1 The environs of Magdala in the first century CE 10
2 General plan of the excavations at Magdala 29
3 General plan of the excavations in the northern area at Magdala 30
4 A street leading from the quay to the west edge of Magdala 32
5 Small fish pools or vats 32
6 A sealed opening near the synagogue 34
7 A ritual bath in Area A 34
8 Pottery vessels in a large building near the sea of Galilee 36
9 General view of the synagogue in northern Magdala 39
10 Stratum 1 in the synagogue at Magdala 40
11 Plan of Stratum 1 in the synagogue. The walls of stratum 2 are marked in grey 41
12 A wall abutted by a floor in stratum 2 42
13 An earlier wall which was integrated in the construction of stratum 1 42
14 Detailed plan of the Magdala synagogue 43
15 Block plan of the synagogue showing the main hall, the elongated western hall and the storage room 44
16 Proposed reconstruction of the main hall by Ehud Netzer 46
17 A column preserved in place 47
18 A fallen column in the hall 47
19 Column drums and capitals incorporated in a sealed opening near the synagogue 48
20 Architectural elements incorporated in a sealed opening near the synagogue 49
21 The northern aisle and the benches in the main hall 50
22 An old lintel that was transformed into a bench 50
23 Two limestone blocks placed at the front of the western chamber 51
24 Small stones wedged under the beams of the benches 52
25 Sections of fresco in situ 52
26 Remains of fresco above the bench 53
27 A chiseled square block with two shallow grooves in the main hall of the synagogue 54
28 The eastern aisle in the main hall 55
29 The rosette in the mosaic of the eastern aisle 56
30 The Magdala stone at the place of its recovery 56
31 General view of the two parts of the storage room 57
32 The floor mosaic adorning the first stage of the storage room 58
33 The second stage in the small storage room 59
34 Remains of fresco on the dividing wall (W158) 60
35 General view of the western hall, looking north 60
36 General view of the western hall, looking south 61
37 The western hall looking east 62
38 The polished block with two grooves near the center of the western hall
39 An aisle and a bench in the western hall 62
40 Column drums which supported stone beams 63
41 Stones of a doorpost featuring drafted margins similar to the ones that adorn the walls of the Temple Mount 65
42 The inscription from the ʿOphel in Jerusalem (Chronicles of the Land: Archaeology in Israel Museum, Jerusalem, fig. 18) 74
43 The synagogue at Masada (Ben-Tor, Back to Masada, 39) 76
44 The synagogue at Herodium (Netzer, “The Synagogues of the Second Temple Period,” 10) 77
45 Khirbet Wadi Ḥamam – Stratum 3 (courtesy of Uzi Leibner, Khirbet Wadi Ḥamam, 29, fig. 2.6) 81
46 The synagogue at Gamla (Netzer, “The Synagogues of the Second Temple Period,” 2004, 10) 85
47 The synagogue at Qiryat Sefer (Magen, Zionit and Sirkis, “Qiryat Sefer: A Jewish Village and a Synagogue,” 25–32) 86
48 The synagogue at Umm el-ʿUmdan (Onn, Weksler-Bdolach and Rapuano, “Hurvat Umm el-ʿUmdan in Modiin,” 28, ill. 3) 87
49 Bouleuterion (after Foerster, “Architectural Models of the Greco-Roman Period and the Origin of the ‘Galilean’ Synagogue,” 45) 88
50 The first synagogue at Umm el-ʿUmdan (Onn, Weksler-Bdolach and Rapuano, “Hurvat Umm el-ʿUmdan in Modiin,” 26, ill. 2) 89
51 The Synagogue at Qiryat Sefer – a suggested reconstruction (Magen, Zionit and Sirkis, “Qiryat Sefer: A Jewish Village and a Synagogue of the Second Temple Period,” 25–32) 92
52 Gamla – a six-petaled rosette on the lintel of the hall’s doorway (Gutman, “The Synagogue at Gamla,” 34) 94
53 The synagogue at Khirbet Qana (courtesy of the University of Puget Sound and Center College Excavations at Khirbet Qana) 96
54 Room A-6 in the early-stage synagogue at Khirbet Wadi Ḥamam (courtesy of Uzi Leibner, Khirbet Wadi Ḥamam, 68, fig. 2.89) 99
55 Room 4 in the earlier complex of the synagogue at Dura Europos (Kraeling, The Synagogue, Plan VIII.2) 101
