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Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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In August 1908, a white mob attacked Springfield, Illinois’s Black community, destroying homes and businesses and lynching two Black men. National outrage over the violence helped spur the movement that created the NAACP the following year.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| Qision | |
|---|---|
| חורבת קציון (Hebrew) | |
| Horvat Qazyon (Heb.) Khirbet Qasyun (Ar.) | |
 A decorated lintel in Qision | |
  Location within Israel | |
| 33°02′34″N 35°31′46″E / 33.04278°N 35.52944°E | |
| Type | Settlement, cultic structure (synagogue?) |
| Periods | Roman period (second to third century CE) |
| Associated with | Jews |
| Location | Sde Eliezer, Northern District, Israel |
| Region | Upper Galilee |
| 199/272 | |
| Site notes | |
| Condition | In ruins |
| Public access | Yes |
Qision (Hebrew: קַצִיּוֹן, also spelled Qazion and Qatsion) was an ancient settlement in Upper Galilee, now an archaeological site in northern Israel, featuring the ruins of the settlement, including a public building, possibly an ancient synagogue, alongside an inscription dedicated to the Roman emperor Septimius Severus and his family commissioned by the local Jewish community.[1][2]
The site is known as Ḥorvat Qazyon[2] (Hebrew: חורבת קציון), and in Arabic as Khirbet Qasyun or Khirbet Keisun.[1][3]
The site is located in the Upper Galilee, approximately 9 km northeast of Safed[2] and 1 km north of Meroth, a Jewish village dating from the Late Roman and Byzantine periods.[3][4] The hill is covered with large Pistacia atlantica trees.[5]
The ruin and the Qision brook are situated within the Dishon Stream area, constituting a fire zone. As such, access to the site necessitates prior coordination with military authorities.[6]
Twice mentioned in rabbinic literature,[7] particularly in the Jerusalem Talmud, Qision appears in the name of Rabbi Yohanan from Kasion (Hebrew: רִבִּי יוֹחָנָן דְּקַצִיּוֹן),[8][1] elsewhere as Karṣion (Hebrew: רִבִּי יוֹחָנָן דְּקַרְצִיוֹן),[9] a sage from the third century.[7][10] These passages strongly suggest the presence of a Jewish community at the site during the second and third centuries CE.[7] This is further supported by surveys conducted on the site, which revealed a primary period of occupation during the same period.[7]
Archaeologist Zvi Ilan proposed that the name Qision is derived from the Hebrew word קצה, meaning "edge," reflecting its position as one of the northernmost points of Jewish settlement in Galilee.[11]
During the reign of the Roman Severan dynasty, Qision was part of the province of Syria Phoenice.[2] The site experienced another period of occupation during the Mamluk era, particularly the 13th and 14th centuries, when it was possibly occupied by a Muslim group.[7]
In a tradition originating from Safed in the 16th century, Qision is believed to house the tombs of Rabbi Yohanan from Kasion and Rabbi Shimon Ben Lakish.[12]
Qision's ruins were first discovered in 1860 by Ernest Renan.[7] The Arabic term Khirbet Keisun, recorded in the PEF Survey of Palestine, preserves the ancient name.[3][11]
The discovery of a distinctive complex of structures in Qision, comprising a sizable monumental building and a western structure, unparalleled elsewhere, alongside an inscription honoring the Roman emperor (see below), has sparked significant scholarly debate about its intended function. Opinions are split between two interpretations: Jewish synagogue or a Syro-Phoenician Roman temple.[3][4]
Ernest Renan, who discovered the site in 1860, and Victor Guérin, who referenced it in his 1880 book, both identified the structure as a synagogue. However, PEF explorers Conder and Kitchener, following their visit in 1877, proposed identifying it with a Roman temple, dating back to the same period as the Temple at Kedesh.[7]
In the 20th century, E.W.G. Masterman, in his 1909 writing, identified the site as a synagogue. Conversely, in a 1916 study, E. Kohl and C. Watzinger classified it as a temple, drawing parallels to Kedesh and other Roman temples in the region. In 1987, following a survey, A. Bar Oz and Zvi Ilan concluded that it was a public building with pagan characteristics.[7]
In an effort to resolve this dispute, Rachel Hachlili and Ann E. Killebrew undertook three survey seasons at the site in 1992 and 1997.[3] Despite their consensus that it was not a synagogue, they arrived at differing conclusions.[7]
Killebrew proposed that the structure might have functioned as part of a cultic complex for ceremonies or festivals, constructed by local Jews to honor the imperial family of Septimius Severus.[3]
Hachlili interpreted the site as a complex that served as a communal and religious center for priestly families relocating to Galilee after the Jewish–Roman wars, along with the local Jewish communities, serving as a space for the performance and preservation of priestly rituals. According to her analysis, the architectural features and the presence of ritual purification pools and an incense altar suggest its role in maintaining Jewish religious practices following the destruction of the Temple. This includes facilitating rituals like incense burning and the Water Libation Ceremony observed in the Temple during Sukkot.[4]
Next to the northern wall of the monumental structure is a decorated, broken lintel adorned with grapevine branches bearing clusters of grapes, alongside Acanthus syriacus leaves.[6]
A Greek-language inscription was found in Qision, dating to 195/6 CE.[2] Discovered near an ancient building in 1860 by Ernest Renan,[3][13] it was rediscovered in 1984.[2] This inscription, originally part of a lintel, is dedicated to the salvation of Septimius Severus and his family.[2]
