place · L0325
Hammat Tiberias Synagogue בית הכנסת בחמת טבריה
Synagogue of the hot-springs town Hammta, adjacent to Tveria (Tiberias), with the finest 4th-century CE mosaic floor found in the land of Israel: a Torah shrine flanked by menorahs, a zodiac wheel with Helios in his chariot at the center, and Greek dedications naming donors — chief among them Severos, "threptos of the illustrious patriarchs," a rare epigraphic voice of the Nesi'ut, the patriarchal house seated in Tiberias.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- בית הכנסת בחמת טבריה
- Also known as
- Hamat Tverya, Severos synagogue, Hammta, Hammath Tiberias
III. Where
- Modern location
- Hamat Tverya National Park, southern Tiberias, Israel
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| The site was first excavated by Nahman Slouschz in 1921 — the first excavation conducted by a Jewish archaeological society in the land of Israel — and systematically by Moshe Dothan (1961–1963), whose stratum IIa synagogue with the Severos mosaic is dated to the fourth century CE on stratigraphic and stylistic grounds. | archaeology | ★★★★★ | |
| Among the mosaic's Greek dedications, Severos is titled "threptos of the illustrious patriarchs" — one of the very few inscriptions anywhere naming the household of the Jewish patriarchate, the institution the Talmud calls the Nesi'ut, then seated in Tiberias; the floor thus places this synagogue in the orbit of the rabbinic leadership of amoraic Galilee. | archaeology external | ★★★★☆ |
|
| The floor's central panel is a zodiac wheel with the sun god Helios driving his chariot, the twelve signs labelled in Hebrew, and the four seasons in the corners — the earliest and finest of the synagogue zodiacs, and the central puzzle of late antique Jewish art: an apparently pagan sun figure at the heart of a house of prayer, variously explained as calendar diagram, emptied decorative convention, or symbol of divine power.
The mosaic itself is undisputed; the confidence grade reflects the unresolved interpretation of Helios in synagogue floors.
|
archaeology | ★★★☆☆ | |
| The town is the biblical Chamat of Naftali's fortified cities, which the gemara identifies with the hot springs by Tveria: "Chamat — this is Tiberias; and why was it called Chamat? Because of the hot springs of Tiberias." Ancient Hammta lay immediately south of Tveria and merged with it in the rabbinic period. | biblical rabbinic | ★★★★☆ |