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Dates Excavated:
1. 1905-1907
2. 1926 [813]
3. 1962-1965, 1980-1987
Excavator(s):
1. Heinrich Kohl and Carl Watzinger
2. Na’im Makhouly and Jacob Ory
3. Ze’ev Yeivin
Archaeological Information: Building A
Date of Building Construction:
late 5th century [814]
Place of Building in Settlement:
The building was part of a civic complex with at least seven other large buildings. It sat in the middle of the settlement, along the main road, on top of a basalt plateau. [815]
Building Description:
The building was a basilical synagogue with two rows of five columns and a transverse row of two columns in the north. [816] There were three doorways in the south wall and one doorway in the west wall leading to a small side room. The excavators reconstruct a raised platform with an aedicule on the southern wall, west of the middle entrance, and a bemah east of the middle entrance with two steps leading up to it. Possibly, a Seat of Moses, found in the excavations, was positioned here. The east, west, and north walls were lined with two-tiered benches. The floor was paved with flagstones, which have only partly survived. In front of the building was an open courtyard with a monumental, basalt stairway leading to the synagogue.
Maps and Plans
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First Deposit
Date Excavated: 1962-1964, 1967-1977
Deposit Location:
Inside the synagogue, below the western threshold in the southern wall.
Archaeological Information:
L162
Certain association with the building itself? Yes
Deposit Retrievable? No
Deposit Type:
Deposit Description:
This deposit was found in L162: a sounding just inside the doorway leading into the west aisle of the synagogue, next to and under the threshold. 311 coins were found under a missing part (about 1/5 in size) of the threshold.[817] In 1967, Kloetzli heard about more coins at Korazin and visited the site in 1967 and 1977, during which he collected about 550 coins “in the south west quarter of the Synagogue.”[818] According to him, many were found on the surface or at a depth of only a few inches. He also found a significant number of coins in the debris from the previous excavations, which was piled up along the southwest wall of the building. He also mentions that some 1200 to 1500 coins were found by UN people (who apparently visited the site). Might all these coins have come from the same deposit?
Container Present? No
Description of Coins:
According to Ze’ev Yeivin’s short report on the Korazin excavations from 1973, two hoards were found at the site: one from the 3rd to 4th century, and one from the late 4th-early 5th centuries.[819] The former was found in Locus 52 (see deposit 4), while the latter was found “beneath the threshold of the synagogue.” However, both Deposit 1 (Locus 162) and Deposit 2 (Locus 163) were found underneath thresholds: the former below the western threshold of the building and the latter beneath the eastern threshold. Which locus is he referring to? Since the article mentions “hundreds of coins,” and L163 only yielded 34 coins, we can assume that the hoard mentioned here is the one from L162. One year later, Ya’akov Meshorer published 35 coins in a preliminary article, as a “representation of the 1200 coins found at the site.” In his catalogue, Nos. 1-4 and 6-30 derive from L52, while nos. 31-32 and 34-35 are from L162. Thus, four coins from Deposit 1 are described here.
Between 1967 and 1968, Godfrey Kloetzli lived in Capernaum and visited the Korazin site. During his visits, he collected around 550 coins from the southwestern area of the synagogue building and he published 71 of them in an article in 1970. Since this excavation was executed without an archaeological permit and no records were kept, it is hard to say if these coins were discovered in the same context as the “hundreds of coins” from L162. But because they were found in more or less the same area, and “many of them were on the surface or at a depth of only a few inches”, I have added them here to the L162 deposit.[820] Unfortunately, these coins are now lost and we have no way of determining if Kloetzli’s identifications are correct; I have placed them in the database at face value, but caution needs to be taken.[821] The “1200-1500” coins that presumably were removed from this area by UN officials and other visitors to the site have not been included.
Eventually, a final excavation report on Korazin was published by Yeivin in 2000. 311 coins from Locus 162 were identified by Ariel, and these can also be found at the IAA. The database entry for this deposit is a combination of these 311 identifiable coins and the 550 found by Kloetzli, for a total of 861 coins.
The 241 datable coins found in L162 range from 85 CE (a coin minted by Nero) to 610 CE (Phocas). The bulk, however, ranges from 307 to 518 CE in equal distribution (93%): a lack of coins dated to 340-390 CE, as Meshorer noted for this group, can no longer be seen with this new evidence.[822] All the coins were minted in eastern mints, with the exception of two minted in Arles (Constantine I, 307-337 CE), three in Rome (Constantius II, 337-340 CE and 337-341 CE; Gratian, 367-383 CE), one in Trier (Constantine I, 307-337 CE), and one in Ticinum (Baduila, 541-549 CE). One coin was minted by Maximian (286-305 CE).[823] Four Late Roman coins are imitation coins (one coming from Alexandria) and one coin minted by Phocas is a double-struck coin (Antioch, 602-610 CE).
