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Khirbet Shema

Aerial View of Khirbet Shema Aerial View of Khirbet Shema

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from www.govmap.gov.il


Names

Transliterated Name Source Name
Khirbet Shema
Tekoa of Galilee
Introduction
Identification

Khirbet Shema' is located in the Upper Galilee, 760 m above sea level, on a foothill of Mount Meiron, opposite the ancient settlement of Meiron (map reference 1914.2647). It has been known since medieval times as the burial place of Shammai, the contemporary of Hillel the Elder, his opponent. The ruin has been identified with Tekoa of Galilee by S. Klein and M. Avi-Yonah. The expedition that excavated at the site from 1970 to 1972, under the auspices of the American Schools of Oriental Research, directed by E. M. Meyers, found no explicit evidence to support or contradict this theory.

Excavations

Excavation of the Great Mausoleum, which is still venerated as a holy place by pious pilgrims, produced no evidence for dating, as its foundations were completely disturbed. Other tombs excavated in its vicinity indicated secondary burial to be the dominant mode of inhumation in a variety of tomb types: loculi, grave-type arcosolia, and variations and mixtures thereof. Coins and pottery indicate the main period of use to have been the fourth century CE, contemporary with the settlement.

The soundings conducted outside the synagogue building and in the public area around it showed that the settlement of Khirbet Shema' existed mainly between the mid-second and early fifth centuries CE. Numerous coins and a few sherds give evidence here of a settlement from the Late Hellenistic period - perhaps connected with the expansion of the Hasmonean kingdom to this part of the Galilee - but the smaller number of finds from the end of the Second Temple period (50 BCE-70 CE) to about 180 CE is more decisive. It is possible that with more extensive soundings at the site, the settlement from that earlier period will come to light. Investigation at adjacent settlements has shown a continuous occupation in this period, rather than a gap, which further study would clarify.

Maps, Aerial Views, Plans, and Drawings
Maps, Aerial Views, Plans, and Drawings

Maps

Normal Size

  • Fig. 1 - Location Map from Magness (1997)
  • Fig. 2 - Topographic map showing location of Khirbet Shema' and Meiron from Meyers et al (1972)

Magnified

  • Fig. 2 - Topographic map showing location of Khirbet Shema' and Meiron from Meyers et al (1972)

Aerial Views

  • Khirbet Shema' in Google Earth
  • Khirbet Shema' on govmap.gov.il

Plans and Drawings

Site Plans

Normal Size

  • Fig. 4 - Site plan from Meyers et al (1972)
  • Fig. 1.1 - Site plan with grid from Meyers, Kraabel, and Strange, J. (1976)
  • Fig. 1.2 - Index number legend from Meyers, Kraabel, and Strange, J. (1976)

Magnified

  • Fig. 4 - Site plan from Meyers et al (1972)
  • Fig. 1.1 - Site plan with grid from Meyers, Kraabel, and Strange, J. (1976)

Area Plans and Drawings

Synagogues

Plans

Normal Size

  • Fig. 1.2 - Index number legend from Meyers, Kraabel, and Strange, J. (1976)
  • Fig. 3.1 - Gridded site plan of synagogue and north building - closeup - from Meyers, Kraabel, and Strange, J. (1976)
  • Fig. 5 - Synagogue plan from Meyers et al (1972)
  • Fig. 3.14 - Synagogue and North Building plan from Meyers, Kraabel, and Strange, J. (1976)
  • Fig. 3 - Plans of Synagogues I and II from Magness (1997)

Magnified

  • Fig. 3.1 - Gridded site plan of synagogue and north building - closeup - from Meyers, Kraabel, and Strange, J. (1976)
  • Fig. 5 - Synagogue plan from Meyers et al (1972)
  • Fig. 3.14 - Synagogue and North Building plan from Meyers, Kraabel, and Strange, J. (1976)
  • Fig. 3 - Plans of Synagogues I and II from Magness (1997)

Drawings

  • Fig. 3.8 - Perspective view of synagogue from Meyers, Kraabel, and Strange, J. (1976)
  • Fig. 3.10 - Isometric drawing of the synagogue from Meyers, Kraabel, and Strange, J. (1976)
  • Figure 3.11 - reconstruction of Synagogue with the North Building from Meyers, Kraabel, and Strange, J. (1976)

Chronology
1st Earthquake

Although excavators Meyers, Kraabel, and Strange (1976) identified two earthquake events ( ~306 CE Eusebius' Martyr Quake and 419 CE Monaxius and Plinta Quake) which destroyed a Synagogue I and then a Synagogue II at Khirbet Shema, subsequent authors ( e.g. Russell, 1980 and Magness, 1997) re-examined their chronology and redated the earthquake evidence. Russell (1980) redated the two earthquake events to the northern 363 CE Cyril Quake and the 419 CE Monaxius and Plinta Quake while Magness (1997) concluded that there was no solid evidence for the existence of a Synagogue I on the site and evidence for an earthquake event in ~306 CE was lacking. She posited that Synagogue II was constructed in the late 4th to early 5th century CE and concluded that there was no solid evidence for the 419 CE (or 363 CE) earthquake as well. In Magness (1997) interpretation of the evidence, she suggested that the site had been abandoned when an earthquake brought down Synagogue II sometime before the 8th century CE.

