Sensational Synagogues: Reconfiguring Jewish Worship in the Dura Europos Synagogue

Scholars rarely study the multi-sensory and affective dimensions of Jewish life in premodernity, even if histories of ancient Jews remain only partial without their consideration. But this talk takes a different approach to ancient Jewish life and, particularly, inside spaces built for Jewish worship. 

It focuses on one the most famous synagogues ever discovered, from the ancient town of Dura Europos, once situated along the banks of the Euphrates River in Syria. This improbably preserved synagogue, constructed in the third century C.E. and uncovered in the 1930s, has been endlessly scrutinized by scholars of the ancient world. 

Yet shifted attention to multi-sensory and affective atmospheres sustained within the synagogue, as documented by several of its archaeologically attested features, including its wall paintings, graffiti, and ceiling tiles, yield otherwise unrecognized information about its original use. 

By adopting distinctive approaches from several fields, including the history and archaeology of the senses, this talk promises novel and otherwise unprecedented insights into experiential dimensions of Jewish worship and holiness in Syria and in other areas of the Mediterranean throughout late antiquity.

Register for the lecture - and lunch:

The lecture is free of charge and lunch will be provided for participants. 

Please register asap, but no later than 16 May.

More information:

Karen B. Stern is a Professor at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Her research and teaching consider the archaeology and material cultures of Jews who inhabited regions of the broader Greek, Roman, and Sassanian worlds in the eastern and western Mediterranean, Syria, North Africa, Arabia, and Mesopotamia in late antiquity; histories of religion, experience, affect, and the senses; and methods associated with material religion, visual, and cultural history.

Professor Karen Stern is also an award-winning author who draws from fields of archaeology, anthropology, history and religion to research the daily lives and material cultures of Jews of the ancient Mediterranean, Arabia and Mesopotamia. 

Don't miss our other lunch lecture this May with Mark Gillings (27 May): 
Lunch lecture with Mark Gillings | PUFENDORFINSTITUTET

Karen Stern and Mark Gillings are currently International Fellows with the Theme Ancient Synagogues and the Human Sensorium at the Pufendorf IAS