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Conspectus Table:
Conspectus table Korazin, Deposit 1. This table can be seen in full screen by clicking the icon on the bottom right. For more details on the specific coins in each row, please hover over the numbers.
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Second Deposit
Date Excavated: 1962-1964
Deposit Location:
Inside the synagogue, below the eastern threshold in the south wall.
Archaeological Information:
L163
Certain association with the building itself? Yes
Deposit Retrievable? No
Deposit Type: IB6
Deposit Description:
Two soundings were made along the entrances into the synagogue along the south wall. This deposit was found in L163: a sounding just inside the doorway leading into the east aisle of the synagogue where the threshold was missing. 34 coins were found here.
Container Present? No
Description of Coins:
34 coins coming from Locus 163 were published by Ariel in 2000 in an inventory list, and an equal number are in the IAA storage facilities.[824]
The coins in this deposit range from 314 CE to 395 CE and the minting places are along the same lines as the coins from L162: predominantly eastern mints with the exception of a coin from Arles (Julian II, 355-360 CE), one from Rome (Constantine I, 314-315 CE), and one from Ticinum (Constantine I, 324-327 CE).
Conspectus Table:
Conspectus table Korazin, Deposit 2. This table can be seen in full screen by clicking the icon on the bottom right. For more details on the specific coins in each row, please hover over the numbers.
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Third Deposit
Date Excavated: 1980
Deposit Location:
Inside the main hall of the synagogue, running along the southern wall and overlapping with previous soundings L162 and L163
Archaeological Information:
L700 (in front of the central entrance), L701 (overlapping with L162), L702 (below L700), and L703 (overlapping with L163)
Certain association with the building itself? Yes
Deposit Retrievable? No
Deposit Type: IB6
Deposit Description:
After the removal of an upper layer of dirt, an accumulation of small flat stones was found under the synagogue floor.[825] This apparently was construction or quarry debris used to level the area. Below this layer was a bedding of large basalt blocks. In these loci, 1000 more coins were discovered, most of them in the western part of the building.[826]
Container Present? No
Description of Coins:
According to Yeivin (1982), approximately a thousand coins were found in these four loci. [827] In his 2000 analysis, Ariel published an inventory list of 41 coins from Locus 700, 125 coins from Locus 701, 660 coins from Locus 702, and 239 coins from Locus 703, for a total of 1065 coins.[828] At the IAA, however, there are 35 identifiable coins coming from L700, 63 from L701, 407 from L702 and 184 from L703, for a total of 689 identified coins. It is these coins that have been entered into the database.
The coins from this deposit have a different make-up than the coins found in Loci 162 and 163. They range from 323 BCE to 654 CE (excluding some later coins), with twelve coins pre-dating the 4th century. The bulk of the coins (92%) can be dated to the end of the 4th to beginning of the 5th century CE. Unfortunately, the minting place of most of the coins cannot be determined. We do, however, have a coin from Arles (Magnus Maximus, 387-388 CE) and three from Rome (Galla Placidia, 425-450 CE; Valentinian II 383-385 CE; Constans I 337-341 CE). As for the seven coins minted in the 2nd-1st century BCE, these are of the same modules as the later coins in the deposit and were probably added to the group for this reason.[829] Among the other interesting coins is an anonymous cast imitation of a prototype coin, minted in Egypt, perhaps some time between 540 and 740 CE.[830] 21 coins are imitation coins: we can assume that imitation coins were a common by the end of the 5th century CE. Four late coins were also found: a Byzantine gold semissis (Heraclius I, 610-613 CE); two Islamic period coins (a gold solidus of Constans II, 651-654 CE and an Umayyad fals, 638-750 CE), and a modem Israeli coin (1968, not kept), indicating that the loci were disturbed later.
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Conspectus Table:
Conspectus table Korazin, Deposit 3. This table can be seen in full screen by clicking the icon on the bottom right. For more details on the specific coins in each row, please hover over the numbers.
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Fourth Deposit
Date Excavated: 1962-1964
Deposit Location:
Inside a public building that might have been part of a larger synagogue complex, in a hole in the floor, covered with stone slabs.
