Synagogue Table and Lions

Photo Comments

View looking south at the marble table that is located at the west end of the main hall of the synagogue. Note the decorative eagle on the side of the table. The function of the table is unknown although some have suggested the Torah scroll was placed here for reading (but this is doubted by this writer).

Also note the pair of lions that flank the table and the fine mosaic floor. It has been suggested that they date to the sixth century B.C.(!) and were originally included in a temple of the goddess Cybele. Here they are reused and may have been thought of as the "lion of Judah."

In the upper right portion of the image three levels of seating of the beginning of a marble apse are visible as is an additional entrance to the synagogue.

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