly contained in present-day Jordan.
Gerasa (Judaea) was an ancient Jewish town mentioned by the historian Josephus (The Jewish War, 4.9.1) as being sacked by the Imperial Roman army under Lucius Annius during the First Jewish-Roman War.