Gaza Synagogue
The synagogue in Gaza is a Jewish place of worship Late Antique located in the center of the ancient city of Gaza. It was totally destroyed in ancient times and it still remains more than the first base and pavements of mosaic. His plan is still known: it was a basilica with five naves building, facing east, measuring approximately 26 x 30 m. Access was by three doors on the west side. The nave was completed at its eastern end by a semicircular apse projecting. The aisles were separated by colonnades along the entire length of the building. They were of slightly different width, so that the nave is slightly shifted towards the south.
The floor mosaics are well preserved west of the building and especially in the south wing: in the latter, a dedicatory inscription in Greek , refers to the date of 508 / 509. The reasons for these figurative mosaics include scrolls of foliage inhabited by different animals, and especially a David playing the harp and healing animals on the iconographic model of Orpheus : the biblical pattern is important in the discussion of Jewish figurative art in late antiquity.
The synagogue was probably destroyed in the early seventh century.
Bibliography
- G. Sed Rajna, Z. Amish-Maisels, D. Jarrass, R. Klein, Jewish Art, Citadel & Mazenod (1995)
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