Tzipori: A mosaic of Jewish history

There seems to be no evidence that the Jewish community in Tzipori assimilated. It seems that despite attempts to eradicate or undermine Judaism, Jews maintained their religious integrity.

By MOSHE DANN
Tzipori 2 521 (photo credit: Courtesy: Yael Ilan)
Tzipori 2 521
(photo credit: Courtesy: Yael Ilan)
Perched on a hilltop overlooking the fertile Beit Netofa Valley, the town of Tzipori (from the Hebrew for bird, tzipor) was one of the most important centers for mosaic art during the Roman and Byzantine periods. Stunning portraits and mythological scenes can be found there and nowhere else. Tzipori’s place in Jewish history, however, has been neglected and perhaps misunderstood.
Tzipori’s recently-discovered fifth-century synagogue near a Roman decumanus (a large east-west oriented street) is the only synagogue that’s been found at the site so far and even that was by accident; a bulldozer doing excavations near the parking lot hit the mosaic floor.
Although the building does not face Jerusalem, contrary to prevailing custom for synagogues, Prof. Ze’ev Weiss (who excavated the site with Prof. Ehud Netzer) is convinced that it was used as a place of prayer as well as for study and communal gatherings. The synagogue floor, like those found at Beit Alfa and Tiberias, with zodiacs and pagan symbols, indicates that Jews were integrated into the wider culture and community. Yet, in stark contrast to mosaic floors of their Roman neighbors, the synagogue floor also illustrates traditional Jewish themes, suggesting a difficult period of survival amidst an alien culture.
The synagogue, however, is only the beginning of an exciting exploration into the talmudic period. Why, first of all, did Tzipori become so important?
Tzipori’s strategic position on trade routes that cut across the Lower Galilee made it, along with Tiberias, one of the most important centers of commercial life in the area. A major Roman provincial capital, it was, at times, also an important Jewish community.
According to Josephus (The Jewish War), following Herod’s death the Romans destroyed Tzipori (“Sepphoris” in Greek) after an uprising there and enslaved its inhabitants. Within a short time, Jews returned to the city, rebuilt it and revived its commercial, social and religious life. They did not, however, participate in the Great Revolt against the Romans that led to the destruction of the Temple and the Jewish Commonwealth.
The reasons for not opposing Roman rule could have been economic: it was too costly and not good for business. But this argument might be applied to any other town. Only a handful, like Beit She’an and Tzipori, refused to fight.
Another reason could have been the presence of Jewish leaders who, following the advice of Rabbi Yohanan Ben-Zakai, urged Jews not to revolt. During the reign of Emperor Trajan (98-117 CE), the local Jewish authorities even minted coins in his honor.
Although little is known about how the residents of Tzipori reacted during the Bar-Kochba rebellion (132-135), Jews apparently no longer dominated the city council, and it was probably at this time that the city’s name was changed to Diocaesarea – in honor of the emperor and reflecting its pagan character.
Based on its opulence, displayed in ornate exotic mosaic floors, Tzipori appears to have been a swinging Roman city. This has led to the belief that Jews there lived in a highly assimilated and open cultural milieu; coexistence, albeit within limits.

