ActaRom-4°, 57: The Synagogue of Ancient Ostia and the Jews of Rome (2001)
ActaRom-4° / 2001-03-01

Distributed by Astrom Editions. The Synagogue of Ancient Ostia and the Jews of Rome. Interdisciplinary Studies Edited by Birger Olsson, Dieter Mitternacht & Olof Brandt In March of 1997 a research project on the ancient synagogue began at Lund University, Sweden, continuing a tradition of research that has its roots in the 1930s. The project’s title “The Ancient Synagogue: Birthplace of Two World Religions” suggests that Judaism and Christianity existed for a time in close proximity to each other and were shaped by the same particular milieu within the ancient world, namely, the synagogue. The synagogue in ancient Ostia was chosen as an initial case study, since there is evidence that it was built during the first century CE and consequently is one of the earlier synagogues in the Roman world to have been excavated. Olof Brandt presents for the first time a more extensive description of the area outside the city walls where the synagogue was built. Anders Runesson surveys all the material that has been published about Ostia in order to make a new reconstruction of the synagogue’s history in Ostia. Magnus Zetterholm attempts, primarily with the aid of interpretative theories and general considerations, to sketch the relations…