Journal of Ancient Judaism 4,1, 2013

his preliminary excavation report brings to the attention of the scholarly public the discovery of a building with two menorot reliefs and a water installation in Limyra (Asia Minor) from the late antique/early Byzantine period.

JAJ, 2014

This article represents a response to the excavation report by Seyer and Lotz. Weiss discusses the location of the Limyra building within the city as well as its building constructions and its raw materials. Weiss compares the Limyra building with diaspora synagogues with regard to its architectural layout and orientation as well as with regard to the functionality of its excavated rooms and its water basin. Weiss discusses also the chancel screens with the menorah depic-tions and the date of structure in Limyra. As in other Diaspora synagogues, the location of the building, its construction on an earlier structure, the use of spolia, a water installation, and an ornate bima with a decorated chancel screen are the major elements supporting an argument for an identification of the Limyra building as a synagogue but only further excavations could warrant a clear identification.

This article gives a preliminary excavation report about a building in the Lycian city of Limyra and the finds which were made in it. In the north-east corner ofthe building -the only part excavated so far -one room was equipped with a marble wall revetment and windows with glass of at least four different colors. Inside, a square water basin was supplied by collected rainwater which was channeled through a terracotta pipe into the basin. Some elements suggest that the basin was used for bathing. The entry to the building led from the main street into a vestibule, which was originally partially open at the front. At a later period, the floor ofthe building was raised to its current level by means oftwo stone slabs and two pillars which were in secondary use. The two slabs are remnants of chancel screens decorated with three menorah images. The front side ofone ofthe slabs is decorated also with a shoJ:t2r and the second one also with a !tJJ(]v. The combination of these features suggests that the building was connected with the Jewish community of Limyra. The chancel screens indicate that a synagogue was once located in the immediate vicinity. It is therefore not improbable that the building itselfwas this synagogue.

'Atiqot, 2002

In: S. Lemaître (ed.), Céramiques antiques en Lycie (VIIe s. a.C. - VIIe s. p.C.). Les produits et les marchés. Actes de la table ronde de Poitiers, 21-22 mars 2003: 261-292., 2007

Liber Annuus, 2018

A stone plaque bearing incised pictorial graffito was discovered during the excavations at the Giv'ati parking lot, located south of the Dung gate on the eastern slopes of the Tyropoeon Valley . The graffito was made on a chalk ossuary fragment that used as base plaque for the drawings. The maximal measurements of this irregularly shaped plaque are 29 × 22.5 cm.

Aerial maps reveal that the urban topography of the earliest (pre-IX century) extant nucleus of the city of Trani, an ancient Apulian settlement and Mediterranean trading post, was planned and developed as a giant menorah. We report the discovery, and draw some implications on the antiquity and extent of the Jewish presence in Trani, and more generally on the history, economy, and heritage of 'Phoenician' and Romaniote Jews.