Biblical Archaeology Review

See Corpus Inscriptionum Judaicarum 1440 and Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum III, 1532 A, both from the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes (247–221 B.C.E.); and Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum I, 129, dated May 11, 218 B.C.E. In all three cases the name for synagogue is proseucheµ.

The so-called Theodotos inscription was found during excavations in 1913–1914; for the most recent detailed discussion see Lea Roth-Gerson, The Greek Inscriptions from the Synagogues in Eretz-Israel (Jerusalem: Yad Itzhak Ben-Zvi, 1987), pp. 76–86 (in Hebrew); for an English translation, see Lee I. Levine, “The Second Temple Synagogue: The Formative Years,” in The Synagogue in Late Antiquity, ed. Levine (Philadelphia: American Schools of Oriental Research, 1987), p. 17.

In the opinion of most scholars, these are the synagogues of Gamla, in Galilee, and of Herodium and Masada. Recently, a fourth one was excavated in the vicinity of Modi’in.

See Itzhak Magen, “Mount Gerizim and the Samaritans,” in Frédéric Manns and Eugenio Alliata, eds., Early Christianity in Context: Monuments and Documents, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, Collectio Maior 38 (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1993), pp. 91–148; and “Gerizim, Mount,” in The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993), vol. 2, pp. 484–492.

The name does not occur in the Pentateuch; it appears as Abishua in Chronicles 5:30 and 6:35 (in English 1 Chronicles 6:4 and 6:50), as well as in Ezra 7:5.

See the h\ets in the names in the Beth Phage Lid, th\n’ and ywh\nn (J.T. Milik, “Le couvercle de Bethphagé,” in Hommages a André Dupont-Sommer [Paris: Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1971], pp. 75–94, esp. fig. 1), and the Masada tags, nos. 406 and 431 (Yadin and Naveh, Aramaic Ostraca).

For parallels, see nos. 86 and 88, in Masada I: the Yigael Yadin Excavations 1963–1965, Final ReportsYigael Yadin and Joseph Naveh, The Aramaic Ostraca and Jar Inscriptions(Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1989), pl. 4. Enough of the left side of this letter is preserved to exclude its being a he or h\et

Finkelstein, “Archaeology,” p. 185.

Finkelstein, “Archaeology,” p. 178.

Mazar, “Chronology,” p. 163.