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It would seem that its residents indulged in the good life and that the Jews who lived there enjoyed the best of both worlds. That may explain why they chose to collaborate with the Romans rather than join the revolt.
Why, then, given its lust for life, did the greatest Jewish scholars of the time choose Tzipori – after Yavne, Usha, Shfaram and Beit She’arim – as one of the places to convene the Sanhedrin, the assembly of rabbis who compiled the Mishna? Led by Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi (Rabbi Judah the Prince, or “Rabbi,” as he is referred to in the Talmud) at the beginning of the third century, this monumental event, ensuring the survival of Judaism, required the participation of hundreds of scholars. Where did they live and work?
Many great scholars (of both the Tannaitic and Amoraic periods) were born, and/or lived in Tzipori: Hanina Bar- Hama, Ishmael Ben-Yossi, Yossi Ben- Halafta, Eleazer Ben-Azaria, Yossi Bar- Hanina, Yohanan Bar-Nappaha, Shimon Ben- (Resh) Lakish, Hiyya Bar-Abba, Hiyya, Yona Ben-Yossi, Mani, Oshaya, Eleazar Ben-Pedat, Bun (or Abun) and Yossi Ben-Bun.
Why would they and their students live in a town so filled with pagan idolatry? And where are the 18 synagogues that the Jerusalem Talmud (Kila’im 9:4, 32b) mentions were built there?
Jews lived in pagan cosmopolitan cities like Caesarea, Beit She’an (Scythopolis) and Acre, but within distinct neighborhoods, allowing them to be separate and observant while participating in cultural activities. The problem in understanding Tzipori may arise because so much happened there over a relatively short period of time, leading modern observers to confuse populations and time periods.
According to talmudic sources, there were official contacts between Rabbi Yehuda and the Roman authorities, including perhaps the emperor himself. The Talmud also describes Rabbi’s court as elaborate, befitting a “prince.” Did that mean, however, that Jews led Roman lifestyles?
What really went on in the city is difficult to determine. In fact, there were probably two parts to the city: one Jewish and the other Roman, or perhaps mixed. They may or may not have existed at the same time. The Roman part – which has been most extensively explored – may have been built over what were previously Jewish homes; or perhaps it was altogether new.
The interesting thing about the site is the seeming distinctiveness of the two sections. No mosaics were found in the traditionally Jewish area.
According to archeologists, over 30 small pools were discovered, most of them in the Roman section of the city. Although identified as mikvaot (ritual baths), they lack secondary storage pools and don’t resemble the mikvaot found in the Jewish area. Since the spring and aqueduct are lower than the Jewish neighborhood, these pools would be dependent on rainwater from rooftops, and, later on, after the Jews had left, they may have been used by Romans.
According to Weiss, the architecture and second-century coins of Tzipori’s theater indicate that it was originally Roman, built when the city expanded eastward and became a polis. Built into the natural slope of the hill, the theater might have been part of an earlier semicircular structure used by the Sanhedrin, following descriptions in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 4:36b; 37a). Might the Romans have rebuilt and expanded what they found?
Weiss believes that there was no “Jewish quarter” in Tzipori and that the Jews in the area were fully assimilated into Hellenic/Roman culture. This might be a cultural overlap, integration rather than assimilation, which scholars believe existed in other Jewish towns as well, including nearby Beit She’arim.
After his death in 217, “Rabbi’s body lay in Tzipori, but he was buried in Beit She’arim” (Ketubot, 103 b). Above the traditional tomb of Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi, one can identify rows of seats in a semicircle where the Sanhedrin may have convened before the area became a famous Jewish cemetery. Burial caves in the area containing Jewish sarcophagi, some with pagan images, may indicate a cultural adaptation – or perhaps the work of non-Jewish artisans. We don’t know.
After Rabbi’s death, the Sanhedrin, under the leadership of Rabbi Yohanan Ben-Nappaha, moved from Tzipori to Tiberias, also an important Roman and Jewish town. There, in the fourth century, the Sanhedrin and the Great Yeshiva led by Rabbis Ami and Asi produced what ultimately became known as the “Palestinian,” or “Jerusalem” Talmud. But why did the Sanhedrin move from Tzipori? Convenience? Safety? What was happening to Tzipori’s Jewish community?
Rabbi Hanina, one of Rabbi’s greatest students, who eventually succeeded him as head of his yeshiva, rebuked the people of Tzipori for their hardheartedness (Ta’anit, 3:4). And once, when he portrayed ways in which thieves broke into people’s homes, there were 300 burglaries in Tzipori (Sanhedrin, 109a). Rabbi Yitzhak lamented that whenever there was a festival, the Roman troops invaded. These references seem to indicate that the city was becoming more unstable and violent. In this unsettled atmosphere, the rabbis may have decided to move the site of the Sanhedrin to Tiberias. Other important institutions, however, remained in Tzipori.
Apparently after Rabbi Yohanan moved to Tiberias, Rabbi Eleazar Ben-Pedat – one of the greatest exponents of the Oral Law – became head of the Beit Din (rabbinic court) in Tzipori. Born in Babylon, he believed in the sanctity of the Land of Israel and said: “Whoever lives in Israel is without sin” (TB Ketubot 111a). He died in 279 CE, the same year as Rabbi Yohanan.
Tzipori’s beit midrash (house of study) continued to function after the revolt against Constantius Gallus (351 CE) and a powerful earthquake a decade later, which devastated the city. Rav Mani (or Mana) became the head of the academy in Tzipori, where he remained until his death in 399 CE. What happened after that is unknown. But non-Jewish residents of the town may have left a clue.
The Nile Mosaic, found in a large public building, refers to themes of abundance and physical pleasure – typical in mosaics of the period and also found in Turkey and the Aegean area. A nilometer depicted in the floor not only measures the height of the water but the amount of taxes as well – a major Roman interest. (Nilometers also appear in mosaic floors in Beit She’an and Tabgha).
Lacking a water source inside the city, Tzipori depended on aqueducts that brought water from springs nearly two kilometers away. To residents, perhaps, the aqueduct represented their “Nile.”
Depictions of a centaur and bare-breasted Amazons appealed to people familiar with those mythological figures and represented symbols of power and passion.
These mosaic floors, especially one found in the “mansion” with pagan themes depicting stories of Dionysus (the god of wine), including the famous “Mona Lisa of the Galilee,” tell us about the kind of people that came to live in Tzipori – presumably pagans. Eventually, they came to dominate the city and its Jewish community.
By the end of the fifth century, churches were built in Tzipori and a century later, the Jewish community in Tzipori and other towns in the Galilee disappeared. Even the cemeteries of Tzipori are shrouded in mystery.
Among several burial sites found at Tzipori, a prominent one was misidentified – first as the tomb of Rabbi Yehuda and then (by adding the Hebrew letter “heh” at the end of his name) as that of his grandson, Rabbi Yehuda Nesiah. The building, too, is a fabrication.
Although tombs were discovered in the vicinity, they have not as yet been excavated. Several sarcophagi used to build the walls of the Crusader citadel and other tombs in the area were found with Hebrew inscriptions. Why didn’t Jews choose to be buried at the famous necropolis at Beit She’arim? Perhaps they couldn’t afford it or make the trip, or the burial caves at Tzipori were just as important – and extensive.
Although the brightness of Tzipori’s flame as a prominent Jewish center did not last long, it continued to be an important provincial capital throughout history.
There seems to be no evidence – archeological or literary – that the Jewish community in Tzipori, or elsewhere, assimilated and adopted the values or lifestyle of their pagan neighbors. On the contrary, it seems that despite attempts to eradicate or undermine Judaism, Jews maintained their religious integrity and authenticity. They understood that adopting foreign ways and beliefs meant self-destruction.
The author is a PhD historian, writer, journalist and licensed tour guide living in Jerusalem. drmoshedann@gmail.com