Sardis Synagogue · Wikimedia Commons

Sardis Synagogue

Synagoga Sardiana

SynagogueAsia · Sart, Salihli, Manisa, TurkeyBuilt 270 CE · Destroyed 616 CE

Not standing in 117 CE

About

The grandest ancient synagogue found outside Israel, its hall able to seat a thousand worshippers under mosaic floors and marble-paneled walls. It was carved out of rooms inside the Roman bath-gymnasium complex, work usually dated to the late 3rd century CE at the earliest, though a Jewish community is attested at Sardis for centuries before that. In 117 CE the building did not yet exist; the space was still part of an unbuilt bathhouse. Coordinates are approximate.

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.