Two years ago, the archaeologist Richard Freund visited the Greek island of Rhodes to determine why a 16th-century synagogue there had two arks for its Torah scrolls rather than one. His research led him to launch a major archaeological investigation, uncovering information about a Jewish community that dates back to the time of the Second Temple. (Interview by Cindy Mindell.)
The main synagogues [on the island] are Kahal Chalom, [built in] the 16th century, and Kahal Gadol or Kahal Grande, [known] by both [its] Hebrew and Ladino names. They were [probably] both destroyed in 1944, but we’re trying to establish [the existence of] earlier levels of the synagogues [in our excavation]. There are multiple layers not necessarily because they were destroyed by people, but [because] there are earthquakes in Rhodes every 100 to 150 years. The 16th-century synagogue was probably built on the synagogue that was destroyed in 1481, during a very famous earthquake. There was an earthquake in 1300, one in the 1200s, and one in 1000. We’re working on excavating earlier layers of the synagogues in order to determine what they looked like, and if there are any artifacts that remained from the earlier layers that were buried. . . .
While we were in Rhodes, we were given [an additional] assignment, which was to find the existence of an earlier synagogue than what the archaeological community thinks was the earliest, built in the 12th or 13th century by the wall of the port.
Read more on Connecticut Jewish Ledger: http://www.jewishledger.com/2015/09/it-was-paradise-jewish-rhodes-conversation-with-prof-richard-freund/