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Document Details : Title: Arts of Arousal? Subtitle: Nudity, Violence, and Affect in Synagogue Art of Late Antique Syria and Palestine Author(s): STERN, Karen B. Journal: Eastern Christian Art Volume: 14 Date: 2025 Pages: 77-108 DOI: 10.2143/ECA.14.0.3295407 Abstract : Archaeological remains of synagogues – including mosaics, inscriptions, and architectural features – provide some of the only surviving evidence for Jewish daily life in the late ancient world. Among these, the pictorial arts (paintings, mosaics, sculpture) play a prominent role. Most existing studies evaluate their instrumentality as visual forms of biblical exegesis or midrash, as reflections of their commissioners’ didactic, theological, and hermeneutical strategies, or their political and cultural ones. This article presents an attempt to reconstruct the various roles that synagogue art played in shaping the affective environments and atmospheres within synagogues for their visitors. To this end, portions of painted murals and floor mosaics from two unusually well-preserved synagogues are presented as case studies: one famously discovered at Dura-Europos in Syria (third century CE), and another recently excavated at Ḥuqoq in the Galilee of modern Israel (late fourth or early fifth century CE). The focus is on depictions of violence and nudity and their audiences’ sensory and affective responses to them. |
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