The ancient synagogue of Gaza was built in 508 CE during the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

period and was discovered in 1965. It was located in the ancient port city of Gaza, then known as "

Maiuma Maiuma or Maiumas was an ancient town at the site of present-day Rimal near Gaza, Palestine. History of Maiuma In antiquity, Gaza port was the principal port on the Mediterranean serving the Incense Road. Strabo and Ptolemy referred to it as ''G ...

s", currently the Rimal district of

Gaza City Gaza (;''The New Oxford Dictionary of English'' (1998), , p. 761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory in Palestine, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza...". ar, غَزَّة ', ), also referred to as Gaza City, i ...

History

In 1965,

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

ian archaeologists discovered the site and announced they had uncovered a church. Later a mosaic of

King David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

wearing a crown and playing a

lyre The lyre () is a stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the lute-family of instruments. In organology, a lyre is considered a yoke lute, since it is a lute in which the strings are attached to a yoke ...

, labelled in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, was found. The mosaic was dated to 508-09 CE and measured high by wide. It was originally described as depicting a female saint playing the harp. The Egyptian archaeologists stated that the mosaic was in fact an Orpheus mosaic,

Orpheus Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with Jaso ...

being a figure from

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

who was commonly associated with

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

or David and used in

Byzantine art Byzantine art comprises the body of Christian Greek artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire. Though the empire itself emerged from the decline of Rome and lasted ...

.Israel Museum
/ref> Shortly after the mosaic's discovery, the main figure's face was gouged out. When Israel captured the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

in the 1967

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

, the mosaic was transferred to the

Israel Museum The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...

for restoration. The mosaic floor of the synagogue is on show at the Museum of the Good Samaritan, located on the Jerusalem-Jericho Road near the

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, or Israeli colonies, are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish ethnicity, built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community considers Israeli se ...

of Ma'ale Adumim in the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

.Mosaic museum opens in the West Bank
/ref>

Description

Mosaic floor

The best known panel of the mosaic floor shows King David, who is named in a Hebrew inscription reading "David" (), while sitting and playing a lyre with a number of wild animals listening tamely in front of him. The iconography is a clear example of David being depicted in the posture of the legendary Greek musician Orpheus.James R. Russell
The Lyre of King David and the Greeks
note 18. Published i
Judaica Petropolitana No. 8
(2017), pp. 12-33, ISSN 2307-9053

References

External links

Mosaic from the floor of the ancient synagogue at Gaza

Photos of the Gaza Synagogue
at the Manar al-Athar photo archive {{Gaza City 500s establishments in the Byzantine Empire 6th-century synagogues Ancient synagogues in the Land of Israel Buildings and structures in Gaza City Byzantine mosaics Jewish art Jews and Judaism in the Byzantine Empire Synagogues in the Gaza Strip 1965 archaeological discoveries

History

Description

Mosaic floor

References

Further reading

External links