Ostia Synagogue

About

The Ostia Synagogue lies among the brick streets of ancient Ostia, the seaport that served the city of Rome under the Empire, now an archaeological park in the Lazio region of Italy. Its building has been dated to the reign of the Emperor Claudius, between 41 and 54 CE, and continued in active use into the fifth century. It is one of the oldest synagogues in the world and the oldest surviving mainstream Jewish synagogue yet uncovered outside the Land of Israel.

Scholars continue to debate whether the structure began life as a synagogue in the first century or whether it was first a private dwelling later given over to congregational use. Either way, by its later phases it bore the unmistakable features of synagogue architecture: a main hall with benches along three walls, a monumental propylaeum carried on four marble columns, and a triclinium for communal meals. A water well and basin stood near the entrance for ritual purification.

The main door opens to the southeast, in the direction of Jerusalem, holding the building in the orientation of Jewish prayer through the ages. In the second century a wooden platform was added, donated by an early benefactor. By the third century a new Torah Ark had replaced it, given by one Mindus Faustus whose name a surviving inscription preserves. In the fourth century the present aedicula, the niche for the Torah scrolls, was set in place, completing the long sequence of devotional additions.

History

Built during or soon after the reign of Claudius, between 41 and 54 CE, the synagogue grew over four centuries into a complex with a columned propylaeum entrance, a main prayer hall lined with benches, and a triclinium for communal meals. A donor named Mindus Faustus gave a new Torah Ark in the third century, replaced in turn by the aedicula still visible today, set in place in the fourth century. The building remained in use as a synagogue into the fifth century CE and was later uncovered by archaeologists within what is now the Ostia Antica archaeological park.

Significance

Carved marble corbels from the shrine that once held the Torah scrolls show a seven-branched menorah, a shofar, a citron, and a bound lulav of palm, myrtle, and willow, symbols that a Greek donor inscription ties to hope for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. The synagogue's main door still opens toward the southeast, in the direction of Jerusalem, preserving the orientation of Jewish prayer across nineteen centuries.

Architecture

Roman-era synagogue architecture: a marble-columned propylaeum, a benched main prayer hall, and a triclinium, with a fourth-century aedicula for the Torah scrolls