Was Dura Europos the largest Diaspora synagogue in this period?
No. While the Dura synagogue was unique in its art, displaying a remarkable array of biblical themes and Jewish symbols, the distinction of size and rich epigraphic finds belongs to the monumental Sardis synagogue in Asia Minor (today’s Turkey), which featured an 80–yard-long sanctuary with a 20–yard-long atrium-courtyard. Discovered in 1962, the structure, prominently located at an important intersection on the city’s main street, was once a wing of an enormous municipal gymnasium and bath complex. Used first as a synagogue in the third century and then refurbished and redecorated in the fourth, the buildings continued to function for almost three centuries, until the city was captured and destroyed by the Persians in 616 C.E. Entering the building from one of the streets to the east or south, visitors would have found themselves in an open courtyard-atrium lavishly decorated with a mosaic pavement of multicolored geometric patterns and surrounded by porticoes. In the center of the at
