Zodiac mosaics in ancient synagogues are known from at least eight examples from Palestine in the 4th-6th centuries CE during the Byzantine period. As a typical arrangement, the mosaic floors of such synagogues consisted of three panels, the central one containing the Jewish zodiac. [1]
The examples cited by Hachlili in 1977 are the synagogues at Hammat Tiberias (4th century), Husaifa (5th century), Na'aran and Beth Alpha (6th century). [1] [2] The large synagogue of Sepphoris (5th-6th century), more recently discovered, has a different panel scheme; the one at Susiya probay had a zodiac mosaic in the 6th century, which was later replaced by a non-figurative pattern; at En Gedi there is an inscription with the names of the zodiac signs and the corresponding Jewish months, but no imagery; at Meroth archaeologists found three slabs containing zodiac signs; the Yafi'a synagogue, with a different layout and whose twelve medallions set between two circles are lost except for one plus a second depicting the zodiac. [2] The 5th-century Huqoq synagogue's mosaic floor also contains a depiction of Helios, the zodiac signs and personifications of the four seasons, next to images unique to this site. [3] The Huqoq design only resembles the one at Yafi'a, with Helios placed in a central medallion, which is surrounded by roundels interlaced with each other. [4] The Wadi Hamam synagogue, not far from Huqoq, was very similar in its architectural plan and surviving mosaics, which makes researchers believe that it probably had its own prominent Helios-and-zodiac depiction, but the central part of the nave's mosaic floor is missing. [4]
Some of the buildings' art was remarkably well-preserved, giving a window into the specifics of partially-lost traditions. The craftsmanship of these as well as of other unexpected historical Jewish art has been previously called "touchingly naive," "untutored," and even "primitive," but these dismissals are now outdated. [5]
In 1993, the most elaborate mosaic yet was found in Sepphoris. It has some uniques: scenes of the accessories and sacrifices of the Temple and a scene of the angels visiting Abraham and Sarah. "Elegant indeed... we find Scorpio (עקרב) together with its Hebrew month Heshvan (חשון), Sagittarius (קשת) together with Kislev (כסלו)". [6]
Hachlili says Jewish communities "always used the same scheme for their floors." [7] There are four figures (seasons) on the outer corners. Within is a roundel with twelve depictions. In the bullseye is a sun god with the appropriate horses-chariots imagery.
The Beth Alpha example has been called one of Israel's great artistic treasures, [8]
so filled with feeling and so packed with information for scholars to study. It revolutionized ideas about ancient Jewish attitudes toward representational art, which many previously believed had been nonexistent.
Lucille A. Roussin sees the sun deity depicted in the mosaics as continuation of an ancient faith in angels seen as entities interposed between the highest, seventh firmament understood as the seat of God, and the earthly realm. [9] As to the zodiac, she quotes Josephus, who states not only that among the twelve stones of the high priest's breastplate "[s]un and moon are indicated by the two sardonyxes", but also that "whether one would prefer to read in them the months or the constellations of like number, which the Greeks call the circle of the zodiac, he will not mistake the lawgiver's intention." [9] Note that the common rabbinic interpretation of the twelve stones is that they represent the twelve tribes of Israel. [10]
Jodi Magness argues the sun god is Helios and to be identified with the angel Metatron. [11]
The combination of zodiac signs grouped around Helios and with personifications of the four seasons in the corners is typical for ancient synagogues from Eretz Israel. [12] However, Ruth Jacoby signalled in 2001 the only known exception, from the Tallaras Baths in Astypalaea, Greece. [12] There, the scheme is completed by the personifications of the twelve solar months, which surround those of the lunar calendar (the zodiac signs). [12] Additionally, two more similar examples from Greece are known, none of them synagogues, where the four seasons in the corners are however replaced by the four winds of heaven: one in Sparta (4th century), which also has the solar calendar (the twelve months), and one from Thessaloniki. [12] Jacoby suggests that the depiction of the lunar and solar calendars, both in use at the time, must have been such common motifs that they reached even such a remote place as the island of Astypalaea. [12]
The mosaic reproduced here dates to the 3rd century, [13] the Imperial Roman period. At the centre it has the representations of the seven Roman gods after whom the days of the week were named in Latin - in the centre Cronus or Saturn (Saturday), then clockwise from top Venus (Friday), Mars (Tuesday), Luna (Monday), Sol (Sunday), Mercury (Wednesday), and Iovis (Thursday) -, surrounded by the zodiac signs - clockwise from the top: Aquarius is missing, Virgo is missing, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aries is missing, Pisces, Leo, Taurus, Gemini is missing, and Cancer. [13] [14] [15] The mosaic comes from Bir Chana in the Zaghouan region of Tunisia (part of the Roman province of Africa at the time) and is on display at the Bardo Museum in Tunis. [13] [15]
Roman Mithraic depictions of Mithras slaying the bull can contain the images of Sol in his quadriga and the zodiac signs. [16]
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly popular in the Ancient Roman world.
The Dura-Europos synagogue was an ancient Jewish former synagogue discovered in 1932 at Dura-Europos, Syria. The former synagogue contained a forecourt and house of assembly with painted walls depicting people and animals, and a Torah shrine in the western wall facing Jerusalem. It was built backing on to the city wall, which was important in its survival. The last phase of construction was dated by an Aramaic inscription to 244 CE, making it one of the oldest synagogues in the world. It was unique among the many ancient synagogues that have emerged from archaeological excavations as the structure was preserved virtually intact, and it had extensive figurative wall-paintings, which came as a considerable surprise to scholars. These paintings are now displayed in the National Museum of Damascus.
