#jewisharchaeology

[malenastefano]

Jewish artifacts found at an excavation site in Tayma, Saudi Arabia. Tayma was a Jewish oasis during the pre-Islamic era. It was the hometown of Jewish poet Shmuel Ben Adiya, famous for his unconditional loyalty towards Prince Imru al Qais in the 6th century.

Tayma, along with Khaybar were the two most important oasis in the Hejaz region (modern Saudi Arabia) that used to have a strong jewish presence until the fall of Khaybar in 628 (4388 - 4389 in the hebrew calendar) when the first muslims conquered the fortress and expelled most of the jewish population.

[malenastefano]

This is the Aron ha-Qodesh (Torah Scrolls Ark) of the Catalonian Jewish Community of Agira, Sicily. It is dated from 1453 (5213 in our calendar). After the Reconquista, an event in which christians took over the power of the muslim occupied parts of the Iberian Peninsula, many jews from Catalunia moved to parts of Italy, specially Sicily where they could found a more tolerant enviroment to practice our faith. Most of the jewish who were expelled or suffered persecutions under the rule of those christian kingdoms moved there to escape persecution of islamic rulers of Iberian Peninsula. Although, jewish people were both fluent in arabic and romance vernacular languages and served as translators and could occupy important roles in both societies despite the hatred.

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