Image Details

A basalt pilaster found buried near the Chorazim synagogue. This pilaster was originally part of a larger structure—probably an elaborately carved Ark of the Law that held the Torah scrolls. The pilaster is decorated on two sides with acanthus leaves on the capital and geometric patterns. Although we can’t be certain where the pilaster stood, at right, an artist has reconstructed a likely appearance of the Chorazim ark. No complete intact Ark of the Law has yet been discovered, but archaeologists in the Galilee have found a pediment fragment that was part of a synagogue ark. Depictions of arks also appear on coins and in ancient synagogue mosaic floors and paintings.