Among the most distinctive discoveries from the excavations of the Roman synagogue at Sardis were many inscriptions in Greek on stone and in mosaic pavements. These proved to record gifts of portions of the rich interior decorations of the building: sections of tesselated mosaic pavement, panels with colorful, ornate cut marble mosaic wall decoration (opus sectile or skoutlosis), and various furnishings and elements of the architecture. The builders and patrons who transformed this elongated space, which had originally performed some other function in the immense Roman civic complex of the bath-gymnasium, into the house of worship for the Jewish community of Sardis, worked for generations cooperatively (and probably in some cases competitively as well) to adorn the interior and provide its rich furnishings in a manner appropriate for conducting worship in the most splendid and dignified setting possible.