Featured: Explore Scotland (and everywhere else) with our Megalithic Portal iPhone app

Explore Scotland (and everywhere else) with our Megalithic Portal iPhone app

Random Image


La Roche Vernaise

Circles of Stone - Max Milligan

Circles of Stone - Max Milligan

Who's Online

There are currently, 319 guests and 2 members online.

You are a guest. To join in, please register for free by clicking here

Sponsors

<< Our Photo Pages >> Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor - Ancient Temple in Israel

Submitted by motist on Tuesday, 10 October 2017  Page Views: 1119

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Country: Israel
NOTE: This site is 3.307 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Ancient Temple
Nearest Town: Bait Shean  Nearest Village: Heftsiba
Latitude: 32.518694N  Longitude: 35.427114E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

Internal Links:
External Links:

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist : Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Temple in Israel

The ancient synagogue of Beit Alpha is located in the Beit She'an Valley, in the north-east of the country. The nearby ruins of Khirbet Beit Ilfa preserve the ancient name.
The mosaic floor of the synagogue was discovered in 1929, when members of Kibbutz Beit Alpha dug irrigation channels for their fields. Excavations were carried out the same year, exposing mosaics preserved intact for almost 1,500 years. Later excavations, in the early 1960s, exposed remains of some houses, indicating that the synagogue had stood in a Jewish village of the Byzantine period (5th-6th centuries).

The synagogue is oriented southwards, towards Jerusalem. It measures 20 x 14 m. and consists of a courtyard (atrium), a vestibule (narthex) and a prayer hall. The walls are of undressed stone, with plastered inner and outer faces.

The courtyard is reached from the street, via an opening in its western wall. It measures
10 x 7 m. and is paved with mosaics in geometric designs.

The 2.5 m.-wide vestibule has two doors in its northern wall facing the courtyard and three doorways in its southern wall providing access to the prayer hall. Its mosaic floor is also in geometric patterns.

The prayer hall measures 10 x 8 m. and is divided by two rows of stone-built pillars into a central nave and two side aisles. The pillars probably supported the arches and the gabled roof of the synagogue. Scholars assume that there was a second storey above the two aisles and the vestibule, serving as a women's gallery. Benches were built along the long walls and along the southern wall of the prayer hall. A door in the western wall led into a side room.

An apse, a rounded raised recess 2.4 m. deep, was built into the southern wall of the synagogue and served as a bema on which the Torah Ark stood, with three steps leading up to it. At a later time, another bema in the shape of a bench was added between the two southern pillars on the eastern side of the prayer hall. A one meter-deep depression lined with stones below the floor of the bema probably served as the synagogue's treasury. When opened during the excavations it contained thirty-six Byzantine bronze coins.

The mosaic floor of the prayer hall

The entire prayer hall is paved in mosaic. The floor of the western aisle is decorated with squares in geometric patterns; the eastern aisle is entirely paved in undecorated white mosaic.

Two dedicatory inscriptions, one in Aramaic and one in Greek, are situated just inside the main entrance to the prayer hall, flanked by a lion and a bull facing each other. The Aramaic inscription states that the mosaic floor was laid during the reign of Emperor Justin (probably Justin I, beginning of the 6th century) and that the cost was covered by donations from members of the community. The Greek inscription reads: May the craftsmen who carried out this work, Marianos and his son Hanina, be held in remembrance.

The colorful mosaic floor of the nave is divided into three distinct panels, all enclosed by a decorated band with a variety of motifs: geometric patterns, fruit, birds and animals. The panels depict, from north to south:

You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.


Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist : Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor (Vote or comment on this photo)

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist (Vote or comment on this photo)

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist (Vote or comment on this photo)

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist (Vote or comment on this photo)

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor
Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor submitted by motist

These are just the first 25 photos of Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor. If you log in with a free user account you will be able to see our entire collection.

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Click here to see more info for this site

Nearby sites

Click here to view sites on an interactive map of the area

Key: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed

Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)

To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.


Turn off the page maps and other distractions

Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 7.3km ESE 103° Tel Beth Shean* Ancient Village or Settlement
 10.2km WNW 295° Jezreel* Ancient Village or Settlement
 14.3km S 189° Gadara* Ancient Village or Settlement
 16.8km SE 138° Tel Tsaf* Ancient Village or Settlement
 17.7km ESE 108° Wadi Hammeh 27 Ancient Village or Settlement
 19.1km ESE 113° Pella (Jordan) Ancient Village or Settlement
 19.7km W 269° Tel Taanach* Ancient Village or Settlement
 22.8km NNW 331° Mary's Well (Nazareth)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring
 23.9km WNW 288° Megiddo* Ancient Village or Settlement
 24.5km NE 42° Sha'ar HaGolan* Ancient Village or Settlement
 24.9km NW 325° Kfar HaHoresh Ancient Temple
 25.6km NNE 33° Tel Bet Yerah Artificial Mound
 25.7km NNE 32° Ohalo II* Ancient Village or Settlement
 26.6km NNE 33° Sea of Galilee Cairn* Cairn
 27.8km NNW 329° 'Ain zippori* Ancient Village or Settlement
 29.3km NNW 332° Tzippori* Ancient Village or Settlement
 29.8km NNE 23° Hammat Tiberias* Ancient Village or Settlement
 30.1km W 263° El-ahwat near kibuts Katsir-Harish* Ancient Village or Settlement
 30.7km WNW 295° Ein el-Jarba* Ancient Village or Settlement
 33.9km WNW 299° Tel Yokneam* Artificial Mound
 34.5km SSW 204° Mount 'Ebal Ancient Temple
 34.6km NW 306° Beit She'arim* Chambered Tomb
 35.0km WNW 302° Tel Qashish Ancient Village or Settlement
 35.3km E 82° Rasun (Jordan)* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 36.2km NE 37° Sussita* Ancient Village or Settlement
View more nearby sites and additional images

<< Jenny Bradley Cross

Knudshoved Jættestue 1 >>

Please add your thoughts on this site

Bending the Boyne: a Novel of Ancient Ireland

Bending the Boyne: a Novel of Ancient Ireland

Sponsors

Auto-Translation (Google)

Translate from English into:

"Beit Alpha Ancient Synagogue Mosaic Floor" | Login/Create an Account | 0 News and Comments
  
Go back to top of page    Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
Your Name: Anonymous [ Register Now ]
Subject:


Add your comment or contribution to this page. Spam or offensive posts are deleted immediately, don't even bother

<<< What is five plus one as a number? (Please type the answer to this question in the little box on the left)
You can also embed videos and other things. For Youtube please copy and paste the 'embed code'.
For Google Street View please include Street View in the text.
Create a web link like this: <a href="https://www.megalithic.co.uk">This is a link</a>  

Allowed HTML is:
<p> <b> <i> <a> <img> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <tt> <li> <ol> <ul> <object> <param> <embed> <iframe>

We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.