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Introduction In the Roman civic environment, no less than in our own modern cities, construction was a natural part of life. The building of new structures, and the remodelling of older ones, was an integral part of the fabric of ordinary urban society. L. Michael White has effectively drawn attention to the importance of taking notice of the adaptive religious structures of the Roman world; he argues convincingly that analysis of the various stages of renovation of ancient buildings imparts important social evidence on the status and circumstances of religious communities (White 1990). Amid all of the archaeological evidence reflecting renovation of religious buildings, particularly interesting is evidence of architectural modification of the private home for cultic use and the involvement of patrons and benefactors in this process. Among the archaeological discoveries in ancient Priene, a city situated on the Ionian coast of Asia Minor between Ephesus and Miletus, was an adapted private house located in the domestic quarter of the city. The first excavators of the site, a German team led by Theodor Wiegand, identified the structure as a Christian Hauskirche and dated it to the fourth or fifth century CE.1 The building is now properly identified as a synagogue, dated to the second or third century CE, which was constructed by remodelling a private home. What makes this synagogue discovery particularly intriguing is its juxtaposition with two other religious structures: a temenos identified as belonging to the cult of Cybele, and a sanctuary to the deified Alexander the Great. Both of these religious sites, like the synagogue, are located on renovated private property; consequently, all three were dependent on the benefaction of patrons for the acquisition and use of the property. Each of Notes to chapter 13 start on page 290 197 13 Down the Road from Sardis Adaptive Religious Structures and Religious Interaction in the Ancient City of Priene Michele Murray these remodelled dwellings is found along West Gate Street, one of the main roadways of the city. The location of these buildings just inside the city wall, however, places them decidedly on the outskirts of the urban centre of Priene, in a location typical of many Greco-Roman voluntary associations. After a brief overview of the history and setting of the ancient city of Priene, I will present and analyze the relevant archaeological evidence as recorded in the original 1904 excavation reports on the city and other more recent archaeological reports.2 My analysis will proceed in the following order: (1) the temenos of Cybele, (2) the shrine to Alexander the Great, and (3) the synagogue. I will then focus the discussion on the status of the Jewish community in Priene, as well as the interaction among Jews and Christians in the city, based on the archaeological realia. I will also note that despite the obvious differences in their wealth and the size of their synagogues, the Jewish communities at Priene and Sardis resembled one another in their positive coexistence with the citizens of the polis and the respective Christian communities in each (cf. Cohick 1999, 127). Priene: The Setting of Its Ruins The present site of the archaeological ruins of Priene beside the village of Turunclar, Turkey, is not the original site of the city. It was forced to move from its older (uncertain) location because of the accumulation of clay deposits from the Maender River. In 350 BCE the new city was constructed on its present site, located on a slope at the foot of a rock cliff among the lofty Mycale Mountains. At this time, Priene was closer to the sea than it is presently, and maintained a small port called Naulochos (see Bean 1966, 197–218; Akurgal 1970, 185–206). This new town was still being built when Alexander the Great arrived in 334 BCE. Discovering that the principal temple of the city, the temple to Athena, was still unfinished, Alexander supplied the finances for the building of the rest of the structure. One of the rewards for his generosity was the honour of dedicating the temple, which is recorded in an inscription now housed in the British Museum (Stoneman 1997, 29).3 The architect of the temple to Athena, Carian Pytheos, later wrote an architectural manual that used this very temple at Priene as the ideal model for Ionic temple construction (Bean 1966, 200). Other temples, such as ones dedicated to Demeter and Kore and to Zeus Olympios, also date to the early days of the city’s existence and...

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