The Theodotus Inscription in Jerusalem: The Functions of the Synagogue

This inscription, of the mid-first century C.E., not only introduces us to a family of archisynagogues but explains some of the purposes of the synagogue itself. The early date of this inscription testifies to the presence of a synagogue in Jerusalem even before the destruction of the Second Temple.

Theodotus, son of Vettenus, priest and archisynagogue, son of an archisynagogue, grandson of an archisynagogue, built the synagogue for the reading of the Law and the teaching of the commandments, and guest-house and the rooms and the water supplies for the lodging of strangers in need, which his fathers founded and the Elders and Simonides.

Trans. S. Berrin from J.-B. Frey, Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaicarum, no. 140.