1. Gregg, Robert C. and Urman, Dan, Jews, Pagans, and Christians in the Golan Heights: Greek and Other Inscriptions of the Roman and Byzantine Eras, South Florida Studies in the History of Judaism 140 (Atlanta: Scholars, 1996).Google Scholar

2. On Josephus's accounts of places and events in the Golan, see Urman, Dan, The Golan, B.A.R. International Series 269 (Oxford: Biblical Archaeology Review, 1985), 117–24 and passim.Google ScholarWorks with wider geographical scope are Fergus Millar, The Roman Near East, 31 B.C.-A.D. 33 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993), particularly 382–383, 540–42;Google ScholarGoodman, Martin, State and Society in Roman Galilee, A.D. 132–212 (Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Allenheld, 1983), 19–20, 22–23, 30–33;Google ScholarSmallwood, E.Mary, The Jews Under Roman Rule, Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity 20 (Leiden: Brill, 1976);Google ScholarJones, A. H. M., The Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces, rev. Avi-Yonah, Michael et al. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1971),Google Scholarand Avi-Yonah, Michael, Holy Land (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1977).Google Scholar

3. Boundaries for the three areas are based upon the map by Avi-Yonah, Michael, “The Roman-Byzantine Period,” Atlas of Israel IX/9 (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1970).Google Scholar

4. Trimingham, J. Spencer, Christianity among the Arabs in Prc-lslamic Times (New York: Longman, 1979), 178–88.Google Scholar

5. See Runciman, Steven, A History of the Crusades (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1951), 1:10–11.Google Scholar

6. Runciman, , Crusades, 1.10–11.Google Scholar

7. The siege is well described in Dormer, Fred McG., The Early Islamic Conquests (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981), 132–36, 142–48, and receives colorful treatment (with suggestions for “wargaming”) inGoogle ScholarNicolles, David, Yarmuk, 636 AD: The Muslim Conquest Syria, Osprey Military Campaign Series 31 (London: Osprey Publishing, 1994).Google Scholar

8. I owe the suggestion of the proper name Praejecticius to Feissel, Denis, who made the proposal in his review of Jews, Pagans, and Christians in the Golan Heights in Revue des Etudes Byzantines 56 (1998): 302.Google Scholar

9. See Weaver, P. R. C., Familia Caesaris (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972), 28–29;CrossRefGoogle ScholarIsaac, Benjamin H., The Limits of Empire: The Roman Army in the East (Oxford: Clarendon, 1990), 437;Google Scholarand Smallwood, , The Jews under Roman Rule, 490.Google ScholarJulia's name occurs (probably) in Littmann, E. et al. Publications of the Princeton Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904–1905 and 1909 (Leiden, 1907–1921; New York, 1921–22—cited hereafter as PAES) III. A 563 (inscription no.)Google Scholarand (certainly) in Jalabert, L. et al. eds., Inscriptions grecques et latines de Syrie 1–7 (Paris, 1929–1970; hereafter IGLS) 2711, 2712 (inscription nos).Google Scholar

10. Butmiyye may be a fourth site in which only Jews resided. See Gregg, and Urman, , Jews, Pagans, and Christians, 151–53.Google Scholar

11. Origen, , Commentaria in Joannem (hereafter Comm. in Joh.) 6.211Google Scholar(Origène: Commentaire sur Saint jean, Livres 6,10, Sources Chrètiennes (hereafter SC) 157 [Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 1970], 288, 290;Google Scholartrans. Heine, Ronald, Origen: Commentary on the Gospel According to John, Books 1–10, Fathers of the Church [hereafter FOC] 80 [Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1989], 226.Google ScholarGood comments about Origen's “detailed interest in the physical location of the biblical events” are found in Hunt, E. D., Holy Land Pilgrimage in the Later Roman Empire, AD 312–460 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1892), 92–95.Google ScholarSeveral recent studies by the site's chief excavator elaborate discoveries over the two decades since el-Kursi's discovery: Tzaferis, Vassilios, “El-Kûrsî,” Israel Exploration Journal 22 (1972): 176–77;Google Scholaridem, “A Pilgrimage to the Site of the Swine Miracle,” Biblical Archaeology Review 15 (1989): 44–51;Google Scholaridem, “The Early Christian Monastery at Kursi,” in Yoram Tsafrir, ed., Ancient Churches Revealed (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1993), 77–79.Google Scholar