The inscription is missing a section from the right corner. On the left side, a wreath with stylized leaves ending in a ribbon bound in a 'Hercules' knot features the name of Julia Domna. A similar wreath on the right side is missing.[2]
The inscription was dedicated by the local Jewish community, as indicated in its text "in accord with the vow of the Jews" ([ἐξ] | εὐχῆς Ἰουδαίων). The Jewish villagers of Qision sought to display their loyalty to the imperial family, mirroring the practices of other communities in the province of Syria.[2]
Similar inscriptions have been uncovered in Pannonia and Ostia, while a midrash refers to a synagogue known as "of Severus" in Rome. Scholars interpret the existence of such inscriptions, which uncommonly praise rulers in ancient Jewish contexts, as indicative of the special honor bestowed upon the Severan dynasty by Jewish communities.[12]
Similar inscriptions have been discovered in Pannonia and Ostia, while one midrash references a synagogue known as "of Severus" in Rome. According to one interpretation, this unusual occurrence of mentioning rulers, especially with praise, in ancient Jewish inscriptions suggests that the Jews held the Severan dynasty in special esteem.[12]
To the west of the public structure lie the remnants of an olive oil press, suggesting that the local inhabitants derived their livelihood from cultivating olive trees and producing olive oil. Several burial caves are situated on the southern slope of the ruin.[6]
 Ancient synagogues (Second Temple and Talmudic periods) | ||||||||||
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| Land of Israel |
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| Asia Minor and Syria | ||||||||||
| Greece and the Balkans | ||||||||||
| Italy, Iberia and North Africa | ||||||||||
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Qision (Hebrew: קַצִיּוֹן, also spelled Qazion and Qatsion) was an ancient settlement in Upper Galilee, now an archaeological site in northern Israel, featuring the ruins of the settlement, including a public building, possibly an ancient synagogue, alongside an inscription dedicated to the Roman emperor Septimius Severus and his family commissioned by the local Jewish community. The site is known as Ḥorvat Qazyon (Hebrew: חורבת קציון), and in Arabic as Khirbet Qasyun or Khirbet Keisun.
Capernaum ( kə-PUR-nay-əm, -nee-əm; Hebrew: כְּפַר נַחוּם, romanized: Kfar Naḥum, lit. 'Nahum's village'; Arabic: كَفْرْ نَاحُومْ, romanized: Kafr Nāḥūm) was a fishing village established during the time of the Hasmoneans in Israel, located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It had a population of about 1,500 in the 1st century AD. Archaeological excavations have revealed two ancient synagogues built successively at the same spot. A house progressively turned into a church during the 4th and 5th centuries is held by Christian tradition to have been the home of Saint Peter. The village was inhabited continuously from the 2nd century BC to the 11th century AD, when it was abandoned sometime before the First Crusade. This includes the re-establishment of the village northeast of the earlier location in c. 700, during the Early Islamic period.
The Dura-Europos synagogue was an ancient Jewish synagogue discovered in 1932 at Dura-Europos, Syria. The synagogue contained a forecourt and house of assembly with painted walls depicting people and animals, and a Torah shrine in the western wall facing Jerusalem. It was built backing on to the city wall, which was important in its survival. The last phase of construction was dated by an Aramaic inscription to 244 CE, placing it among just a handful of synagogues from antiquity discovered and unequivocally identified by archaeologists. It was unique among the many ancient synagogues that have emerged from archaeological excavations as the structure was preserved virtually intact, and it had extensive figurative wall-paintings, which in 1932 still came as a considerable surprise to scholars. The synagogue remains, including the murals, are now preserved in the National Museum of Damascus. Dura-Europos was a small garrison and trading city on the river Euphrates, and usually on the frontier between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Parthian and finally the Sassanid Empires of Persia. It changed hands at various points but was Roman from 165 AD. Before the final Persian destruction of the town in 256–257 AD, parts of the synagogue which abutted the main city wall were apparently requisitioned and filled with sand as a defensive measure. The city was abandoned after its fall and never resettled, and the lower walls of the rooms remained buried and largely intact until excavated. The short measure of time during which it was used ensured that it would have limited impact upon Jewish or Christian art. The excavations also discovered very important wall-paintings from places of worship of Christianity at the Dura-Europos church. In addition, there were wall paintings edifying Mithraism, and fragmentary Christian texts in Hebrew. In the Syrian Civil War, the site was occupied by ISIL, and what was left of the synagogue and a number of other buildings there appear to have been destroyed, possibly in 2014.
The Sardis Synagogue is a former ancient Jewish synagogue, that was discovered in the modern-day town of Sardis, in the Manisa Province, in the Aegean Region of western Turkey. The former synagogue building is now an archaeological site and Jewish museum. The archaeological site is the largest Jewish site known from antiquity.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
