Sardis
was once the capital of one of the world’s wealthiest
kingdoms. The riches of its ruler, Croesus, were legendary.
This synagogue, built more than eight hundred years
after Croesus, in the time of Roman rule, is the largest
known from antiquity. The building contained a vast
hall that could hold more than 1,000 people. Its location
--- on the main street, part of a larger building
complex that housed the public bath and gymnasium,
or academy --- shows how accepted the Jewish community
was within the civic life of this great city.