12. See Urman, Dan, “The Site of the Miracle of the Man with the Unclean Spirit,” Christian News from Israel 2 (1971): 76 and n. 16;Google Scholaridem, “Ancient Synagogue Sites in the Southern Golan Heights and the Eastern Shore of the Sea of Galilee,” Dapim, May 1972, 18, 20 (Hebrew).Google Scholar

13. Schumacher, Gottlieb, The Jaûlan (London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1888), 233, fig. 120. The formula “this sign conquers,” or “in this sign conquer” has reference, of course, to the cross and its power for overthrowing an enemy—particularly Satan and his agents. It occurs in another Golan door lintel (from Rafîd) and is familiar from numerous Syrian Christian inscriptions (for instance, IGLS 365, 583,1404, 1437). The theme of the cross's power to defeat or avert evil appears frequently in early Christian literary sources; Origen's Comm. in Joh. 20.36 (SC 290:318; FOC 89:274)Google Scholarand Athanasius's De Incarnatione 50.5 (Athanasius, Contra Gentes and De Incarnatione, ed. and trans. Thompson, Robert W., Oxford Early Christian Texts [Oxford: Clarendon, 1971], 260–61) are only two examples. Believers “signed” themselves in order to ward off demonic forces.Google ScholarSee Hippolytus, , Traditio Apostolica 42Google Scholar(La Tradition apostolique, ed. Botte, Bernard, SC 11 [2e éd., 1984], 134;Google Scholartrans. Cuming, G. J., Hippolytus [Nottingham: Grove Books, 1976], 28);Google ScholarTertullian, , De Corona 3.4 (Tertulliani opera II, ed. Kroymann, A., Corpus Christianorum, series latina 2 [Turnholt, Belgium: Brepols, 1954], 1043;Google Scholartrans. Quain, E. A., The Chaplet, FOC 40 [1959], 237);Google ScholarAthanasius, , Vita Antonii 35Google Scholar(Barteling, G. J. M., ed., Vie d'Antoine, SC 400 [1994], 230;Google Scholartrans.Gregg, R. C., Athanasius: The Life of Antony and The Letter to Marcellinus [New York: Paulist Press, 1980], 57). Constantine's conquest of Maximian was effected, according to tradition, through the use of the cross as a talisman (Eusebius, Vita Constantini [hereafter V. C] 1.31;Google ScholarEusebius: Werke 1.1, Die Griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte [hereafter GCS] 47 [Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1975], 30–31;Google Scholartrans.Cameron, Averil and Hall, Stuart, Eusebius: Life of Constantine [Oxford: Clarendon, 1999], 81–82), and the statue to be erected in Rome was to display in the victor's right hand the cross with an inscription declaring the role of this “sign” in the liberation of the city from tyranny (Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica 9.9.10;Google Scholarsee Eusebius: The Ecclesiastical History II, ed. and trans. Lake, Kirsopp, Loeb Classical Library [Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1965], 365; V.C. 1.40 [GCS 47:85–56]). Another lintel with “This [sign] conquers,” differently decorated, was found a century after Schumacher's visit to the site by a survey team led by Claudine Dauphin;Google Scholarsee Dauphin, C. et al. , “Païens, juifs, judéochrétiens, Chrétiens et musulmans en Gaulanitide,” Proche-Orient Chrétien 46 (1996): 324.Google Scholar

14. For comment on this inscription, see Dauphin, et al. , “Païens, juifs, judéo-chrétiens, Chrétiens et musulmans,” 324–326.Google Scholar

15. The lintel decoration is discussed in Dauphin et al., “Païens, juifs, judéo-chrétiens, Chrétiens et musulmans,” 326.

16. Dauphin, Claudine, “Jewish and Christian Communities in the Roman and Byzantine Gaulanitis: A Study of the Evidence from Archaeological Surveys,” Palestine Exploration Quarterly 114 (1982): 129–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

17. Eusebius, , Onom.Google ScholarAφεκά, in Klosterman, E., ed., Das Onomastikon der biblischen Ortsnamen, GCS 2.1 (Berlin, 1904), 22–23;Google ScholarBalâdhuri, Al, Futûh al-Buldân, ed. Goeje, M. J. de (Leiden, 1866), 112 (Arabic);Google ScholarYâqût, , Mu' jam al-Buldân, ed. Wustenfeld, F. (Leipzig, 1866–1873), 1.332, 3.932 (Arabic).Google Scholar

