The Theodotos inscription is the earliest known inscription from a synagogue. It was found in December 1913 by Raymond Weill in Wadi Hilweh. It is the earliest-known evidence of a synagogue building in the region of Palestine. The ten-line inscription is on an ashlar stone measuring 71x45cm.
Discovery
The inscription was found during Weill's excavations, in a cistern labelled "C2". Weill described the cistern as being filled with "large discarded wall materials, sometimes deposited in a certain order, enormous rubble stones, numerous cubic blocks with well-cut sides, a few sections of columns: someone filled this hole with the debris of a demolished building".
Inscription
Greek script
ΘΕΟΔΟΤΟΣ ΟΥΕΤΤΗΝΟΥ ΙΕΡΕΥΣ ΚΑΙ
ΑΡΧΙΣΥΝΑΓΩΓΟΣ ΥΙΟΣ ΑΡΧΙΣΥΝ
ΓΥ ΥΙΩΝΟΣ ΑΡΧΙΣΥΝΓΩΓΟΥ ΩΚΟ
ΔΟΜΗΣΕ ΤΗΝ ΣΥΝΑΓΩΓΝ ΕΙΣ ΑΝΝΩ
Σ ΝΟΜΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΕΙΣ ΙΔAΧΝ ΕΝΤΟΛΩΝ
ΤΟΝ ΞΕΝΩΝΑ ΚΑ ΔΩΜΑΤΑ ΚΑΙ ΤΑ ΧΡΗ
ΣΗΡΙΑ ΤΩΝ ΥΔΑΤΩΝ ΕΙΣ ΚΑΤΑΛΥΜΑ ΤΟΙ
ΣΡΗΖΟΥΣΙΝ ΑΠΟ ΤΗΣ ΞΕΗΣ ΗΝ ΕΘΕΜΕ
ΛΣΑΝ ΟΙ ΠΑΤΕΡΕΣ ΥΤΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΟΙ ΠΡΕ
ΣΥΤΕΡΟΙ ΚΑΙ ΣΙΜΩΝΔΗΣ
Transliteration
Thódotos Ouettínou, ierèfs kaí | achisynágogos, yiós archisyn|gy, yionós archisyngógou, oko|dómise tín synagogn eis ano||s nómou kaí eis idachn entolón, kaí tn xenóna, ka dómata kaí tá chri|síria tón ydáton eis katályma toí|s rízousin apó tís xéis, ín etheme|lsan oi patéres ytoú kaí oi pre||sýteroi kaí Simondis.
Translation
Theodotos son of Vettenus, priest and head of the synagogue, son of a head of the synagogue, and grandson of a head of the synagogue, built the synagogue for the reading of the law and for the teaching of the commandments , as well as the guest room, the chambers, and the water fittings as an inn for those in need from abroad, the synagogue which his fathers founded with the elders and Simonides.
John S. Kloppenborg: The Theodotos Synagogue Inscription and the Problem of First-Century Synagogue Buildings. In: James H. Charlesworth : Jesus and Archaeology. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids 2006, S. 236–282.
Jonathan J. Price: Synagogue building inscription of Theodotos in Greek, 1 c. BCE–1 c. CE. In: Hannah M. Cotton u. a. : Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae. Bd. 1: Jerusalem, Teil 1. De Gruyter, Berlin 2010, S. 53–56.
Gustav Adolf Deissmann: Licht vom Osten. Das Neue Testament und die neuentdeckten Texte der hellenistisch-römischen Welt. 4., völlig neubearbeitete Auflage. Mohr, Tübingen 1923, S. 379–380.
:de:Rachel Hachlili|Rachel Hachlili: Ancient Synagogues – Archaeology and Art: New Discoveries and Current Research. Brill, Leiden 2013, S. 523–526.
Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau. “Découverte a Jérusalem D'une Synagogue De L'epoque Hérodienne.” Syria, vol. 1, no. 3, 1920, pp. 190–197. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4195086
Primary sources
Raymond Weill: La Cité de David. Campagne de 1913–1914. Geuthner, Paris 1920.
