2. In .Jenisalem itself, immediately before the destruction of the city by Titus, there were 394 (Hab. Kcthub. lOofi), or, according to another version (Jcrus. Mcgilla, 13d and oft.), 480 syna- gogues. Even if these figures are exaggerated, the number of synagogues in Jerusalem must be thoughc of as veiy large. Apart from the syna- gogues belonging to the inhabitants proper of the capital, there were others for the various com- munities of foreign Jews settled in Jerusalem. A Tannaite tradition mentions the synagogue of the Alexandrians at Jerusalem (Tos. Me(jilla, ii. 22428, Jerus..l/f.7i7/a, 73(/«; otherwise Bab. jl/e^iV/a, 2(k(). Tlie Acts of the Apostles (C) also names the synagogue of the Alexandrians, along with the synagogues of the Cyrenian.s, Cilicians, and Asians ; the Hellenistic members of these synagogues dis- pute with Stei)hen (ib. cf. O'"'). In the temple itself there was a synagogue, which Joshua b. C'hananja mentions from recollections of his own (Tos. Sukhx, iv. 198'"), and of whose function- aries we hear also from other quarters (Yovia, vii. 1 ; Sotn, vii. 7, 8). On the synagogues of Jerusalem cf. also Jerus. Snkka, 54a".
Of the synagogues of Palestine the Gospels name Nazareth (.Mt 13*', Mk G'-', Lk 4") and Capernaum (Mk 1-', l.k 7', Jn &■") as those in which Jesus taught. The sj'nagogue of Dora was built by Agrippa I. (Jos. Ant. XIX. vi. 3) ; the synagogue of Ciesarea bucamea moving cause of the rising against Konie {liJ II. xiv. 4-5), and in memory of this con- tinned to be called in the 4th cent. ' the revolution synagogue ' (KriTOi Kn!7':D, Jerus. Bihkurim, G.'x/" et nl. ; see Graetz, Gc.irh. d. Jndcn', iv. 313). The great synagogue of Tiberias is mentioned by Josephus {Vila, 54). During the three centuries that followed the destruction of Jerusalem, the Talmudical literature names various Pal. syna- gogues : for instance, those that were the centres of scribal activity: Sepplioris (the 'great syna- gogue,' Pisi/Uri, I3Gi ; the 'synagogue of the Jiahylonians,' Jerus. Bcrulchoth, 9a"-, Shulib. 8a "; the 'synagogue of the vine' [kjdui '3], Jerus. Jin-rik/ioth, 6a, et al.) ; I'iberias (Eruhin, x. 10; ' the 13 synagogues of Tiberias,' Bernkhoth, 8a, 3ui ; the ' synagogue of the senate-house ' ffloi/X?), 'Sm '3], Jerus. 'latin. 64a'", see hU Agada der jiril. Anior. iii. 100); Cajsarea (see above); Lydda (Jerus. Shekalim, v., end). There is mention, further, of the synagogues of Beth-shean (Scytho- poUs] (Jerus. Meg. 74a'"); Kiphra or Kiiphra
(Jems. Taan. 6S6", 3feg. 70a *»; in Pesikta rahb., ed. Friedmann, p. 190" k"i30 Vr ibd 'village of Tiberias'); Maon (Shabb. lZ9a, Zcbach. 1186); Sichnin (Jerus. Meg. 756*'); Tibein (Tos. Meg. 223'»).
In Babylonia the oldest synagogues were counted to be that of Shaph-Jethib at Nahardca (Mcgilla, 296, Rosh ha>:h. 246, Ahoda zara, 436, Nidda, 13a), and that of Hu?al (Mcgilla, 296). The founding of the former was ascribed to kin" Jehoiachin. From the 3rd cent, there is witness for a ' synagogue of Daniel ' (Erubin, 2\a). In Machuza there was in the 4th cent, a 'synagogue of the Romans' ('a •Nom, J\Ieg. 265).
In Syria specially famous was the great syna- gogue of Antioch, to which the successors of Antiochus Epiiihanes presented the brazen vessels which had been earned olf from the temple at Jerusalem (Jos. BJ VII. iii. 3). On this syna- gogue, on whose site arose in the 4th cent, the Christian basilica dedicated to the Maccabu'an martyrs, see Cardinal RampoUa in Remie de VArt ChrHien, 1899, p. 39U.— The Apostle Paul preached in various sjnagogues at Damascus (Ac 9-", cf. v.*). The narrative of the journeys of the same apostle makes mention of synagogues in Asia Minor, Macedonia, Greece : for instance, those of Pisidian Antioch (Ac 13'*), Iconiura (14'), Epliesus (18'"), Philippi (16"), Thessalonica (17'), Beroea (\V), Athens (17"), Corinth (IS-"'). There were several syn.agogues at Salamis in Cyprus (13').
The numerous Jewish population of Alexandria had, according to the testimony of Philo (Leg. ad Gaiiim, § 20), many sj-nagogues in the ditt'erent quarters of the city. The largest of these was the famous basilica, of which the Tannaite tradition of the 2nd cent, gives a hyperbolical but yet very graphic description (Tos. Sukka, iv. I'JS-" ; Jerus. Hiikkri, 55a, bottom; Bab. ISukka, 51a). The founding of the synagogue of Ptolemais is related in 3 JNIac 7"».
We learn from Philo {Leg. ad Gaium, § 23) that as early as tlie time of Augustus there were a number of synagogues in Kume. The names of se\ural of these have been preserved in the in- scriptions (see Schiirer', iii. 44(1'.). An ancient literary tradition names the 'synagogue of Severus' at Rome (see Epstein in Monatsschrift fiir Gesch. u. ]Vi-s:s: des Judenthums, 1885, p. 338).
The memory of many synagogues of the Diaspora is preserved in early Greek inscriptions. Specially noteworthy are the ruins of ancient synagogues at several sjjots in northern Galilee, 'of wliich the oldest date from the second or even the lirst cent. A.D.'(SchUrer2, ii. 445).
3. At the time of the rise of Christianity every Jewish community, whether in Palestine or in the Diaspora, certainly had its synagogue. The words of St. James quoted above are in harmony with the testimony of Philo, who sjieaks of the places of prayer that existed in every city as so many places of instruction in virtue and piety ( Vita Mo.i. iii. 27 : ri xard v6\(ls TrpoaevKHjpia ri '4Ttpiiv iffriv ij SidaaKaXeui K.T.\.). Hence there is a reflexion of the real con- dition of things when in a Tannaite saying of the 1st or 2nd cent. (R. 'Akiba already glosses it) the synagogue is named as one of the qualilii-atioiis of acity in which a scribe m.ay settle down {.Smt/icdrin, 176, bottom). When in the Tannaite liftliicha the synagogue is looked upon as the property of the city {Aedarim, v. 5), the i)lace8 in view are such aa are inhabited wholly or for the most part by Jews, for in tlie.se the political and the religious body are one and tlie same. Where there is no synagogue, the citizens (tjj.i -jd 'sons of the city') have the right to demand that one be built and ' to compel one another to do this' (Tos. Baba mczin, xi. 396-*). The same rule ap|ilios to the procuring of