CASTULO, SPAIN—The Guardian reports that archaeologists excavating at the ancient Roman settlement of Castulo in southern Spain have identified the traces of a building they believe may have once been a synagogue. Near the location of what scholars had once assumed was a fourth- or fifth-century a.d. Christian basilica, the team found fragments of three oil lamps and a roof tile bearing depictions of menorahs, as well as a jar lid inscribed with Hebrew characters. When the researchers reconsidered the identification of the nearby structure as a place of early Christian worship, they found that many features of the building matched the layout of contemporary synagogues, and noted that it was located near the ruins of a Roman bathhouse. They doubt the local Christian clergy would have sanctioned building a place of worship so near to a structure so closely identified with pagan practices. “The Roman baths were the last pagan place that remained in a city,” said archaeologist Bautista Ceprián. “It was something diabolical and therefore something that had to be outside the Christian world.” If the team's interpretation is confirmed, the synagogue at Castulo would be among the oldest ever discovered in Spain. To read about the collapse of the Roman Empire in the Iberian peninsula, go to “The Visigoths’ Imperial Ambitions.”
