Priene Synagogue
{{Short description|Ancient synagogue in Priene, Turkey}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox religious building
| building_name = Priene Synagogue
| religious_affiliation = Judaism {{small|(former)}}
| image = Priene Synagogue 2015 3193.jpg
| image_upright = 1.1
| caption = The former synagogue ruins, in 2015
| location = Priene, Güllübahçe, Söke, Aydın Province, Aegean Region
| country = Turkey
| geo = {{coord|37|39|30.8|N|27|17|44.4|E|region:TR_type:landmark|display=it}}
| map_type = Turkey Aegean
| map_size = 250
| map_relief = 1
| map_caption = Location of the former synagogue ruins in modern-day Aegean Region of Turkey
| rite =
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| organizational_status = {{ubl|Synagogue {{small|(ruins)}}|Jewish museum}}
| functional_status = Archaeological site
| leadership =
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| architecture_type = {{nowrap|Synagogue architecture}}
| architecture_style = Roman architecture
| groundbreaking =
| year_completed = 2nd century CE{{efn|With one source claiming 4th or 5th century.}}
| construction_cost =
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| materials = Stone
| footnotes = {{cite web |url=https://historicsynagogueseurope.org/browser.php?mode=set&id=25341 |title=Ancient Synagogue in Priene |work=Historic Synagogues of Europe |publisher=Foundation for Jewish Heritage and the Center for Jewish Art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem |date=n.d. |access-date=14 September 2024 }}
}}
The Priene Synagogue is a former ancient Jewish synagogue, that was discovered in the modern-day town of Priene in Güllübahçe, Söke, in the Aydın Province, in the Aegean Region, on the western boundary of Turkey. The former synagogue building is now an archaeological site and Jewish museum.
History
The synagogue was discovered by archaeologists Theodor Wiegand and Hans Schrader in the western residential area in 1895–98. The synagogue dates from the 2nd century CE and was built into an older Hellenistic house. It consists of a main hall with two rows of columns forming a small basilica. Only one column was still in place. However, in the 1904 excavation report they mistakenly speculated that the structure was a house church.{{cite book |author1=Schrader, Hans |author1-link=Hans Schrader |author2=Wiegand, Theodor |author2-link=Theodor Wiegand |title=Priene. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen und Untersuchungen in den Jahren 1895–1898 |language=de |location=Berlin |year=1904 |pages=480–481 |url=http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/wiegand1904/0498?sid=d781b5df581099e785243c79218bd59d&zoomlevel=2 |postscript=. The excavation report online. }}
In 1928, archaeologist Eleazar Sukenik identified the building as a synagogue, pointing to a niche for the Torah Ark. He also noted the carved menorah near the niche. It is known that hundreds of thousands of Jews lived in Asia Minor in the 1st century CE. Only two confirmed synagogues have been discovered: the Sardis Synagogue and this second one in Priene.{{cn|date=September 2024}}
In the summer of 2009 archeologists Nadin Burkhardt from the University of Frankfurt am Main and Mark Wilson of the Asia Minor Research Center in İzmir began an exploration of the synagogue in a dig sponsored by the Biblical Archaeology Society.{{cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Mark |title=Letter from the Field: An Ancient Synagogue Comes to Light |journal=Biblical Archaeology Review |url=http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/priene-excavation.asp |accessdate=25 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091215094624/http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/priene-excavation.asp |archivedate=15 December 2009}}{{cite journal |author1=Burkhardt, Nadin |author2=Wilson, Mark |url=https://www.academia.edu/15534822/With_Nadin_Burkhardt_The_Late_Antique_Synagogue_in_Priene_Its_History_Architecture_and_Context |title=The Late Antique Synagogue in Priene: Its History, Architecture, and Context |journal=Gephyra |volume=10 |year=2013 |pages=166-196}}
See also
{{stack|{{portal|Turkey|Judaism}}}}
Notes
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References
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External links
{{commons category-inline|Synagogue, Priene}}
{{Ancient synagogues}}
{{Synagogues in Turkey}}
Category:2nd-century synagogues
Category:Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Turkey
Category:Archaeological sites of classical Anatolia
Category:Archaeological sites in the Aegean region
Category:Former synagogues in Turkey
Category:Jewish museums in Turkey
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