18. The verb ευλογειν displaces φυλάττειν (“to guard,” “watch over”) in this, as in some other (for instance, IGLS 1562) adaptations of the psalm verse.Google Scholar

19. Notices of church leaders named Gerontius occur in Athanasius, , Apologia secunda 3.50Google Scholar(Athanasius: Werke 2.3 [Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1935], 125,130; trans.Google ScholarAtkinson, M., rev. Robertson, A., in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Series II [hereafter NPNFII], vol. 4 [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1956], 126–27), where we learn of two bishops bearing this name in attendance at the Council of Sardica. Sozomen, in Historia ecclesiastica 3.6, relates briefly the career of a physician named Gerontius, who was made the bishop of Nicomedia, then deposed (among other reasons, for boasting of his powers in a night battle with an ass-like creature) after displeasing both Ambrose of Milan and John ChrysostomGoogle Scholar(Sozomenus: Kirchengeschichte, ed. Bidez, Joseph and Hansen, Gunther C., GCS 50 [1960], 358–59; trans.Google ScholarHartranft, Chester, in NPNF 0.2 [1957], 403).Google Scholar

20. Zvi Ma'oz, “Art and Architecture of the Synagogues of the Golan,” in Levine, L., Ancient Synagogues Revealed (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1981), 101.Google ScholarThe map published here is duplicated from Ma'oz's later article, “Comments on Jewish and Christian Communities in Byzantine Palestine,” in Palestine Exploration Quarterly 117 (1985): 66.Google Scholar

21. Dauphin, , “Communities,” 140.Google Scholar

22. Dauphin, C. M. and Schonfield, J. J., “Settlements of the Roman and Byzantine Periods on the Golan Heights: Preliminary Report of Three Seasons of Survey,” Israel Exploration Journal 33 (1983): 205.Google Scholar

23. Question marks on the map register judgments that may be debated, due to the character of some of the evidence at that particular site—for clarifications, see the individual site treatments in Gregg and Urman, Jews, Pagans, and Christians.Google Scholar

24. Cautionary comments are in order. The data are, for the most part, materials from surface surveys, taken from a region that has seen minimal and selective excavation. Theoretically a single new artifact could alter description of a site's religious makeup. Secondly, it is worth bearing in mind that in a village with a four-hundred-year history of occupancy in the period in question, the discovery of signs of Jewish, pagan, and Christian occupants does not guarantee their contemporaneity as groups in that settlement. One group possibly could have displaced another, or moved in after the place was abandoned—but I find no reason to think that would have been true consistently and without exception. Therefore, I tend to presume shared existence in a town or village when there is evidence of more than one religious group. Finally, another kind of caveat should be registered. Because nearly all of the stones bearing inscriptions were found, not in situ, but in reuse, we must weigh the possibility of materials traveling to anotherlocation, perhaps a different village undergoing construction in a later period. If such a phenomenon were widespread, the religious and historical profiles drawn of our several sites would much less secure. Urman and Dauphin in their surveys noted only a very few stones that had been transported from an ancient ruined site to a modern; the usual case was that inscribed or decorated stones (for instance, from an ancient synagogue or church), when found in later reuse, could be linked with the foundations or ruined walls of their original buildings in the town or village in which they were discovered.Google Scholar

25. The Greek abbreviates Ξ(ριστός) Μ(αρίας) Γ(εννεθείς), a formula frequently met in ecclesiastical inscriptions from Syria (for instance, IGLS 2072, 2073, 2157). Some earlier epigraphers proposed other meanings (including Christ-Michael-Gabriel), but a scholarly consensus has been reached. See commentary on IGLS 271 and PAES III.B 1154.Google Scholar