Archaeological Information:
Complex C, Building E, Locus 52 [831]
Certain association with the building itself? No [832]
Deposit Retrievable? Yes
Deposit Type: IIA5
Deposit Description:
This deposit was found in Building E north of the synagogue, in a room adjacent to the alley separating the two buildings.[833] This building had a ritual bath complex in the northern part, enclosed by four walls and paved with thick lime plaster in the west, and with flagstones in the east. The complex was bisected east-west by a row of columns and piers. The immersion pool (2 X 2.5 m) was entered from the north by means of two above-ground and seven underground steps. The pool was probably connected to the cistern close by. South of the pool was a series of rooms built around a central hall, which had four entrances, one in each direction. The buildings seem to have been part of the larger synagogue complex.[834] Over 400 coins were found inside a natural water channel covered by stone beams.[835]
Container Present? No
Description of Coins:
According to Ze’ev Yeivin, more than 400 coins were found in this locus; however, only 159 are now at the IAA and were published in Yeivin 2000.[836] Thus, I have indicated 241 coins as unknown. Most of the datable coins can be attributed to the house of Constantine or the early 4th century: over 90% are dated between 290 and 340 CE. However, the deposit in total ranges from around 100 CE to around 450 CE, with two coins dated even earlier: a coin of Tiberius minted in Jerusalem (18 CE) and a Seleucid coin minted between 312 and 63 BCE.[837] Only eight coins (or 5%) post-date 341 CE. According to Ariel, these late coins are intrusive, “as they are relatively small, and the fact remains that the overwhelming majority of the hoarded coins—100 (or 63%)—date from the 18 years preceding 341 CE.”[838] This deposit further contains many rare examples, most of them Roman provincial coins: three minted in Arles (Constantine I, 316 CE and 318 CE; Licinius I, 321 CE), one minted in Caesarea by Elagabalus (218-222 CE), [839] one coin minted in Gaza (Hadrian, 134-135 CE), one from Londinium (a follis of Constantine I, 307-319 CE), [840] one from Lugdunum (Constantine I, 314-315 CE), one minted in Sepphoris by Antoninus Pius (138-161 CE)[841], one from Ticinum (Constantine I, 319-321 CE), two coins from Trier (Maximinus II, 310-313 CE; Constantine II, 337-341 CE), and one coin from Tyre (a silver tetradrachm from Macrinus, 217-218 CE).[842] The deposit also includes a coin of Dalmatius (Alexandria, 335-337 CE), one of only three coins minted by this emperor found in ancient synagogue deposits,[843] three coins of Helena (only found in L703 at the same site and in deposit Area B at synagogue of Bar’am), three coins of Fausta (325-326 CE, only found at this site), one coin of Hadrian (only found at Capernaum and ‘En Gedi), and one each of Hannibalianus (335-337 CE), Maxentius (310-311 CE), and Maximinus II (310-313 CE), the only coins of these emperors found in any ancient synagogue deposit.
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Conspectus Table:
Conspectus table Korazin, Deposit 4. This table can be seen in full screen by clicking the icon on the bottom right. For more details on the specific coins in each row, please hover over the numbers.
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References
Bibliography:
– Sukenik E.L., 1934, Ancient Synagogues in Palestine and Greece, London: The Oxford University Press, pp. 21-24
– No Author, 1963, “A further Synagogue Hoard excavated,” in: Israel Numismatic Society, Vol. 1, No. 3, p. 60
– No Author, 1963, “Discovery of Hoard at Korazin,” in: Israel Numismatic Bulletin, Vol. 5, p. 22
– Kloetzli G., 1970, “Coins from Chorazin,” in: Liber Annuus, Vol. 20, pp. 359-369
– Meshorer Y., 1973, “Coins from the Excavations at Khorazim (English Summary),” in: Eretz Israel, Vol. 11, pp. 27-28
– Yeivin Z., 1973, “Excavations at Chorazin,” in: Eretz Israel, Vol. 11, pp. 144-157
– Meshorer Y., 1974, “Coins from the Excavations at Khorazin,” in: Eretz Israel, Vol. 11, pp. 158-162 (Hebrew)
– Hüttenmeister F. & Reeg G., 1977, Die Antiken Synagogen in Israel, 2 vols., Wiesbaden: L. Reichert, pp. 275-281
– Chiat M., 1982, Handbook of Synagogue Architecture, Chico: Scholars Press, pp. 97-102
– Yeivin Z., 1982, “Khorazin,” in: Hadashot Arkheologiot, Vol. 78-79, pp. 10-11 (Hebrew)
– Yeivin Z., 1984, “Khorazin,” in: Hadashot Arkheologiot, p. 8 (Hebrew)
– Yeivin Z., 1987, “Ancient Chorazin Comes Back to Life,” in: The Biblical Arachaeology Review, Vol. 13, No. 5, pp. 22-36
– Dauphin C. 1998, La Palestine Byzantine: Peuplement et Population, Oxford, Vol. 3, pp. 707-708
– Ilan Z., 1991, Ancient Synagogues in Israel, Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defence, pp. 150-152 (Hebrew)
