Priene Synagogue

Priene Synagogue
Priene Synagogue
	The former synagogue ruins, in 2015
Religion
Affiliation	Judaism (former)
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Synagogue (ruins); Jewish museum;
Status	Archaeological site
Location
Location	Priene, Güllübahçe, Söke, Aydın Province, Aegean Region
Country	Turkey
	Location of the former synagogue ruins in modern-day Aegean Region of Turkey
Geographic coordinates	37°39′30.8″N 27°17′44.4″E / 37.658556°N 27.295667°E
Architecture
Type	Synagogue architecture
Style	Roman architecture
Completed	2nd century CE
Materials	Stone

The Priene Synagogue is a former ancient Jewish synagogue, that was discovered in the modern-day town of Priene in Güllübahçe, Söke, in the Aydın Province, in the Aegean Region, on the western boundary of Turkey. The former synagogue building is now an archaeological site and Jewish museum.

History

The synagogue was discovered by archaeologists Theodor Wiegand and Hans Schrader in the western residential area in 1895–98. The synagogue dates from the 2nd century CE and was built into an older Hellenistic house. It consists of a main hall with two rows of columns forming a small basilica. Only one column was still in place. However, in the 1904 excavation report they mistakenly speculated that the structure was a house church.^[2]

In 1928, archaeologist Eleazar Sukenik identified the building as a synagogue, pointing to a niche for the Torah Ark. He also noted the carved menorah near the niche. It is known that hundreds of thousands of Jews lived in Asia Minor in the 1st century CE. Only two confirmed synagogues have been discovered: the Sardis Synagogue and this second one in Priene.^{[citation needed]}

In the summer of 2009 archeologists Nadin Burkhardt from the University of Frankfurt am Main and Mark Wilson of the Asia Minor Research Center in İzmir began an exploration of the synagogue in a dig sponsored by the Biblical Archaeology Society.^[3]^[4]