26. See Trombley, Frank R., Hellenic Religion and Christianization, c. 370–529 Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 115/1–2 (New York: Brill, 1993–1994), esp. 2:313–15. Trombley who notes the two instances in which Origen cites 1 Cor. 8:4–6 in Contra Celsum 4.29 and 8.4Google Scholar(Contre Celse, ed. Borret, Marcel, SC 136:252,150:184; trans. Chadwick, H.Origen Contra Celsum [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965], 204, 455), uses the dated Syrian “one God” inscriptions to contextualize and thereby correct claims set forth in the well-known 1926 study by Erik PetersonGoogle Scholar(ΕλΣ ΘΕΟΣ: Epigraphische, formgeschichtliche und religionsgeschkhtliche Untersuchungen [Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1926]).Google ScholarIn addition, Trombley cites important distinctions between Jewish, Hellenistic henotheistic, and Christian monotheistic uses of this formula made by Campbell Bonner in his Studies in Magical Amulets, Chiefly Graeco-Egyptian (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,1950), 174 ff., including this comment: “Εîς θεός in a strictly religious sense must be regarded as an expression of monotheistic faith, and is rightly held to be of Jewish origin. It was taken over by the Christians and appears on a great number of bronze pendants, mainly of Syrian and Palestinian origin, which have on one side the Rider saint with the motto ‘One God who conquers evil,’ and on the other, usually, some apotropaic device directed against the evil eye.”Google ScholarSee Gregg, and Urman, , Jews, Pagans, and Christians, 156–57.Google Scholar

27. Trombley, , Christianization, vol. 2, esp. 316–74;Google ScholarLiebeschuetz, J. H. W. G., “Epigraphic Evidence on the Christianisation of Syria,” in Limes: Akten des XI Internationalen Limeskongresses, 1976, ed. Fitz, J. (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1977), 485–505.Google Scholar

28. Gregg, and Urman, , Jews, Pagans, and Christians, 38, inscription no. 36*.Google Scholar

29. Gregg, and Urman, , Jews, Pagans, and Christians, 250, inscription no. 207*, from Quneitra. The altar names no deities, though another, from Tell et-Talâyâ, is dedicated to “the most mighty Theandrios,” a god known to have been popular in Bostra and in various places in the Hauran (idem, Jews, Pagans, and Christians, 180–81, inscription no. 147).Google Scholar

30. “Aulos” is not a certain reconstruction of the initial abbreviation in the inscription, though Aurelius does complete the abbreviation that runs from line 1 to the beginning of line 2. Zeus Bel was the patron god of Apamea. For commentary on the inscription,Google Scholarsee Gregg, and Urman, , Jews, Pagans, and Christians, 75.Google Scholar

31. The date of the inscription is not secure, since the “era” used in Sûrmân is uncertain; Alapheos may have died in 58 C.E. (Seleucid era) or in the fourth century (305–6 by the Pompeian era, and 367 by the era, or calendar, of Caesarea Philippi).Google ScholarSee Gregg, and Urman, , Jews, Pagans, and Christians, 222.Google Scholar

32. Meyer, Elizabeth A., “Explaining the Epigraphic Habit in the Roman Empire: the Evidence of Epitaphs,” Journal of Roman Studies 80 (1990): 74–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarSee also MacMullen, Ramsay, “The Epigraphic Habit in the Roman Empire,” American Journal of Philology 103 (1982): 233–46; andCrossRefGoogle ScholarSailer, Richard and Shaw, Brent, “Tombstones and Roman Family Relations in the Principate: Civilians, Soldiers and Slaves,” Journal of Roman Studies 74 (1984): 124–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarThe wider context is considered in Garnsey, Peter, Social Status and Legal Privilege in the Roman Empire (Oxford: Clarendon, 1970).Google Scholar

33. The first two phrases are from tombstones published in Johnson, Gary J., Early-Christian Epitaphs from Anatolia (Atlanta: Scholars, 1995), inscription no. 2.19 from Dinar, and no. 2.13 from Hierapolis. The third inscription is from a Jewish catacomb at Beth She'arim in the Galilee;Google Scholarsee Schwabe, Moshe and Lifshitz, Baruch, Beth She'arim, Volume II: The Greek Inscriptions (Jerusalem: Massada, 1974), inscription no. 162.Google Scholar

34. Johnson, , Epitaphs from Anatolia, inscriptions no. 1.18,1.18,1.23,4.11 respectively.Google Scholar

35. Lattimore, Richmond, Themes in Greek and Latin Epitaphs (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1962), 302, 314.Google Scholar