– Yeivin Z., 1993 “Chorazin,” in: NEAEHL, pp. 301-304
– Ariel D.T., 2000, “Coins from the Synagogue at Korazim,” in: Yeivin Z. (ed.), The Synagogue at Korazim: The 1962-1964, 1980-1987 Excavations, Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, pp. 33-49 (English)
– Yeivin Z., 2000, The Synagogue at Korazim: The 1962-1964, 1980-1987 Excavations, Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority (Hebrew)
– May N., 2002, “Reconstructing the Architectural Décor of the Major Synagogue at Korazim,” in: ‘Atiqot, Vol. 43, pp. 207-252
– Bijovsky G., 2007, “Numismatic Evidence for the Gallus Revolt: The Hoard from Lod,” in: Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 57, No. 2, pp. 187-203
– Magness J., 2007, “The Date of the Synagogue of Chorazin,” in: Michmanim, Vol. 20: pp. 7-18
– Magness J., 2007, “Did Galilee Decline in the Fifth Century? The Synagogue at Chorazin Reconsidered,” in: Zangenberg J., Attridge H. & Martin D. (eds.), Religion, Ethnicity, and Identity in Ancient Galilee: a Region in Transition, Mohr Siebeck, pp. 259-274
– Milson D., 2007, Art and Architecture of the Synagogue in Late Antique Palestine: in the Shadow of the Church, Leiden/Boston, pp. 45-47, 337-338
– Spigel C., 2012, Ancient Synagogue Seating Capacities: Methodology, Analysis and Limits, Mohr Siebeck, pp. 177-181
– Hachlili R., 2013, Ancient Synagogues: Archaeology and Art: New Discoveries and Current Research, Leiden: Brill, pp. 57, 69-70, 126, 128, 141, 152, 160-161, 171, 173, 207, 217-219, 239-246, 277, 437, 440, 485-487, 531, 547-548, 593
– Ahipaz N., 2015, The Custom of the Ritual Burial of Coins in Synagogues, MA thesis, pp. 55-60 (Hebrew)
Website(s):
– The Bornblum Eretz Israel Synagogues Website:
http://synagogues.kinneret.ac.il/synagogues/chorazim/
– See the Holy Land:
https://www.seetheholyland.net/chorazin/
– Bible Walks:
https://biblewalks.com/Sites/Korazim.html
Footnotes
[812] In older publications, the site is sometimes called Chirbet Kerâze, or just Kerâze.
[813] Inspectors of the Department of Antiquities of Palestine Government “cleared the synagogue and removed a later building erected on its northwestern corner” (Yeivin 1987, p. 24). Sukenik then visited the site and described his observations in his 1934 publication (Sukenik 1934, pp. 21-24).
[814] This date is based on Jodi Magness’ re-evaluation of the numismatic and ceramic evidence found under the floor of the building (Magness 2007a; 2007b). Yeivin dates the construction of the building in his final publication to the 4th century CE, but after having looked at the evidence, I am convinced enough to follow Magness’ construction date, based on the identification of well-stratified coins. This date could even be pushed later if we believe that 6th and 7th century coins found under the floor and threshold of the building are not intrusive (see below).
[815] The site was first identified with ancient Chorazin in the middle of the 19th century. Kohl and Watzinger were the first to recognize a synagogue at the site during their 1905 survey. For an overview of the different visitors to the site and the references to Korazin in the ancient sources, see Kohl and Watzinger 1916, pp. 41-43; Chiat 1982, p. 97; Yeivin 1987, p. 24; and Yeivin 2000, p. 7*.
[816] In 1987, Yeivin described two synagogue buildings: according to him, the first was constructed at the end of the 3rd century or beginning of the 4th century. This building was destroyed in an earthquake and a new synagogue was built at the beginning of the 5th century. According to Yeivin, the stone pavement floor was replaced by a plaster floor. Then, perhaps at the end of the 5th century, this plaster pavement was destroyed and filled with earth. It was in this earth filling that over 2000 coins were found during excavation (Yeivin 1987, p. 35). Magness, however, contests this idea (see footnote 814). According to her analysis, the synagogue building was constructed in only one phase, with a terminus post quem in the third quarter of the 5th century. She explains the different floors as following: “the Jewish community’s plans for the synagogue seem to have been overly ambitious, and after work got underway the fine flagstone pavement and ashlar benches were abandoned in lieu of cheaper alternatives” (Magness 2007b, p. 274). The coin deposit found in Building E (see below) confirms Magness’ one-phase hypothesis: in this deposit, found in a building that was constructed contemporaneously with the synagogue (Yeivin 2000, p. 30*), coins from the 5th century were discovered. Yeivin dismisses these coins as “probably intrusive” (Yeivin 2000, p. 30*) but they fit with Magness’ interpretation. For these reasons, a construction date in the late 5th century CE has been chosen for this synagogue building.
