Tag Archive for Syracuse

Discovery of Europe’s oldest mikvah revived Sicily’s ancient Jewish communities

The discovery of this mikvah (Jewish ritual bath) was as revealing as it was serendipitous for the Jews in Syracuse. Forgotten for too long, they are coming back home.

 

An attractive island in the Mediterranean, Sicily has been a hub of migration routes for millennia. Jews are thought to have been part of the patchwork at least as early as the 1st century, after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD.

The ancient mikveh baths uncovered in Syracuse (Amalia Daniele di Bagni)

The ancient mikveh baths uncovered in Syracuse, possibly the oldest in Europe. – Photo: Amalia Daniele di Bagni

At the end of the 15th century, Spain, which ruled in Sicily, expelled the Jews from its entire domain.

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