36. Lattimore, , Epitaphs, 108.Google Scholar

37. IGLS 1969. The inscription, another invocation of Ps. 120:8, is dated to 547 C.E.Google Scholar

38. PAES III.B 1018, IGLS 424 (see commentary on the second inscription in Trombley, , Christianization, 2:258).Google Scholar

39. IGLS 1909; the editors describe the phrase as a “maxime prophylactique.”Google Scholar

40. Among the several fine studies in Maguire, Henry, ed., Byzantine Magic (Washington, D.C.: Harvard University Press, 1995), see particularly chaps. 1–3:Google ScholarDickie, Matthew, “The Fathers of the Church and the Evil Eye”;Google ScholarRussell, James, “The Archaeological Context of Magic in the Early Byzantine Period”; and Maquire's treatment of “Magic and the Christian Image.”Google Scholar

41. Noy, David, Jewish Inscriptions of Western Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 267–70, inscription no. 191.Google Scholar

42. That these inscribed formulas were not limited to synagogues and churches, but were carved on residences, seems clear. See IGLS 2634: “Lord, guard these houses”; 2635: “Cross. Lord God, protect this house”; 1675: “This house is under the protection of the Most High”; andGoogle Scholarthe comments in Naveh, Joseph and Shaked, Shaul, Magic Spells and Formulae: Aramaic Incantations of Late Antiquity (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1993), 30.Google Scholar

43. Meyer, Marvin and Smith, Richard, Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994), 115–16, no. 62.Google Scholar

44. Naveh, Joseph and Shaked, Shaul, Amulets and Magic Bowls: Aramaic Incantations of Late Antiquity (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1985), 44–54. Zvi Ma'oz found the amulets (nos. 2–3 in the volume) in “Building 300” at Horvat Kanaf and dated them to the the late sixth or early seventh century C.E. The second of the amulets is interesting, among other reasons, for its mention of a rabbi as client—a rarity in magical texts (see comment by Naveh and Shaked, Amulets, 52).Google Scholar

45. Goodenough, Erwin R., Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period (New York: Pantheon Books, 1965), 12:79–82. Goodenough's interpretation of the menorah symbol moved from Zechariah 4:1–3,10–14, with its vision of seven lamps described as “eyes of the Lord,” to Josephus and Philo, who associate the lights with the seven planets, and, by coimplication in a popular thought world, to Midrash Rabbah on Numbers 8:lff., leading to a connection of the seven candles with astralism. He concluded that in both the rabbinic passage and in Philo “the menorah is the soul of man sending light back to God, but chiefly it is the light of God” (Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, 12:82).Google Scholar

46. Goodenough, , Jewish Symbols, 12:79–80.Google Scholar

47. Fine, Steven, “Holiness and the Ancient Synagogue,” in idem, ed., Sacred Realm: The Emergence of the Synagogue in the Ancient World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 38. In the same volume, see also the comments of Rachel Hachlili about the menorah and its significance in her contribution, “Synagogues in the Land of Israel,” 115–19.Google Scholar

48. Fine, , Sacred Realm, 38–39. In Naveh and Shaked, Amulets, 154, Geniza 10 (the verso of T-S K 1.18), with the letters peh tet peh yod peh tet tet yod, is shown in a photo and drawing.Google ScholarAlso Naveh, Joseph, in “The Aramaic and Hebrew Inscriptions from Ancient Synagogues,” Eretz-lsrael 20 (1989): 303 (Hebrew), notes that the ptpt from the bronze candleholder is quite similar to an amulet from the Geniza (CUL Or. 1080.6.19) on which it is written: “in the name of these letters pat pat pat zzzzzzz… you holy letters and praiseworthy angels, cure so-and-so.” Naveh writes further about the home that magic found in synagogues and discusses the instructions regarding the placement of amulets and charms in and around them.Google Scholar

49. Fine, , Sacred Realm, 44–45. Fine concludes his section on Diaspora synagogues: “the image of synagogues portrayed in the polemics of John Chrysostom accurately reflects the nature of the institution in his time. Synagogues in the Greek- and Latin-speaking Diaspora were often ‘holy places’ where Scripture was read and Temple imagery employed. At least some were places of prayer where magic was carried out.”Google Scholar

50. The stone and inscription, as well as the succeeding architectural fragment, are treated in Gregg, and Urman, , Jews, Pagans, and Christians, 152–53.Google Scholar

