Synagoga Ostiensis

About

One of the oldest synagogue sites in the Jewish diaspora, serving Ostia's port-town Jewish community from as early as the reign of Claudius in the mid-1st century CE. Its excavator identified a purpose-built prayer hall from this period, complete with a later aedicula for the Torah shrine. Ostia's Jewish community was worshipping on this spot well before 117 CE, whatever form the building itself had taken by then.

What happened here

A meeting house rather than a temple, and the building follows the community rather than a plan. There is a hall with benches along the walls, a niche or chest holding the scrolls, and often a dining room, because communal meals matter as much as the readings. Scripture is read and translated aloud, and interpretation is argued over openly. The community keeps its own funds for the poor and its own burial ground, and sends money to Jerusalem — a practice that survives the destruction of the Temple in a changed form. Non-Jews attend as interested outsiders and are welcome without being members. Inscriptions record donors, including women holding titles of office. Under Roman law the community's right to meet and to keep the sabbath is protected.

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostia_Synagogue
• https://www.romanports.org/en/articles/ports-in-focus/25-the-synagogue.html
• L. Michael White, 'Synagogue and Society in Imperial Ostia: Archaeological and Epigraphic Evidence', Harvard Theological Review 90 (1997)
• M. Floriani Squarciapino, excavation reports on the Ostia synagogue (1961-64)