Ancient Jews in Rome, organized their communities along traditional Roman laws. Because of this, the synagogues in Rome were much more collegiate in nature, they were private, autonomous institutions. In other diaspora Jewish communities, synagogues had a council formed by mainly archons who would guide the community’s affairs. However, Julius Caesar had ruled against religious associations in fear that they would threaten the state. To avoid Roman persecution, the Rome Jewry abandoned the hope of having a council. Synagogues were classified as colleges or collegia to get around Roman laws banning religious associations and because of this temples were allowed to collect the yearly tax paid by all Jewish men and put it towards maintaining the the temple.
There have references to at least 13 different synagogues in Rome. The earliest of which was called Synagogue of the Hebrews. |
List of Various SYNAgogues in Rome
- Synagogue of the 'Agger': also known as the synagogue of the Secenians (from Zekenim, 'elders').
- Synagogue of the Subura: no inscriptions before 70 CE. It may have been founded by (freed) prisoners of war. The location suggests that they had been involved in the urban renewal projects of Vespasian(Colosseum, temple of Peace).
- Synagogue of the Field of Mars and Synagogue of the Calcaresians: both on the Field of Mars. Maybe, these places of worship are the ancestors of the medieval 'cinque scuole' in the Ghetto and the modern synagogue.
- Synagogue of the Agrippaeans and Synagogue of the Augustiales: the names may honor the emperor Augustus and his close friend Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. However, the second name may also refer to the Jewish king Herod Agrippa.
- Synagogue of the Hebrews and Vernacular synagogue: the name of the first one suggests that it was the first synagogue in Rome, or that it maintained the Hebrew liturgical language; the second name suggest that Latin was spoken.
- Synagogue of Volumnius and Synagogue of Elaias: called after otherwise unknown people.
- Synagogue of the Tripolitans: probably called after the 'three cities' in Africa, and therefore believed to be the place where African rites were performed.
- Three synagogues are known only by name and can not be localized; a fourth synagogue was at Ostia, the Roman port.
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