[817] Yeivin 2000, p. 9*.
[818] Kloetzli 1970, p. 359. These excavations were conducted without a permit and it is unclear what happened to the coins (personal communication Donald Ariel).
[819] Yeivin 1973, p. 27*.
[820] As the coins from Locus 700-703 were found at a deeper level. However, one must also take into account that “a good amount” of these 550 were found “in debris from excavations which was piled at the SW wall of the ruins.” It is impossible to say where these coins came from.
[821] Godfrey Kloetzli was an American Franciscan priest who spent much of his time in Israel as a guide and authority on holy places; as far as I know, he was not a trained numismatist.
[822] Meshorer 1973, p. 158: he associated this gap in the coin range to an abandonment of the site after the Gallus Revolt. This no longer seems to be correct (see also Bijovsky 2007b). If, furthermore, we accept the identifications given by Kloetzli for a couple of coins attributed to Phocas, and they are not later intrusions but come from the sealed loci, then this would push the date of the construction of the building even later, possibly to the beginning of the 7th century.
[823] The only other synagogue deposit with a coin of Maximian is from Horvat Rimmon (Group D).
[824] Yeivin 2000, pp. 33*-49*. The only information given here, however, are the dates of the coins.
[825] Yeivin 1982, p. 10; Magness 2007, p. 269.
[826] Ahipaz 2015, p. 58 notes that after Donald Ariel consulted with the original excavators, it became clear that there is uncertainty about the exact location of the loci. It seems that it was not always clear if the locus was related to finds found above, or below the floor level. Thus, these coins need to be treated with some caution; for example, there are two Islamic coins and a modern Israeli coin among the group, which indicates disturbance of some kind (see also Magness 2007, p. 269).
[827] Yeivin 1982, p. 10: he did not consider them a hoard, in contrast to the coins found in L162 and L52.
[828] Yeivin 2000, pp. 33*-49*. The only information given here, however, are the dates of the coins.
[829] Ariel thinks it is most likely that the contributors were unaware that they were adding “pagan” or “autonomous Jewish kings”-coins to the group. This assumes that people cared about the kind of coins that were deposited in the synagogue (Yeivin 2000, p. 35*).
[830] Egypt is given as minting place in the IAA database. Ariel, however, notes that it was minted at Axum, Ethiopia (Yeivin 2000, p. 37*). The kingdom of Aksum (approximately 80 BCE-825 CE) at its height at times extended across most of present-day Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan, Egypt, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. There is no consensus on the exact date of this coin. Ariel indicates that this imitation type could have been circulating much earlier than 540 CE, possibly already between 330 and 385 CE, which would better fit the coin range of this deposit.
[831] The archaeological numbering of this building is confusing. In 1987, Yeivin calls this complex C. In his NEAEHL report and in the 2000 final excavation report, he calls it Complex E.
[832] Because of this reason, this deposit might not be connected to synagogue activities at all, and should possibly be dropped from future synagogue coin deposit lists.
[833] Yeivin 2000, p. 33*.
[834] Yeivin 2000, p. 33*.
[835] In 1987, however, Yeivin calls it “a specially cut chamber” covered with stone slabs. So, was it made deliberately for the coin deposit or not?
[836] Yeivin 1973, p. 148; Yeivin 2000, pp. 33*-49*.
[837] Ariel notes that the deposit was closed around 340 CE, giving a terminus post quem for the construction of Building E that is close to the construction of the synagogue building (Yeivin 2000, p. 36*). However, we already saw that the construction of the synagogue should be dated much later (at least the end of the 5th century, if not later if we accept that the coins found at L162, L702, and L703 are not intrusive), and the same could be said about this building.
[838] Yeivin 2000, p. 33*.
[839] 11 other Elagabalus coins were found at the nearby synagogue of Wadi Hamam, one at the synagogue of Horvat Kanaf, and four at En-Gedi.
[840] This is the only coin from London found in any ancient synagogue deposit.
[841] This is the only coin from Sepphoris found in any ancient synagogue deposit.
[842] Ariel notes another worn, countermarked coin, apparently of the second century CE (Roman Imperial coin, IAA no. 11291) (Yeivin 2000, p. 35*).
[843] The others having been found in Locus 163 at the same site, and at Capernaum.