Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-04-23
LIFE IN MODERN PALESTINE.
characteristics of the Ruins of syna-
gOgues-A Curious Floor Discovered
excavation Near Eddtkke.

synagOgues is one OF great interest,", IN
regard TO which considerable mlsap~
prehension prevails even among arch
biologists, may be excused, writes a
Haifa correspondent to The New York
Sun, for entering upon short dlsquls-
ition upon the subject, as am not
aware that the great light which has
been thrown upon it by recent Pales
hnian research has yet been distribut-
ed in a popular form to the general
public, and the old and recognized
authorities are often misleading. For
example, Smiths Dictionary of the
Bible" contains a long article on
synagogues which has hitherto been
considered the great authority on the
subject, in which | observe that it
states under the subhead structure; ;"
sits position, however, was deter
mined. 1t stood, if possible, on the
aighest ground, on or near the city to
which it belonged. It's direction, too,
was fixed. Jerusalem was the Kiblen
of Jewish devotion The synagogue
was so constructed that the worship
pers, as they entered and, as they
prayed, looked toward it. e."
This may have been the case in res
pect of the earlier synagogues, loug
anterior to the time of Christ, the
traces of which have been lost, bat IN
the case of eleven which have been
discovered by the officers of the Pales
tine exploration fund, since the above
was written, no such rules have been
adhered to. These all date either
from the time of Christ, or shortly be-
fore it. We know they were syna-
gogues, and can approximately calcu~
late their dates, from the Hebrew in
scriptions found on some of them,
and from the emblems with which
they were ornamented, such as the
pot OF mama, the seven
branched candlesticks, and other
purely Jewish devices. In the
cases of these synagogues, many
of which / have seen, the build
ers have by no means selected the
most prominent positions; the existing
remains have, with two exceptions, -
at Irbid and at Eddikke, where the
ground would not admit of such an
arrangement their doors on the
southern side, so that every Jew
entering would have TO turn his back
on Jerusalem. The ark, if there was
one Of these synagogues, would be
necessarily, in that case, be placed on
the northern end, and the worshipers
would, therefore, have to pray with
their backs TO jerusalem.
We know, besides, how abhorrent
to the Jews were the figures of ami
mails, and the popular impression has
been that none such were permitted to
decorate their synagogues; yet in these
synagogues we find them prominently
carved in stone i'm six out Of the eleven.
The carved figures found at Eddikke
makes seventh, ana they probably
existed in the others, and in greater
quantities than those already noted,
but have been destroyed by the
as contrary to their re-
ligion. As may be supposed as they
were all built at nearly the same
period, there is a great similarity in
the architecture Of the synagogues
recently discovered. 1t was of an
extremely Aorid and somewhat debas-
ed Roman type. In all of them the
same class of mouldings is observable.
There is great resemblance in the
inches and cornices, while the capitals
show some variation, being Corin-
THAN, Doric, and Ionic. There is
also a great similarity in the ground
plau.and in the postlon Of the columns.
Ia the case of a Roman temple these
are all colonnades outside the building,
in cases of synagogues they are all
within it. There should be no posi-
bi'ity, therefore, of confusing a syna-
gogue with a Roman temple, even
though it abounds with Roman arch-
lecture; but it is not always so easy to
distinguish it from an early Christian
church or basiiica, where the columns
were also inside. The reason that the
architecture of these latter synagogues
was so purely Roman in character is
to be found ia the conditions under
which they were built. Shortly after
the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Romans, the Jewish Sanhedrim was
established at Liberals, under a
patriarchate whose authority was rec
bE hlANh ~ AtAb iOiNlA II AAAAkA lNACH az
Rome and ina Asia Minor. and large
numbers of these came to live in the
district, while aims poured into the
treasury at Liberals from all directions.
1t thus became very wealthy, and the
center of a great Jewish population.
1t was recognized by the Romans, and
by them granted many indulgences,
and during the reign of AntoniRus
Plus, A. d. 1873 161, increased IN power
and influence
At the beginning of the third cen
fury the Jews were ia high favor with
the Emperor Alexander Severus, who
was even called the Father of the
Synagogue, and this name may have
been given him from his influence
over the erection and architecture Of
these buildings. II seems, therefore,
almost certainty that the Roman
emperors aided and inspired The cree,
ton of these synagogues. They were
built by Roman labor, for the Jews,
being immersed in commercial pur-