Church Buildings. Influences from the Synagogue

The remains of synagogues at places other than Dura, excavated for the most part during the last fifty years, reveal two facts of importance in the history of Christian art and architecture. They indicate first of all that the pagan basilica was, by the second or third century ad, being readily adapted to the religious uses of the Hebrews and, secondly, they show that the themes of pagan mythology, far from being resolutely shunned, were drawn with relative ease into the service of a liberalized Judaism.

The synagogues of Capernaum and Gerasa, more or less contemporary with Dura, may be cited, but still more striking are the ample remains of the somewhat later synagogue of Beit Alpha, situated in a valley just south of Mount Tabor. The building here divides into three sections. First comes the courtyard with, almost at the centre, the pool of water to be used in ceremonial ablutions. Going eastwards the worshipper arrived at the narrow rectangle of the narthex, its wall pierced by three doorways leading into the synagogue proper. Measuring some to metres in length by 12 in width, this basilica-hall bears an extremely close resemblance to a Christian church, as it is divided into a nave and aisles bv two rows of three squat pillars with a pilaster attached to the wall at each end.

A platform, set up against one of the columns towards the south end of the building, provided the ambo or pulpit, from which the rabbi gave readings of the Law, though more commonly this pulpit was approached by a double staircase. No trace remains of the 'presbytery' where the elders sat in a semicircle, facing the people, but some of the small columns remain which supported the ceiling over the women's gallery running above the side aisles. The likeness to a Christian church continued even at the south end which, facing towards Jerusalem, corresponded in sanctity to the east in a normal Christian orientation.

Here a semicircular apse extended from the wall to accommodate not an altar but an ark containing the scroll of the Law and the seven-branched candlestick 'in the likeness of a trident', as ordered by the Book of Exodus. The synagogue may be said to have cleansed the basilica of its pagan associations and helped to prepare for the free use of the basilican style in Christian churches, but the influences ran both ways and synagogues of the late fourth to early sixth century, such as Beit Alpha (c.520 ad), seem to have been indebted, on points of detail, to Christian buildings.

The floor throughout the synagogue of Beit Alpha was originally decorated with a colourful mosaic, and large parts of this remain. Not only do geometric patterns occur but in the nave three large rectangles, set within a variegated border, show clearly that the horror of representing human and animal forms which stemmed from the rigid ideas of the first century was not maintained even in Palestine.

The mosaic immediately in front of the apse reproduces objects used in contemporary Hebrew worship. At the central point is shown the richly patterned front of the cupboard in which the sacred writings were kept; the cupboard itself is surmounted by a stepped gable up which, on either side, a large bird climbs. Two candlesticks, each with its seven lights, occupy much of the field and two lions, roughly designed in a ferocious attitude, guard the sacred cupboard. Other religious objects are dotted casually about: trumpets and cases for the scroll of the Law as well as the lulab and the ethrog, two types of leafy wand waved during the Feast of Tabernacles.

The central panel of the nave mosaic consists of a wheel within a square. Between the spokes of the wheel are ranged the twelve signs of the Zodiac, each marked with its name in Hebrew, and the spokes converge on a round medallion which, in a curiously slapdash manner, represents the Sun riding in his chariot (fig. 51). Helios is shown as a beardless youth with a halo encircling his head, while his body is hidden by a shield-like object intended for the front of the chariot. At either side appear two grotesque masks, that is to say the horses' heads viewed from the front and bearing little relationship to the legs which are shown, rather vaguely, in profile. At each corner of the square is a female head, with curly hair and long neck. These are the four seasons, each accompanied by appropriate emblems. Another synagogue, that of Na'aran near Jericho, likewise provides a mosaic showing the sun god, the seasons and the signs of the Zodiac.

51. Beit Alpha synagogue. Central panel of mosaic: the Sun in his chariot

The third panel of the nave mosaic at Beit Alpha is remarkable as illustrating Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac. In Hebrew theory, Abraham was preeminent among the patriarchs and the so-called Binding of Isaac took its place among the intercessory prayers of the synagogue as a valued means of securing the divine favor:

Remember unto us, О Lord our God, the covenant and the loving-kindness and the oath that thou swarest unto Abraham our father on Mount Moriah; and may the binding with which Abraham our father bound Isaac his son on the altar be before thine eyes.

The event was eagerly grasped by Christian teachers, from the second century onwards, as a type of the sacrifice of Christ, and representations of it occur often enough in the wall-paintings of the catacombs, as in the Sacrament Chapel A3 of the Callistus Cemetery and in the Capella Graeca. But since the theme is found also in the synagogue at Dura, it can hardly be claimed as directly borrowed from Christian sources. The design in the Beit Alpha mosaic is childishly crude to the point of caricature. Abraham himself is shown wearing a vast, lopsided turban and a tunic which clings closely to his body. With his left hand he dutches the babyish figure of Isaac, who is about to be slaughtered with a long cutlass and then cast into the flames which rise from the altar.

The two servants mentioned in the Genesis account stand at their ease, looking after the ass. In the centre of the composition, there appears an extraordinan' creature identifiable by its horns and the Hebrew inscription as a ram. But a desire to make more space for the human figures has triumphed over artistry, so that the ram is made to squat on its tail and to look as if it w'ere climbing vertically up a tree.