56 A study hall at Kom el-Dikka in Alexandria (G. Majcherek, Alexandria Project, PCMA archive) 109
57 The Magdala stone – a three-dimensional scanning (courtesy of The Israel Antiquities Authority) 115
58 The upper face of the Magdala stone (courtesy of The Israel Antiquities Authority) 116
59 One of the short sides of the Magdala stone with a seven-branched menorah (courtesy of The Israel Antiquities Authority) 120
60 A coin of Mattathias Antigonus with a menorah (Meshorer, A Treasury of Jewish Coins, 56) 120
61 The showbread table on the obverse side of a coin of Mattathias Antigonus (Meshorer, A Treasury of Jewish Coins, 54) 121
62 An engraving on the plaster of an affluent home in Jerusalem (Narkiss, “A Scheme of the Sanctuary from the Time of Herod the Great,” fig. 1) 122
63 The top face of the Magdala stone (courtesy of The Israel Antiquities Authority) 128
64 The Temple façade depicted on a silver coin from the Bar-Kochba Revolt (Meshorer, A Treasury of Jewish Coins, 134) 130
65 The side face of the Magdala stone (courtesy of The Israel Antiquities Authority) 135
66 The parallel side face of the Magdala stone (courtesy of The Israel Antiquities Authority) 135
67 An ossuary fashioned in the form of a building (Treasures of the Holy Land, 1986, 224) 137
68 Hypothetical reconstruction of the Temple (Roitman, The Secret of the Sanctuary: Following the Temple Scroll, 49) 138
69 The rear face of the Magdala stone (courtesy of The Israel Antiquities Authority) 140
70 A coin of the Persian satrap of Judea (YHD) (Meshorer, A Treasury of Jewish Coins, 11) 145
71 The Magdala stone – a general view (courtesy of The Israel Antiquities Authority) 155
72 A model of a temple from Khirbet Qeiyafa (courtesy of Yosef Garfinkel, Khirbet Qeiyafa’s Excavations, photographed by Gabi Laron) 160
73 A cult stand from Taʿanach (Treasures of the Holy Land, 1986, 162) 162
74 The Ḥorvat Kur stone – the upper part (courtesy of Jürgen K. Zangenberg) 217
75 The Ḥorvat Kur stone – one of the long sides (courtesy of Jürgen K. Zangenberg) 218
76 The Ḥorvat Kur stone – a gate closed by two doors (courtesy of Jürgen K. Zangenberg) 218
77 The Ḥorvat Kur stone – depiction of vessels (courtesy of Jürgen K. Zangenberg) 219
78 A textile from Qumran with concentric rectangles pattern (Barthélemy and Milik (eds.), Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, I: Qumran Cave I. pl. IV) 221
79 The stone at Ḥorvat Kanaf (courtesy of Oren Zingboym) 223
80 The stone at Deir ʿAziz (courtesy of Oren Zingboym) 224
81 A stone fragment from Khirbet Wadi Ḥamam (courtesy of Uzi Leibner, Khirbet Wadi Ḥamam, 125, fig. 3.44) 225
82 A depression on the floor of the synagogue of stage 1 in Nabratein (Meyers and Meyers, Excavations at Ancient Nabratein, 34, fig. 7) 227
83 A patch on the plaster floor in the first synagogue at Dura Europos (Kraeling, The Synagogue, Plan V) 228
84 A unique stone at Korazim (photographed by author) 229
85 A typical kibotos 235
86 A Jewish gold glass from Rome with an aron (Treasures of the Holy Land, 1986, 264) 237
87 Hammath Tiberias – The Early Synagogue (Dothan, Hammath Tiberias, Early Synagogues, 22) 239
88 Meroth – The Early Synagogue (Ilan and Damati, Meroth; The Ancient Jewish Village, 45) 240
89 Korazim synagogue (Yeivin, The Synagogue at Korazim, 7) 241
90 Dura Europos synagogue, Moses or Ezra reading a scroll near a cloth-covered kibotos or capsa (Kraeling, The Synagogue, pl. LXXVII) 243
91 A stone chair at Delos (Bruneau, Recherches sur les cultes de Délos, 1970) 245
92 A stone chair from Hammath Tiberias (Slouschz’s excavation) (after Rahmani, “Stone Synagogue Chairs,” 194, fig. 1) 246
93 The synagogue at Hammath Tiberias with an indication of the location of the cathedra for an important person (Slouschz’s excavation) (Ilan, Ancient Synagogues in Israel, 139) 246
94 A stone chair from Korazim (Chronicles of the Land, 163, fig. 6) 247
95 A stone seat at Ḥorvat Kur (courtesy of Jürgen K. Zangenberg) 248
