posted November 11, 2014 11:35 AM            

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While building a road to the modern Tiberias in 1920-21, workers found the ruins of Hammath. An excavator then discovered a synagogue, which was dated as in use from the third to the fifth centuries AD, including a seven-branched candelabrum (menorah) carved out of limestone and complete with holes for oil.

In 1947, while workmen were expanding a modern bathhouse, they discovered more of the city, including another synagogue. Systematic excavation began only in 1961. The diggers found a series of synagogues built one on top of the other. The earliest building, dating from the first century AD, may have had another use, but the next, built in the fourth century (according to the redating by Magness ), was identified as a synagogue. It fell in that century, perhaps in the earthquake of 363. On its ruins arose the synagogue whose mosaic floor is the main attraction of the site today. Its largest "carpet" shows the signs of the zodiac (the name of each is written beside it in Hebrew, sometimes misspelled) and, in the center, pictured as riding through the sky, is Helios, god of the sun.

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Such symbols in a synagogue may arouse surprise, but we find the zodiac elsewhere too: at Beit Alpha, Sepphoris, Husifa on Mt. Carmel, and Na'aran near Jericho. There seem to be traces of it at Susiya in the Hebron hills and Yafia near Nazareth. The astrological signs are listed in an inscription from the synagogue at Ein Gedi. Most of these buildings presented modest facades to the world, saving their glory for the interior. From the same periods, there were also majestic synagogues in Roman style, built with columns and large dressed stones, for example, at Capernaum, Chorazin, Merot and Arbel. On the Golan Heights and in the Hebron area there were still further variations. Altogether, the remains of more than a hundred synagogues have been found, dating from the third to the eighth centuries.

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posted November 11, 2014 11:39 AM            

Sepphoris:

Na'aran

posted November 11, 2014 12:04 PM            

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In 1895 a mosaic, apparently from the second half of the third century CE, depicting Sol Invictus riding on a chariot drawn by four horses was found in Münster-Sarmsheim in Germany (Figure 5). The mosaic is on display at the Rheinisches Landes Museum in Bonn. According to Parlasca (1959: 88) the composition of this mosaic is unique among the mosaics found in Germany. I maintain that, from the artistic point of view, the arrangement of the chariot and the signs is identical to the mosaic at Beth Alpha.

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https://www.modeemi.fi/~david/syn/beth_alpha_zodiac_2013.pdf

posted November 11, 2014 12:16 PM            

Torah Synagogue in Akko, Israel

Not ancient, but a meaningful inclusion of the zodiac.

Another semi-modern example from Jerusalem, the Dormition Monastery:

posted November 11, 2014 01:01 PM            

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The prevalence of the zodiac in synagogue art is described by Bernard Goldman in his discussion of the fifth or sixth century C.E. mosaic zodiac preserved in the Beth Alpha synagogue:

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The recurrence of the zodiac in synagogue after synagogue suggests its importance as more than a decorative or ornamental device. Rather, as the talmudic sources make clear and as the continued appearance of the zodiac in later European Jewish art shows, the use of the zodiac in the synagogue of the rabbinic period was consonant with its symbolic importance, an importance that extended from non-Jewish into Jewish metaphysics.

In classical sources, the zodiac symbolized the heavens. Through the image of the zodiac "the artist transformed the starry path into a canopy, dome, arch, and frame to express the cosmic dimensions of the icon and ritual it enclosed (Goldman, p. 61)." Expressing this meaning, the zodiac had a natural place as a focal point of Jewish worship and ritual, as a "symbol of the heavens and constellations under whose aegis the destinies of nations and of men were ordered (p. 64).

Prayers for divine protection, for God's mercy and forgiveness from sin, for the coming of salvation appropriately were recited in a setting that depicted the divine and heavenly forces that could answer those prayers. Astrological symbols thus functioned in ancient synagogues not as mere ornamentation but as vivid representations of the Hellenized Jews' perception of the cosmic order.

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posted May 06, 2016 12:14 PM            

Slightly off topic, the courtyard of City Hall in Philadelphia has a zodiac:

posted May 10, 2016 09:41 PM            

Thanks mirage, glad you like the pics.

posted May 12, 2016 08:47 PM            

Not sure how credible the article is, since this is my first attempt to understand the topic.

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The Tree of Life holds a place for each of the planets and these eleven Shining Ones, Sephiroth, are defined by titles which are particularly appropriate for each planet in its ruling Sign. This correspondence was always known for the visible planets but the ‘rediscovery’ of Uranus in 1781, Neptune in 1820 and Pluto in 1936 has occasioned much debate as to their respective positions on the Tree. There is realistically little room for doubt and each fits the character of their proper Sephira and the special sacred Hebrew ‘mother letters’ which have designated these highest Sephiroth before their ‘discoveries.’ There astrological characters are very different and fit extremely well their allotted ‘slots.’

It is extraordinary to recognise this evidence that the ancients knew all these far flung outer planets, even tiny, most distant Pluto. Yet any astrologer knows that when Pluto is strongly involved in a horoscope his influence is extremely powerful. It was clearly not missed by the ancient astrologers. The alternative evidence for this ancient knowledge is equally unequivocal to anyone with insight into the astrological characters of the planets. Simply, the ancient Greek and Roman gods portrayed these planets’ characters with a clarity we still use in astrology today. It would be a more marvellous world than even astrology can portray if this were blind chance !

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Left three circles: Pillar of Form
Middle circles: Pillar of Consciousness
Right three circles: Pillar of Force

posted May 14, 2016 10:28 PM            

This video talks about Virgo being the first sign, Leo the last, with the sphinx symbolizing the full cycle:

Astrology Signs and the Hebrew Zodiac

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Mazzaroth (Mazarot מַזָּרוֹת, LXX μαζουρωθ ) is a hapax legomenon (i.e., a word appearing only once in a text) of the Hebrew Bible, found in Job 38:31-32. The similar word mazalot (מַּזָּלוֹת in 2 Kings 23:3-5 may be related.

The word's precise meaning is uncertain[1] but its context is that of astronomical constellations, and it is often interpreted as a term for the zodiac or the constellations thereof.[2]

In Yiddish, the term mazalot came to be used in the sense of "astrology" in general, surviving in the expression "mazel tov," meaning "good luck."[3]

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Long lecture, but good:
He Calls Them All By Name

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National Geographic Documentary

The Mysteries behind the Kabbalah - Documentary