List of Illustrations

Fig. 1

Three-stage chronological development of Palestinian synagogues: Top: Capernaum. Lee I. Levine, ed., Ancient Synagogues Revealed, 13. Courtesy of the Israel Exploration Society. © All rights reserved. Middle: Eshtemoa. Lee I. Levine, ed., Ancient Synagogues Revealed, 120. Courtesy of the Israel Exploration Society. © All rights reserved. Bottom: Bet Alpha. Eleazar Lipa Sukenik, The Ancient Synagogue of Beth Alpha (Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1931). Courtesy of the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 2

Plans of two neighbouring third-century synagogues: Meiron (top); Khirbet Shema‘ (bottom). Courtesy of Eric Meyers. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 3

Two synagogues facing northwest, away from Jerusalem: Left: Bet Shean A. Nehemiah Zori, ‘The Ancient Synagogue at Beth-Shean’, Eretz-Israel 8 (1967): 149–67 (155). Courtesy of the Israel Exploration Society. © All rights reserved. Right: Sepphoris. Courtesy of Zeev Weiss. Drawing by Rachel Laureys. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 4

Mosaic floors from three sixth-century synagogues in the Bet Shean area. Top: halakhic inscription from Rehov. Lee I. Levine, Ancient Synagogues Revealed, 147. Courtesy of the Israel Exploration Society. © All rights reserved. Bottom left: Nilotic themes from Bet Shean B. Nehemiah Zori, ‘The House of Kyrios Leontis at Beth Shean’, Israel Exploration Journal 16 (1966): 123–34. Courtesy of the Israel Exploration Society. © All rights reserved. Bottom right: zodiac from Bet Alpha. Nahman Avigad, ‘Beth Alpha’, in The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, ed. by Ephraim Stern, 4 vols. (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society; Carta, 1993), I, 190–92. Courtesy of the Israel Exploration Society. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 5

The Capernaum synagogue. Top: Façade reconstruction. Heinrich Kohl and Carl Watzinger, Antike Synagogen in Galilaea (Leipzig: Heinrichs, 1916). Public Domain. Bottom: aerial view. Courtesy of the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 6

Eight Greek dedicatory inscriptions on the mosaic floor of the Hammat Tiberias synagogue. Moshe Dothan, Hammath Tiberias (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1983), plates 10/11. Courtesy of the Israel Exploration Society. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 7

Menorah carved on a decorated capital from the ʿEn Neshut synagogue. Zvi U. Ma‘oz, ‘‘En Neshut’, in The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, ed. by Ephraim Stern, 4 vols. (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society; Carta, 1993), II, 412–14. Courtesy of the Israel Exploration Society. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 8

Reconstruction of a marble menorah from the Ma‘on synagogue. N. Slouschz, ‘Concerning the Excavations and/or the Synagogue at Hamat–Tiberias’, Journal of the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society 1 (1921): 5–36 (32). Courtesy of the Israel Exploration Society. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 9

Part of the mosaic floor in the Jericho synagogue. Photo by Gilead Peli. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 10

The Aqedah (Binding of Isaac) scene in the Bet Alpha synagogue. Eleazar Lipa Sukenik, The Ancient Synagogue of Beth Alpha (Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1931). Courtesy of the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 11

Figure of David from the Gaza synagogue. Courtesy of the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 12

Figure of Samson from the Huqoq synagogue. Courtesy of Jodi Magness. Photograph by Jim Haberman. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 13

Inscription on a mosaic floor in the En Gedi synagogue. Lee I. Levine, Ancient Synagogues Revealed, 141. Courtesy of the Israel Exploration Society. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 14

Zodiac motif and figure of Helios on the mosaic floor of the fourth-century Hammat Tiberias synagogue. Moshe Dothan, Hammath Tiberias (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1983), plates 10/11. Courtesy of the Israel Exploration Society. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 1

One of the two earliest royal inscriptions invoking the One God; it comes from Ẓafār, Ḥimyar’s capital (Garb Bayt al-Ashwal 2, January 384 CE). Photograph by Christian Julien Robin. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 2

Two fragments of the inscription of King Shuriḥbiʾīl Yaʿfur commemorating an important reconstruction of the Ma ʾrib Dam (Ma ʾrib, CIH 540, January 456 CE). Photograph by Christian Julien Robin. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 3

