The Hammat Tiberias synagogue was excavated between 1961 and 1963 under the direction of Moshe Dothan on behalf of the Israel Department of Antiquities. The site lies approximately two kilometers south of Tiberias, along the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Dothan identified several building strata, with the mosaic pavement belonging to Stratum IIa, dated on architectural and numismatic grounds to the first half of the fourth century AD, likely under the patronage of a donor named Severus identified in a dedicatory inscription within the floor itself. The mosaic remains in situ and is protected as part of Hammat Tiberias National Park. The mosaic pavement measures roughly seven by fourteen meters and is divided into three registers. The northernmost panel depicts the Torah ark flanked by menorot, lulavim, and shofarot—standard Jewish liturgical symbols. The central and most visually arresting panel presents a zodiac wheel (the twelve signs of the zodiac in Aramaic and Greek labeling) surrounding a central medallion of the sun god Helios driving a quadriga, personifications of the four seasons occupying the corners. The southern panel contains a Greek dedicatory inscription naming Severus as patron. The floor is executed in tesserae of stone and glass, with exceptional chromatic detail preserved. The Hammat Tiberias mosaic holds considerable significance for understanding late antique Judaism and the world in which early Christian and rabbinic textual traditions developed. The unambiguous use of Helios imagery within a functioning synagogue challenges earlier scholarly models of rigid Jewish aniconism following the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70. The solar iconography may engage cosmological themes present in texts such as Psalm 19 and Ezekiel's chariot vision, though scholars debate the precise theological valence. The mosaic documents the degree to which Galilean Jewish communities of the Tannaitic and early Amoraic periods engaged Greco-Roman visual culture, providing material context for interpreting contemporary rabbinic literature. Erwin Ramsdell Goodenough's earlier symbolic interpretation has been substantially refined by Rachel Hachlili's comprehensive typological studies of ancient synagogue art. **Sources:** Moshe Dothan, *Hammath Tiberias: Early Synagogues and the Hellenistic and Roman Remains* (Israel Exploration Society, 1983); Rachel Hachlili, *Ancient Synagogues—Archaeology and Art: New Discoveries and Current Research* (Brill, 2013); Lee I. Levine, *The Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years*, 2nd ed. (Yale University Press, 2005); Psalm 19:4-6.
The Hammat Tiberias mosaic demonstrates that late antique Jewish communities incorporated Helios and zodiac iconography into sacred synagogue space, complicating assumptions about strict aniconism in post-Temple Judaism and illuminating the cultural world of early rabbinic communities.