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The recent findings of a team of scholars and students at Huqoq in Galilee, Israel, led by Jodi Magness, a professor at Chapel Hill, shed new light on the life and culture of 39, an ancient Jewish village. Findings indicate that villagers flourished under Christian rule in the early fifth century, contradicting a widely held view that Jewish settlement in the area declined during this period. The large size and elaborate interior design of the Huqoq Synagogue indicates an unexpected level of prosperity.
"The mosaics on the floor of the Huqoq Synagogue revolutionize our understanding of Judaism at this time," said Magness. "The ancient Jewish art is often considered as aniconic, or lacking in images. But these mosaics, colorful and filled with figurative scenes, testify to a rich visual culture as well as dynamism and diversity Judaism at the end of the Roman and Byzantine era. "
The first mosaics of the Huqoq Synagogue were discovered by Magness & # 39; team in 2012. Since then, Magness, director of the Huqoq and Kenan Distinguished excavations Professor of Judaism at the Department of Religious Studies at the College of Arts and Sciences of Carolina, badisted by Shua Kisilevitz of the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Tel Aviv University discovered additional mosaics each summer. This year, the team's specialists and students focused their efforts on a series of mosaic panels in the north aisle. Magness says this series is one of the richest and most diverse collection of mosaics ever found in an old synagogue.
Along the north aisle, the mosaics are divided into two rows of panels containing Hebrew figures and inscriptions. A panel entitled "A Pole Between Two" represents a biblical scene of Numbers 13:23. The pictures show two spies sent by Moses to explore Canaan carrying a pole with a bunch of grapes. Another sign referring to Isaiah 11: 6 includes the inscription "a little child will lead them". The panel shows a young man driving an animal on a rope. A fragmentary inscription in Hebrew ending in the phrase "Amen selah", which means "Amen forever", was discovered at the north end of the east wing.
During this eighth digression, the team continued to expose a rare find in synagogues: columns covered with colorful plaster and painted still intact after nearly 1600 years.
The mosaics were removed from the site for conservation and the excavated areas were backfilled. Excavations are expected to continue in the summer of 2019. Additional information and updates can be found on the project website: http://www.huqoq.org.
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