David J. Lull
Sardis shops, synagogue, and bath-gymnasium complex
Along the colonnaded Roman main street (cardo) in Sardis are shops dating from the 4th century CE. One was a shop of Jacob, an elder of the synagogue. The synagogue (on the other side of the shop walls, along the south side of the palaestra), which Lucius Verus (Roman Emperor with Marcus Aurelius 161-169 CE) might have given to the Jewish community, occupies a building that once belonged to the gymnasium complex. The top of the bath-gymnasium complex, completed around the middle of the 2nd century CE, features a monumental colonnaded Marble Court, added in 211 CE, dedicated by Sardis citizens to Geta (Roman Emperor 209-211 CE), though his named has been erased, and Caracalla (Roman Emperor 209-217 CE), sons of Septimius Severus (Roman Emperor 193-211 CE), and their mother Julia Domna (170-217 CE). See McDonagh, Turkey, Blue Guide, 3rd ed., 196 and 198; Fant and Reddish, Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey, 306-07; and Wilson, Biblical Turkey, 302.
Sardis shops, synagogue, and bath-gymnasium complex
Along the colonnaded Roman main street (cardo) in Sardis are shops dating from the 4th century CE. One was a shop of Jacob, an elder of the synagogue. The synagogue (on the other side of the shop walls, along the south side of the palaestra), which Lucius Verus (Roman Emperor with Marcus Aurelius 161-169 CE) might have given to the Jewish community, occupies a building that once belonged to the gymnasium complex. The top of the bath-gymnasium complex, completed around the middle of the 2nd century CE, features a monumental colonnaded Marble Court, added in 211 CE, dedicated by Sardis citizens to Geta (Roman Emperor 209-211 CE), though his named has been erased, and Caracalla (Roman Emperor 209-217 CE), sons of Septimius Severus (Roman Emperor 193-211 CE), and their mother Julia Domna (170-217 CE). See McDonagh, Turkey, Blue Guide, 3rd ed., 196 and 198; Fant and Reddish, Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey, 306-07; and Wilson, Biblical Turkey, 302.