Archeologists learn 'ancient synagogue' was 'Arab palace'

Ruins in northern Israel long thought to be of an 'ancient synagogue' have now been identified as the remains of a 7th Century palace built by Arab caliphs.

The study by archeologists show the place was used by the Umayyad caliphs, archaeologists said on March 16.

Arab historians have long described the site on the shores of the Sea of Galilee as forming a part of the al-Sinnabra Palace whose precise location had long been unknown.

Archeologists mistakenly identified the palace as a synagogue in the 1950s because of a carving of a menorah - a seven-branched candelabrum - on a stone.

However, the latest excavations in the site have confirmed it as a palace where the Umayyad rulers would spend the winter season. The Umayyads were the first Muslim dynasty and ruled from 661 to 750 CE.

Among the caliphs who used the palace was Abd al-Malik, who ruled from 685-705 CE and initiated the construction of the Dome of the Rock at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound which is Islam's third holiest site after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121114§ionid=351020202.