בתי הכנסת הסמויים מעַין מימי הבית השני

Remains of large structures dated to the Second Temple period were discovered under the Late Roman synagogues of Khirbet Wadi Hamam, Arbel, Nahal Gush-Halav, Capernaum and HammathTiberias. Since the excavators did not dismantle the synagogues and were content with excavating a few trenches beneath the floors, and since the late construction also blurred the early remains, it was hard to determine the exact nature of the early buildings. This paper discusses the layout of these structures, their date, architectural ornamentation(such as column capitals, stucco fragments and fresco paintings) and their location in the villages.A comparison of these characteristics to those of Second Temple period synagogues, such as those at Gamla and Magdala, leads to the conclusion that the earlier structures should also be identified as synagogues dating from this period.This conclusion is important for our under standing of the dispersion of synagogues in rural areas, which was apparently wider than previously assumed. It also narrows the chronological gap between the Second Temple synagogues and those of the later Roman period, and supports the idea that the latter developed organically from the former, rather than ex nihilo.The fact that these five structures are all located beneath later synagogues is significant, since it points to long-lasting local traditions regarding the role of the specific locations of public structures of this kind.