Naʿaran Synagogue
Coordinates: 31 ° 54 ′ 47 " N , 35 ° 28 ′ 9" E
The Synagogue of Naʿaran was an ancient synagogue from Byzantine times at Kibbutz Naʿaran, about 5 km north of Jericho .
During the First World War , the area around Jericho was fought over between troops from the Ottoman Empire and the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). When a shell was fired in the summer of 1918, parts of an ancient mosaic were exposed. The field chaplain of the Australian troops WM Woods, a passionate hobby archaeologist, identified the place according to the pilgrimage report of the Russian abbot Daniel from the 12th century with the biblical Gilgal , in the place of which a church is said to have been built under Emperor Constantine . Parts of the mosaic were recovered and brought to Australia as spoils of war. They can be seen there to this day in the Anglican St. James Church in Sydney. After the end of the war, the place was examined by the Dominicans Louis-Hugues Vincent and Marie-Joseph Lagrange from the École biblique and excavated by Vincent. The finds clearly showed that the building must be a synagogue, as the mosaic floor shows Jewish symbols such as the menorah , the shofar or a lulav , as well as Aramaic and Hebrew dedicatory inscriptions. Other parts of the mosaic were removed and taken to the museum of the École biblique.
The excavated ruins of the building are now on the kibbutz grounds under a protective roof.
literature
- Alexandra Ariotti: Rediscovering an Anzac souvenir from the Holy Land: the St James' church mosaic fragment. In: Journal of Australian Studies 31 (2007), 115-122, 192-193.
- Michael Avi-Yonah : Na'aran. In: New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land 3 , 1075-1076.