Naaran
 Remnants of Naaran synagogue mosaic | |
  Shown within State of Palestine | |
| Location | West Bank |
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| Coordinates | 31°53′37″N 35°25′28″E / 31.89361°N 35.42444°E |
Naaran (also Na'aran) (
Naaran is identified with Ein ad-Duk, now within the municipal boundaries of Jericho, 5km north-west of the city center.
Settlement
Naaran is mentioned in Joshua 16:7 and 1 Chronicles 7:28 as a town in the eastern part of Ephraim.[1] Eusebius, in his Onomasticon, makes mention of the site, saying that in his day it was "a village inhabited by Jews, five [Roman] miles from Jericho."[2] The site is also named in the writings of Josephus (Antiquities 17.13.1), under its Greek name Νεαρά,[3] and in the Midrash Rabba (Leviticus Rabbah 23:5), which notes the rivalry between Naaran and the neighboring gentile city of Jericho.[4]
Excavations in the vicinity of the synagogue have yielded structures dated to the Byzantine period.[5]
Synagogue
In 1918, during WWI in Palestine, a Turkish shell fired at
Despite literary evidence of the antiquity of the settlement, little information about the age of the synagogue is available. Some scholars suggest the 5th and 6th centuries CE on architectural grounds.[5]
Aramaic inscriptions and mosaics from the synagogue are displayed at an archaeology museum established by the Israeli archaeologist Yitzhak Magen at the Good Samaritan Inn.[6]
An Israeli settlement, kibbutz Na'aran, located 8 kilometers to the north, takes its name from Naaran.
See also
- Shalom Al Yisrael Synagogue(6th century) in nearby Jericho
- Yitav, nearby Israeli settlement
- Oldest synagogues in the world
- Archaeology of Israel
- Zodiac mosaics in ancient synagogues
References
- ^ Easton's Bible Dictionary
- ISBN 0-391-04217-3.
- JSTOR 3768487.
- OCLC 928745908.
- ^ ISBN 978-90-04-29839-2.
- ^ Inn of the Good Samaritan Becomes a Museum
| Authority control databases: National |
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