The Synagogue in the Agora of Athens is an ancient
synagogue located in the
Ancient Agora of Athens
The ancient Agora of Athens (also called the Classical Agora) is the best-known example of an ancient Greek agora, located to the northwest of the Acropolis and bounded on the south by the hill of the Areopagus and on the west by the hill ...
.
During an excavation in the summer of 1977, a piece of
Pentelic marble apparently once part of a curvilinear frieze over a doorway or niche was discovered a few meters from the northeast corner of the
Metroon
A metroon (, or ) was an ancient Greek temple dedicated to a mother goddess. They were often devoted to Cybele, Demeter, or Rhea.
Athens
Coordinates:
The Athenian Metroon was located on the west side of the city's Agora, in the Old Bouleut ...
.
The marble fragment is incised with the images of a seven-branched
Menorah and a
Lulav
''Lulav'' (; he, לולב) is a closed frond of the date palm tree. It is one of the Four Species used during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. The other Species are the '' hadass'' ( myrtle), '' aravah'' (willow), and ''etrog'' (citron). When ...
, or palm branch. The synagogue is thought to date from the period between 267 and 396 CE.
[''Ancient Synagogues: Historical Analysis and Archaeological Discovery,'' Dan Urman, Paul Virgil McCracken Flesher
Contributor Dan Urman, BRILL, 1998, pp. 125 ff.]
Biblical reference
The apostle
Paul
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
* Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
*Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...
is said in the
Book of Acts to have visited a synagogue in Athens. The identity of that synagogue cannot be firmly established.
[The Book of the Acts, Frederick Fyvie Bruce, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1988, p. 329]
See also
*
History of the Jews in Greece
The history of the Jews in Greece can be traced back to at least the fourth century BCE. The oldest and the most characteristic Jewish group that has inhabited Greece are the Romaniotes, also known as "Greek Jews." The term "Greek Jew" is pred ...
*
Oldest synagogues in the world
Historic synagogues include synagogues that date back to ancient times and synagogues that represent the earliest Jewish presence in cities around the world. Some synagogues were destroyed and rebuilt several times on the same site. Others we ...
References
Ancient synagogues
Ancient Jewish Greek history
Synagogues in Athens
Ancient Agora of Athens
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