Beit Alfa is a kibbutz in the Northern District of Israel, founded in 1922 by immigrants from Poland. Located at the base of the Gilboa ridge, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gilboa Regional Council. As of 2022 its population was 1,386.
Sepphoris, known in Hebrew as Tzipori and in Arabic as Saffuriya is an archaeological site and former Palestinian village located in the central Galilee region of Israel, 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) north-northwest of Nazareth. It lies 286 meters (938 ft) above sea level and overlooks the Beit Netofa Valley. The site holds a rich and diverse historical and architectural legacy that includes remains from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, early Islamic, Crusader, Mamluk and Ottoman periods.
Astrology has been a topic of debate among Jews for over 2000 years. While not a Jewish practice or teaching as such, astrology made its way into Jewish thought, as can be seen in the many references to it in the Talmud. Astrological statements became accepted and worthy of debate and discussion by Torah scholars. Opinions varied: some rabbis rejected the validity of astrology; others accepted its validity but forbid practicing it; still others thought its practice to be meaningful and permitted. In modern times, as science has rejected the validity of astrology, many Jewish thinkers have similarly rejected it; though some continue to defend the pro-astrology views that were common among pre-modern Jews.
Jewish art, or the art of the Jewish people, encompasses a diverse range of creative endeavors, spanning from ancient Jewish art to contemporary Israeli art. Jewish art encompasses the visual plastic arts, sculpture, painting, and more, all influenced by Jewish culture, history, and religious beliefs.
The Jericho synagogue is a Jewish synagogue, located in Jericho, in the State of Palestine. The synagogue was built in the Byzantine Empire-era and is believed to date from the late 6th or early 7th century CE and was discovered in 1936. All that remains from the ancient prayer house is its mosaic floor, which contains an Aramaic inscription presenting thanks to the synagogue donors, and a well-preserved central medallion with the inscription "Shalom al Israel", meaning "Peace [up]on Israel". This led to the site also being known as Shalom Al Israel Synagogue.
Yafa an-Naseriyye is an Arab town in Israel. It forms part of the metropolitan area of Nazareth, also an Arab locality. Declared a local council in 1960, it had a population of 19,704 in 2022, approximately 70% of whom were Muslim and 30% Christian.
Heftziba is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located on the boundaries of the Jezreel and Beit She'an Valleys between the cities of Afula and Beit She'an, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gilboa Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 758.
Early Byzantine mosaics in the Middle East are a group of Christian mosaics created between the 4th and the 8th centuries in ancient Syria, Palestine and Egypt when the area belonged to the Byzantine Empire. The eastern provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire and its continuation, the Byzantine Empire, inherited a strong artistic tradition from pagan Late Antiquity. The tradition of making mosaics was carried on in the Umayyad era until the end of the 8th century. The great majority of these works of art were later destroyed but archeological excavations unearthed many surviving examples.
Beth Alpha is an ancient former Jewish synagogue, located at the foot of the northern slopes of the Gilboa mountains near Beit She'an, in the Northern District of Israel. The synagogue was completed in the sixth-century CE and is now part of Bet Alfa Synagogue National Park and managed by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
The Gaza synagogue is a former ancient Jewish synagogue, that was built in 508 CE during the Byzantine period, Located in the ancient port city of Gaza, then known as "Maiumas", currently the Rimal district of Gaza City, in the State of Palestine, the archeological ruins of the former synagogue were discovered in 1965.
The Tzippori Synagogue, also known as the Sepphoris Synagogue, is a former ancient Jewish synagogue, now an archaeological site and a national park, that was discovered in Sepphoris, a Roman-era Jewish city in the Galilee, in northwestern Israel.
The Hand of God, or Manus Dei in Latin, also known as Dextera domini/dei, is a motif in Jewish and Christian art, especially of the Late Antique and Early Medieval periods, when depiction of Yahweh or God the Father as a full human figure was considered unacceptable. The hand, sometimes including a portion of an arm, or ending about the wrist, is used to indicate the intervention in or approval of affairs on Earth by God, and sometimes as a subject in itself. It is an artistic metaphor that is generally not intended to indicate that a hand was physically present or seen at any subject depicted. The Hand is seen appearing from above in a fairly restricted number of narrative contexts, often in a blessing gesture, but sometimes performing an action. In later Christian works it tends to be replaced by a fully realized figure of God the Father, whose depiction had become acceptable in Western Christianity, although not in Eastern Orthodox or Jewish art. Though the hand of God has traditionally been understood as a symbol for God's intervention or approval of human affairs, it is also possible that the hand of God reflects the anthropomorphic conceptions of the deity that may have persisted in late antiquity.
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.
Huqoq or Hukkok was an ancient Jewish village, located 12.5 km north of Tiberias. The area had been settled since ancient times and is mentioned in the Book of Joshua. The Palestinian village of Yaquq later stood at Huqoq's location, and a fort named Hukok was built near the site on 11 July 1945, later followed by a kibbutz.
Synagogal Judaism or Synagogal and Sacerdotal Judaism was a branch of Judaism that emerged around the 2nd century BCE with the construction of the first synagogues in the Jewish diaspora and ancient Judea. Parallel to Rabbinic Judaism and Jewish Christianity, it developed after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE.
Ancient Jewish art, is art created by Jews in both the Land of Israel and in the Diaspora prior to the Middle Ages. It features symbolic or figurative motifs often influenced by biblical themes, religious symbols, and the dominant cultures of the time, including Egyptian, Hellenistic, and Roman art.