51. We have such a Christian inscription from Syria: IGLS 1443, which reads: “XMF (Christ, born of Mary). Christ is the Victor. Flee, Satan!”Google Scholar

52. Dauphin, et al. , “Païens, juifs, judéo-Chrëtiens, Chrëtiens et musulmans,” 312–14. The drawing by B. Wool reproduced below appears on p. 2 of the plates, following 334 of the text.Google Scholar

53. Dauphin, et al. , “Païens, juifs, judéo-Chrëtiens, Chrëtiens et musulmans,” 312–14.Google Scholar

54. Naveh, and Shaked, , Magic Spells, 25,28,30.Google Scholar

55. The plaque is one of three menorah-decorated limestone reliefs inset with glass treated in Mayer, L. A. and Reifenberg, A., “Three Ancient Jewish Reliefs,” Palestine Exploration Quarterly (1937): 136–39. The authors report that these objects were shown to them at the Benedictine Monastery of the Dormition, and no record survives of their original location. Mayer and Reifenberg argued that this and the other two plaques showing menoroth were “[r]epresentations of the Temple, of synagogues and of the Ark of the Law,” and that “they must have been kept fixed to a wall and so are mutatis mutandis in a way the prototype of the so-called ‘mizrah-pictures,’ to be found on the eastern wall of orthodox Jewish houses, indicating the direction of prayer” (“Three Ancient Jewish Reliefs,” 139). A more complete and satisfying interpretation of the artifact was made possible by the discovery of four other mirror plaques in 1962 in a tomb near Kfar Dikhrin, a town in the vicinity of Beth Guvrin, about forty kilometers southwest of Jerusalem.Google ScholarRahmani, L. Y., in “Mirror-Plaques from a Fifth-Century A.D. Tomb,” Israel Exploration Journal 14 (1964), 50–60, provides a brief and interesting account of quite diverse interpretations of mirror plaques featuring not only menoroth but birds, fish, “Astarte” figures, etc. These have been variously thought to be children's toys, pyxes serving as receptacles for eucharistic bread, symbols of mystic light, and simple mirrors. Noting that plaques of this kind contained reflectors too small for practical use, Rahmani sought “some kind of symbolic, ceremonial, or magical use of mirrors which may have been, in the fifth century, acceptable to the three main religions.” He wrote, further: “Jewish use is indicated by plaques decorated with the seven-branched candlestick; the plaques in the form of a female figure, with or without a small shrine, point to use by pagans; Christian use, finally, seems indicated by the cock, and still more so, the fish, but in any case by recurring instances of such plaques being found in tombs together with small cross-pendants” (“Mirror-Plaques,” 59).Google Scholar

56. Rahmani, , “Mirror-Plaques,” 60.Google ScholarSee also the summary treatment in Fine, Steven, ed., Sacred Realm: The Emergence of the Synagogue in the Ancient World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 164–65 (Catalogue of Objects in the Exhibition, no. 40).Google Scholar

57. Theodoret, , Hist. Phil. 28.1Google Scholar(Théodoret de Cyr: Histoire des moines de Syrie 2, Histoire Philothee 14–30, ed. Canivet, Pierre and Leroy-Molinghen, Alice, SC 257 [1979], 224–26;Google Scholartrans. Price, R. M., A History of the Monks of Syria, by Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Cistercian Studies [Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1985], 180–82), cited inGoogle ScholarTrombley, , Christianization, 2:159–61, where the ascetic Thalaleios's conversion of a place of sacrifices is colorfully described; Trombley suggests that this takeover of the pagan temple “proved to be the beginning of Christianization” in Gabala in the Syrian countryside. An amulet from Geniza 27 (T-S Misc. 29.4), inGoogle ScholarNaveh, and Shaked, , Magic Spells, 233–34, records a request “in the name of God of Hosts, El Shaddai” and his angels and his magician that “the tongue of Abu 1-Karam Al-Khazzaz the Christian” be subdued. The concluding adjuration is full: “By the virtue of the Supreme One who appears on Mount Sinai. I beg you by the virtue of Abraham … of Isaac … of Jacob … of Moses … of Joshua … of Samuel… of David … of Daniel, Hanaiah, Mishael and Azariah. Subdue this Abu 1-Karam. Amen Nesah Selah.”Google Scholar