Inscription commemorating the building of a royal palace in the capital (Ẓafār, ẒM 1 = Garb Shuriḥbiʾīl Yaʿfur, December 462 CE). Photograph by Christian Julien Robin. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 4

Inscription commemorating the building by a Jew of a palace in the capital (Garb Bayt al-Ashwal 1, between 380 and 420 CE). Photograph by Christian Julien Robin. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 5

Garb Bayt al-Ashwal 1: Hebrew graffito in the central monogram. Photograph by Christian Julien Robin. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 6

Inscription commemorating the blockade of Najrān in June–July 523 CE by the Ḥimyarite army sent by King Joseph (Ḥimà, al-Kawkab, Ry 508, June 523 CE). Photograph by MAFSN. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 7

Inscription carved by the two chiefs of the Ḥimyarite army sent by King Joseph (Ḥimà, al-Kawkab, Ry 515, June 523 CE). Photograph by MAFSN. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 8

Another inscription commemorating the blockade of de Najrān in June–July 523 CE by the Ḥimyarite army of King Joseph (Ḥimà, the wells, Ja 1028, July 523 CE). Photograph by the MAFSN. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 9

Detail of Ja 1028, July 523 CE: The last line is to be read rb-hd b-mḥmd, ‘Lord of the Jews with the Praised One’. Photograph by the MAFSN. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 10

(above and bottom) Princely inscription commemorating the building of a mikrāb: Ry 534 + Rayda 1, reprinted back to front to facilitate reading (Rayda, 55 km north of Ṣanʿāʾ, August 433 CE). Photograph by the MAFY. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 11

Inscription commemorating the building of two palaces in the capital (Ẓafār, ẒM 5 + 8 + 10, February 432 CE). Photograph by Christian Julien Robin. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 12

Another inscription commemorating the building of a palace in the capital; in line 8, its authors claim to belong to the commune Israel (Ẓafār, ẒM 2000, April 470 CE). Photograph by Ibrāhīm al-Hudayd. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 13

Princely inscription creating a cemetery intended for Jews (Ḥaṣī, some 220 km southeast of Ṣanʿāʾ, MAFRAY-Ḥaṣī 1). Drawing by Maria Gorea. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 14

List of Mishmarot of Bayt Ḥāḍir, 15 km east of Ṣanʿāʾ. Drawing by Maria Gorea. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 15

Princely inscription commemorating the construction of a mikrāb in the vicinity of Ṣanʿāʾ; dated August [36]3 or [37]3 CE, it is from before the ruler’s conversion to Judaism (YM 1950). Photograph by Iwona Gajda. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 16

Inscription commemorating the construction of a palace at Naʿḍ, 35 km southeast of Ṣanʿāʾ (SR-Naʿḍ 9, the date has been mutilated, but it is either 430–440 or 460–470 CE). Photograph by Sarah Rijziger. © All rights reserved.

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Map 1

South Arabia. Drawing by Daniel Stoekl, Hélène David-Cuny, and Astrid Emery (2020).

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Map 2

The Arabian Peninsula. Drawing by Daniel Stoekl, Hélène David-Cuny, and Astrid Emery (2020).

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Fig. 1

Epitaph of Rebbi Abba Maris (Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale). Photograph by Giancarlo Lacerenza. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 2

Epitaph of the prostates Binyamin (Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale). Photograph by Giancarlo Lacerenza. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 3

Epitaph of Venus, daughter of Rabbi Abundantius (Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum X 3303). Public Domain.

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Fig. 4

Epitaph of Faustina, daughter of Faustinus (Venosa, Jewish Catacombs). Photograph by Cesare Colafemmina. The University of Naples “L’Orientale” Archive. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 5

Memorial stone of Anna, daughter of Rabbi Julius (Oria, Biblioteca Comunale). Photograph by Giancarlo Lacerenza. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 6

Epitaph of Rabbi Barukh ben Rabbi Yonah (Brindisi, Museo Archeologico Provinciale). Photograph of the University of Naples “L’Orientale” Archive. © All rights reserved.

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Fig. 7

Epitaph of Rabbi Abraham (Venosa, Abbey of the Most Holy Trinity). Photograph by Giancarlo Lacerenza. © All rights reserved.

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