96 A special seat integrated in the benches of the synagogue of Dura Europos (Sukenik, The Synagogue of Dura Europos and Its Paintings, 47, ill. 15) 249
97 A special seat integrated in the benches of the synagogue at Ein Gedi (Ilan, Ancient Synagogues in Israel, 320) 250
98 Mordechai Aviam’s reconstruction of the Magdala stone (Aviam, “The Decorated Stone from the Synagogue at Migdal,” 217, fig. 5) 258
99 “Empty thrones” (Mettinger, “Israelite Aniconism: Developments and Origins,” 196, figs. 4, 5 and 6) 268
100 A mosaic depicting a sacred architectural façade flanked by seven branched candelabra, Beth Alpha synagogue (courtesy of The Center for Jewish Art, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, photographed by Zev Radovan) 277
101 The synagogue at stage 2A at Hammath Tiberias (Dothan, Hammath Tiberias, Early Synagogues, 28–29, plan D) 291
102 Plan of the synagogue at Ḥorvat Susiya (Gutmann, Yeivin and Netzer, “Excavations in the Synagogue at Ḥorvat Susyia,” 123 291
103 The synagogue at Ḥorvat Shemaʿ (Meyers, Kraabel and Strange, Ancient Synagogue Excavations at Khirbet Shemaʿ, 83, fig. 3.14) 298
104 The synagogue at Katzrin – early phase with a side room to store the scrolls (Maʿoz, “The Synagogue at Qaṣrin,” 142) 299
105 The synagogue at Capernaum (Kohl and Watzinger, Antike Synagogen in Galilaea, pl. II) 300
106 A depression in the bema of the synagogue at Gush Halav (Meyers, Meyers and Strange, Excavations at the Ancient Synagogue of Gush Ḥalav, 79) 301
107 The larger aedicule at Dura Europos (Kraeling, The Synagogue, pl. LI) 303
108 A chancel screen from a synagogue (Kraeling, The Synagogue, fig. 291) 307
109 A raised foundation for a Torah shrine to one side of the Meroth synagogue’s main entrance (photographed by the author) 309
110 A large Torah shrine built close to the wall that contains aedicule (Yeivin, “The Synagogue of Eshtemoa,” 120) 309
111 A Torah shrine built within an apse, the synagogue at Beth Alpha (Sukenik, The Ancient Synagogue of Beth Alpha, pl. 27) 310
112 An aedicule from synagogue 2A at Nabratein (Meyers and Meyers, Excavations at Ancient Nabratein, 86, fig. 27) 318
113 Synagogue 2B at Nabratein (Meyers and Meyers, Excavations at Ancient Nabratein, 54, fig. 11) 319
114 The synagogue at Ḥorvat Shemaʿ schematic ground plan of synagogue 1 (Meyers, Kraabel and Strange, Ancient Synagogue Excavations at Khirbet Shemaʿ, 37, fig. 3.3) 321
115 Ḥorvat Shemaʿ, schematic ground plan of synagogue 2 (Meyers, Kraabel and Strange, Ancient Synagogue Excavations at Khirbet Shemaʿ, 37, fig. 3.3) 322
116 Beth Sheʿarim, red colored painting on a sealing stone (Mazar (Maisler), Beth Sheʿarim Report, 87) 324
117 Leather straps discovered at Qumran (De Vaux and Milik (eds.), Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, pl. V) 325
118 Beth Sheʿarim, red colored painting in Alcove A (Mazar (Maisler), Beth Sheʿarim Report, 87) 326
119 A relief in Room 7 of Catacomb 4 at Beit Sheʿarim (Mazar (Maisler), Beth Sheʿarim Report, pl. XXXIV) 328
120 A small cabinet for scrolls depicted on a Late Roman relief (Metropolitan Museum, New York, photographed by the author) 330
121 The synagogue at Khirbet Wadi Ḥamam – level 2 (courtesy of Uzi Leibner, Khirbet Wadi Ḥamam, 28, fig. 2.5) 332
122 The synagogue at Nahal Gush Halav (Meyers, Meyers and Strange, Excavations at the Ancient Synagogue of Gush Ḥalav, 76, fig. 18) 334
123 The synagogue at Hammath Tiberias – level 2B (Dothan, Hammath Tiberias, Early Synagogues, 23, plan C) 336
124 Depiction of a vertical wooden cupboard at Hammath Tiberias (courtesy of The Center for Jewish Art, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, photographed by Zev Radovan) 337
125 The synagogue at Ostia (after Runesson, “The Synagogue at Ancient Ostia: The Building and its History From the First to the Fifth Century”) 338
126 The third stage in the synagogue at Meroth (Ilan and Damati, Meroth; The Ancient Jewish Village, 63) 341
127 The synagogue at Kafr Miṣr (Onn, “The Ancient Synagogue at Kafr Miṣr,” 118, plan 1) 343
