Sardis Synagogue

38.48833333333328.040277777778Koordinaten: 38 ° 29 ' 18 "N, 28 ° 2' 25" E

The synagogue of Sardis was discovered in 1962 during excavations in Sardis. The late antique building is one of the best preserved and largest ancient Jewish houses of worship outside of Palestine.

The building stands in the center of the city. At the site of the later building initially on a bath and a gymnasium. Any modifications of a part of the bath it was a great hall with a preceded by the atrium in the middle is a huge, stone chalice today. The building was 120 m long, 18 m wide and represents a typical basilica dar. There is a long central hall, flanked by two rows of columns. At the end is an apse and a marble table. It is thought that they could hold about 1,000 worshipers, again indicating an indication of the size of the community and its prosperity in Sardis. The building is richly decorated with geometric mosaics. The walls were covered with colored marble.

The exact dating of the synagogue is controversial in research. On the basis of coins under the mosaics was dated to the fourth century. Recent studies of the style of the mosaics suggest, however, that the mosaics and thus the synagogue are to be classified in the sixth century. It could also be that there is here in the fourth century was a house of God, which was then richly decorated in the sixth century.

There were several Greek and Hebrew inscriptions that allow the identification of the building as a synagogue.