Ostia Synagogue

Ostia was once the port of Rome. The city was first occupied in the 4th century BCE and then continuously inhabited until the 4th century CE when Rome began to fall into decline. The mosaic floors along the shopping avenue tell the story of a very mixed and open culture living in Ostia.
When I visited with the group, Matt mentioned that there was a synagogue located in Ostia and that it could be the first in the world…
During the 1st century AD the province of Judea was dissolved and the Sadducees of Jerusalem were destroyed along with the temple built by King Herod-to this day the ruins of the monumental Temple Mount are still prayed to in Jerusalem. This led to a cultural transformation within the Jewish Religion. The orthodox beliefs of the priests were abandoned and the Sadducees were replaced by Rabbis, who taught the religion from synagogues. So synagogues first began to be constructed in the first century AD.
This is the century that the synagogue at Ostia dates to. The synagogue was first discovered in 1961 and fully uncovered the following year. The structure was first identified as an early synagogue because the entablature on either side of the alter bears relief carvings of menorahs, which are to this day a symbol of the Jewish religion. The construction technique in the oldest part of the temple, opus reticulatum dates it to the reign of Claudius 41-54 CE.
What I found most interesting about the synagogue was how noticeably similar it is to modern ones. I approached the structure without knowing that it was the synagogue. I only realized I had found it when I saw the carvings. The form of the synagogue was immediately recognizable: the bema was there and the room for the ark which houses the Torah was there. It is amazing that possibly the first synagogue ever built is so similar in form to those still used.