128 The synagogue at Khirbet Samara, a mosaic in a niche between the row of benches (courtesy of Yitzhak Magen) 345
129 Khirbet Samara, depiction of a small sacred façade in the middle of the synagogue (courtesy of Yitzhak Magen) 346
130 Khirbet Samara in the Second Stage – a suggested reconstruction (Magen, “Samaritan Synagogues,” 416, ill. 38) 346
131 Ein Gedi – plan of the synagogue in Phases IIc and IIb (courtesy of Yosef Porath, The Synagogue at En-Gedi, 20, fig. 2.11) 348
132 Ein Gedi – plan of the synagogue in Phase IIa (courtesy of Yosef Porath, The Synagogue at En-Gedi, 29, fig. 2.23) 350
133 Ein Gedi synagogue – plan of the ark and bema (courtesy of Yosef Porath, The Synagogue at En-Gedi, 33, fig. 2.26) 351
134 Ein Gedi – hypothetical reconstruction of the Torah shrine and bema (courtesy of Yosef Porath, The Synagogue at En-Gedi, 109, fig. 6.3b) 352
135 The synagogue at Maʿon (Nirim) (Yogev, “The Synagogue at Maʿon – New Discoveries,” 209, fig. 1) 353
136 The last stage in the synagogue at Hammath Gader (Ilan, Ancient Synagogues in Israel, 91) 354
137 The synagogue of Ḥorvat Rimon (Kloner, “The Synagogue at Ḥorvat Rimon,” 65) 356
138 The synagogue at Umm el-Qanatir (photographed by the author) 357
139 Small cabinet on wheels for a Torah scroll in a synagogue at Avignon (courtesy of the Center for Jewish Art, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, photographed by Vladimir Levine) 362
140 The mosaic at Kefar ʿOthnay (Israel Antiquities Authority, Excavated by Yotam Tepper) 371
141 A suggested reconstruction of the Christian assembly hall at Kefar ʿOthnay (Megiddo) (courtesy of Yotam Tepper, Israel Antiquities Authority) 372
142 A Christian assembly hall with a raised platform at Dura Europos (on the left side of the complex) (Kraeling, The Christian Building, 4, fig. 1) 373
143 A single-focus church; Rehovot (in the Negev) – isometric reconstruction of the Northern Church (Tsafrir et al., Excavations at Rehovot-in-the-Negev Vol. I: The Northern Church, fig. 10) 379
144 Ambo from Khirbet Beit Sila (The Good Samaritan Museum, photographed by the author) 380
145 A throne of a book on a “Syriac bema”, Bennawi (Ross Burns/Manar al-Athar, www.manar-al-athar.ox.ac.uk) 381
146 Dual-focus space in a Syrian church (Taft, “Some Notes on the Bema,” 360) 382
147 The central bema mosaic in the church at Tayibat al-Imam (after Zaqzuq and Piccirillo, “The Mosaic Floor”) 388
148 The bema mosaic in the Oumm Harteyn church (Sean Leatherbury/Manar Al-Athar, www.manar-al-athar.ox.ac.uk) 389
149 A Greek inscription from Tayibat al-Imam mentioning the throne (thronos) (Jane Chick/Manar Al-Athar, www.manar-al-athar.ox.ac.uk) 390
150 A Syriac inscription in the church at Zebed (Butler, Early Churches in Syria, Fourth to Seventh Centuries, 217, fig. 217) 391
151 Hetoimasia (Staatliche Museen, Berlin, photographed by Brandenburg, Romische Mitteilungen, 1972, pl. 66) 405
152 Pottery vessels 419
153 The oil lamps 421
154 The stone vessels 423
155 Synagogue, main hall, southern wall, wall painting in situ 433
156 Synagogue, main hall, western wall, wall painting in situ 433
157 Synagogue, southern small room, wall painting in situ in western dividing wall 434
158 Synagogue, southern small room, wall painting in situ in eastern wall 434
159 Synagogue, wall painting fragments 436
160 Synagogue, wall painting fragments 437
161 Synagogue, wall painting fragments 438
162 Synagogue, wall painting fragments 438
163 Synagogue, wall painting fragments 439
164 Synagogue, wall painting fragments 442
165 Columns with Doric fluting reused in fortification wall of the village houses 446
166 The Stone rear side, the area of the sample is encircled. 458
166a Detail of the sample area 458
167 Photomicrograph of highly crystalised limestone, Bar-Kokhba Fm. (Middle Eocene) 460
168 Photomicrograph of crystalised limestone 461
169 Photomicrograph of crystalised limestone 461
170 Photomicrograph of limestone 462
171 Photomicrograph of limestone, Timrat Fm. (?) 462