Ancient World

Eshtemoa synagogue

The Eshtemoa synagogue is an ancient Jewish synagogue, dating from the late-Roman and Byzantine periods, uncovered in the modern town of as-Samu' (ancient Eshtemoa) in the southern Hebron Hills of the West Bank, Palestine. The synagogue is a rectangular building oriented roughly east–west, with an eastern exedra. Three entrances in the east wall lead from the exedra into a single large prayer hall. Inside, the northern wall is especially massive and incorporates three elevated niches: a central, wider niche flanked by two narrower ones. Benches of ashlar stone run along much of the northern and southern walls, and both the exedra and the hall were paved with mosaic floors, including a decorated pavement. During the Islamic era the synagogue was converted into a mosque. The site was excavated in 1935–36 and 1969–70.

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See also

• ▸El-Assasif
• ▸1606
• ▸Badbury Rings

Uncatalogued shelf

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