Two sealed loci at the site provide a terminus post quem for the construction of Synagogue II. The latest coin found within a Bema was dated to 337-341 AD during the rule of Constans. The bema was described as "absolutely sealed by the stonework of the bema around and over it" where "contamination by later intrusions is virtually impossible" (Meyers, Kraabel, and Strange 1976:34). A declivity in the northwest corner of Synagogue II contained fill which was "sealed beneath more than a meter of debris, including large fallen architectural members" (Meyers, Kraabel, and Strange 1976: 34). Pottery within the fill below was described as homogeneous Middle-Late Roman. At the lowest levels a coin from Gratian (who ruled from 367-383 AD) was discovered. Meyers, Kraabel, and Strange (1976) interpreted the construction above the declivity to be part of a remodel. If we consider that construction above the declivity could also represent original construction, the terminus post quem for the construction of Synagogue II is between 337 and 383 AD. It is conceivable that Synagogue II was constructed over earthquake damaged remains of an earlier structure due to the presence of "battered architectural fragments built into Synagogue II (including those identified as belonging to the "Torah shrine") (Magness, 1997:216) however, as pointed out by Magness (1997), the provenance of these battered elements is unknown. They could come from another building. Nevertheless, this can be considered as possible archeoseismic evidence which predates the construction of Synagogue II. As for the causative earthquake(s), the ~306 CE Eusebius' Martyr Quake and the 363 CE Cyril Quake are both possibilities. Two other fills were examined (east and west of the Stylobate wall) but neither were sealed and neither added chronological precision to the construction of Synagogue II.

2nd Earthquake

Although excavators Meyers, Kraabel, and Strange (1976) identified two earthquake events ( Eusebius' Martyr Quake of ~306 CE and Monaxius and Plinta Quake of 419 CE) which destroyed a Synagogue I and then a Synagogue II at Khirbet Shema, subsequent authors ( e.g. Russell, 1980 and Magness, 1997) re-examined their chronology and redated the earthquake evidence. Russell (1980) redated the two earthquake events to the northern 363 CE Cyril Quake and the 419 CE Monaxius and Plinta Quake while Magness (1997) concluded that there was no solid evidence for the existence of a Synagogue I on the site and evidence for an earthquake event in ~306 CE was lacking. She posited that Synagogue II was constructed in the late 4th to early 5th century CE and concluded that there was no solid evidence for the 419 CE (or 363 CE) earthquake as well. In Magness (1997) interpretation of the evidence, she suggested that the site had been abandoned when an earthquake brought down Synagogue II sometime before the 8th century CE.

Meyers, Kraabel, and Strange (1976) archeoseismic evidence for the 2nd earthquake, the 419 CE Monaxius and Plinta Quake, appears to be shaky. It is based on a lacuna of coin evidence starting in 408 CE and lasting for the last three quarters of the 5th century CE. They suggest this indicates abandonment of the site during this time period and in turn suggest that abandonment was likely due to the 419 CE Monaxius and Plinta Quake. Magness (1997: 217-218) provided a number of reasons why she classifies this as a dangerous argument from silence.

Notes and Further Reading
References

Bibliography from Stern et. al. (1993 v.4)

Main Publication

E. M. Meyers eta!., Ancient Synagogue Excavations at Khirbet Shema ', Upper Galilee, Israel, 1970-1972 (AASOR 42), Durham, N.C. 1976.

Other Studies

Conder-Kitchener, SWP 1, 246-247

Guerin, Galilee 2, 433-434

D. G. Dalman, ZDPV29 (1906), 195-199

R.A. S. Macalister, PEQ4l (1909), 195-200

M. Avi-Yonah, The Macmillan Bible Atlas, New York 1968, 141, 183

R. J. Bull, IEJ20 (1970), 232-234; id., AJA 75 (1971), 196-197

A. T. Kraabel and E. M. Meyers, RB 78 (1971), 418-419; 79 (1972), 408-409; 80 (1973), 585-587

E. M. Meyers et. al., BA 35 (1972), 1-31; id., IEJ 22 (1972), 174-176; id., AASOR 42 (Reviews), LA 28 (1978), 267-276. ~ BASOR244(!98!), 75-79.~JNES40 (1981), 64-65

E. M. Meyers, BA 43 (1980), 97-108; id.,ASR, 70- 74; id., Archaeology 35/3 (1982), 51-58; id., City, Town and Countryside in the Early Byzantine Era (ed. R. L. Hohlfelder), New York 1982, 115-130; id., BASOR 260 (1985), 61-69; id., The Synagogue in Late Antiquity ( ed. L.l. Levine), Philadelphia 1987, 127-139; The Times Atlas of the Bible (ed. J. B. Pritchard), London 1987, 152.

Bibliography from Stern et. al. (2008)

D. Milson, LA 41 (1991), 449–454

E. M. Meyers, ABD, 5, New York 1992, 1197–1198; id., OEANE, 5, New York 1997, 26–27

E. Netzer, EI 25 (1996), 106*

J. Magness, JFA 24 (1997), 211–220; id., Judaism in Late Antiquity III/4, Leiden 2001, 1–48

Z. Safrai, The Missing Century: Palestine in the 5th Century—Growth and Decline (Palestine Antiqua N.S. 9), Leuven 1998 (index)

J. F. Strange, Judaism in Late Antiquity III/4, Leiden 2001, 71–79; id., Continuity and Renewal: Jews and Judaism in Byzantine-Christian Palestine (ed. L. I. Levine), Jerusalem 2004, 530–543.

Wikipedia pages

Khirbet Shema

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Meiron

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Mount Meron

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