The numismatic evidence showed that remains from the first century BCE lay beneath level III

The main building (60 by 40 m) in level III dates from the first century or first half of the second century CE. This building, only half of which was excavated, consists of a central court with halls and rooms along at least three of its sides. Two entrances to the building were found on the south side. Its plan resembles that of a public building, such as a gymnasium, and it may have already been a synagogue in that early period. All the later structures (above the building), except perhaps those of the intermediate phase III-II, were synagogues. Among the meager finds from this building is a unique glass goblet in the shape of acantharus, silvered on the inside and outside and decorated with floral reliefs below the rim. Level Ill seems to have been destroyed in the middle of the second century, and the few remains above it (intermediate phase III-II) do not appear to belong to a public building.

The synagogue in level II was erected on these remains. The last stage of the synagogue (IIA), which was the better preserved, is based, for the most part, on the earlier phase, IIB. It is a broadhouse (15 by 13 m), oriented southeast to northwest, and is separated from the structures around it. Three rows of columns, each containing three columns, divide the building into four halls, the widest of which (the second from the west) is the nave. Attached to the building on the south is a corridor paved with mosaics with an entrance on the east. Although no other entrances to the building are preserved, there may have been more than one. On the north side of the building was a room that may have contained stairs leading to the roof or to a second story.

Building IIA does not differ greatly from its predecessor. The corridor, however, was divided into cells and closed off as a passage. In this writer's opinion the direction of the entrance to the synagogue was also changed. Henceforth, the entrance seems to have been through three openings in recesses in the northern wall. The stairwell was no longer in use, and access to the second floor may have been from a small room adjoining the corridor. From the southern end of the nave, a step led to a raised niche in the corridor where theArkofthe Law, which in the previous stage had no permanent place, was probably kept. The walls of the building were decorated with colorful paintings, remains of which were found in the debris.

The nave and aisles were paved with magnificent mosaics in thirty hues, which have survived in a fine state of preservation. The most important is the mosaic pavement in the nave, which is divided into three panels. In the southern panel the Ark of the Law is depicted, flanked by seven-branched menorahs with flames and a lulab, ethrog, shofar, and incense shovel. The middle panel represents the zodiac surrounding the figure of the sun god Helios riding in his chariot (the chariot was partly destroyed when the wall of level I was built). Helios has a halo above his head, one hand raised in benediction and the other hand holding a globe of the universe. The corners of the panel display female busts, each with a Hebrew name beside it, symbolizing the four seasons of the year. The northern panel contains a dedicatory inscription in Greek of the founders of the synagogue. It is flanked by two lions. The two eastern aisles contain mosaics in geometric design and three inscriptions, one in Aramaic and two in Greek.

The main builder of the synagogue, according to the Greek inscription, was Severus, called "the pupil of the most illustrious patriarchs," evidently the title bestowed on high officials in the court of the presidents of the Sanhedrin in Tiberias ("Severus ... completed [the work of construction]. Praise be to him and to Julius the parnas [synagogue official]"). Another Greek inscription mentions Profuturos, who built one of the porches. The Aramaic inscription refers to the place as "a holy site"-that is, a synagogue.

The remains of the floors, as well as the coins and lamps, date the synagogue to the fourth century CE. The plan of the building, which is a broadhouse divided into four halls, differs from all the known ancient synagogues of the second to third centuries CE.

The artistic level of the mosaics is high. In the individual treatment of the figures, they strongly resemble the Cons tan tinian mosaics at Antioch. Evident here is the strong influence exerted by Hellenistic-Roman art at the beginning of the fourth century on the Jewish capital at Tiberias. The free artistic expression displayed in the nude representations of the signs of the zodiac, the frequent use of Greek, as well as the various finds, all accord with the spirit that prevailed in the period when the heads of the Sanhedrin flourished in Tiberias and confirm a date in the first half of the fourth century CE for the construction of synagogue IIA. Level IIA was evidently destroyed in the fifth century, and the great synagogue IB was erected in its place.

The new synagogue, IB, was oriented in the same direction as its predecessors. Unlike them, however, it was not isolated from the other buildings, which were attached to it on the north and south, whereas streets skirted the building on the east and west. The synagogue was built in the form of a basilica, as was common in synagogue and church construction in the fifth and sixth centuries CE. It was divided by two rows of columns into a nave and two aisles. A third row of columns divided the nave transversely, thus creating an entrance hall (pronaos). The three rows of columns supported a gallery on the second story that ran along three sides of the building. The three main entrances were on its north side. Three steps led from the nave to an interior apse. East of the apse was a room with stairs ascending to the second story; to the west was another room, where the synagogue's "treasury" was hidden in the floor. From the western aisle, three doorways opened onto a courtyard paved with flagstones. Its walls are well preserved. A small apse was discovered on the southern side of the courtyard and beyond it were plastered rooms that had served as cisterns (mikvehs ?). The mosaic in the hall was made of tiny colored tesserae; the preserved fragments indicate that it depicted figures of animals in addition to geometric and floral designs. Level IB was apparently destroyed in the first half of the seventh century, perhaps when the Byzantines reconquered the country from the Persians. The new synagogue (level IA), probably built at the beginning of the reign of the Umayyads, is not markedly different from its predecessor except that the small apse was no longer in use. Part of the courtyard was covered with a roof, supported by a column, thus creating a room in which one of the stairs of the apse was used as a bench. This may have served as a beth midrash, or study hall. A new mosaic pavement was laid that was decorated mainly with geometric designs, but at the entrance to the nave there were other motifs, such as a menorah. The rich finds included pottery of the type found at Khirbet el-Mafjar and many clay lamps, some bearing Arabic inscriptions. A long Aramaic inscription on a jug has been partly deciphered. It concerns a gift of oil from Sepphoris.

In this level, a segment of a paved street was also found (which was constructed in level IB). It ran from the city gate along the western wall of the synagogue's courtyard. The evidence furnished by the coins makes it clear that all the structures in this level were destroyed at the beginning of the Abbasid period, in approximately the middle of the eighth century, and never rebuilt. The ruins were used as dwellings and silos by squatters in the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries.