CHORAZIN
(Khirbet Kerazeh) Israel.
Town
in Galilee, 4.8 km N of Capernaum, mentioned in Matt.
11:20-24 together with Beth-Saida. Wheat for the service
of the Temple in Jerusalem was brought from here. By
the time of Eusebius (
Onom. 174.23) it lay in ruins.
A synagogue of the Galilean type was discovered in
the 19th c. and has been partly excavated: it is 20.7 by
15.3 m, built of basalt ashlar on the highest spot in the
town among other public buildings. From an open court
in front a grand staircase led up to three portals facing
S towards Jerusalem. The interior was divided by three
colonnades into a nave, 6.3 m wide, and three aisles,
each 1.8 m wide, with stone benches along the walls.
The columns of the interior were quasi-Ionic and quasi-Doric, but the capitals of the pilasters which decorated
the exterior were Corinthian. A frieze on the upper part
of the outside wall shows plant motifs as well as representations of men pressing grapes, a lion devouring a
centaur, and a Medusa.
Some private dwellings, a ritual bath, and wine presses
have also been found. There are indications that the
town was still flourishing in the Byzantine period, which
would contradict Eusebius.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
H. Kohl & C. Watzinger,
Antike Synagogen in Galilea (1916) 41ff; F. M. Abel,
Géographie
de la Palestine II (1938) 299-300.
A. NEGEV