L’edificio sinagogale antico: pianta e funzioni

The archaeological research of the ancient synagogues in Israel has been enriched by the recent discoveries of synagogal buildings in Jericho (1998) and in Magdala (2009). The two buildings are both of the hasmonean period, i. e. middle of the 1st century B.C. The article summarises the archaological findings of those discoveries and then compares it with other synagogues of the same period (Gamla, Magdala, Herodium, Masada). The study of the ancient synagogues has shown that these were all very small square buildings, with columns to delineate the place of prayer, graded banks along the sides of the main area (that oriented the attentions to the center of the building where the Torah was brought); and these early synagogues had no fixed orientation. The ancient synagogue had a double function: liturgical and social, that appears evident in the synagogues found in Israel and in the Jewish Diaspora belonging to the roman and byzantine period.