Susya - History

History

Susya, whether it refers to the site of the synagogue or the ruins of the contiguous ancient and large settlement of some 60 dunams, is not mentioned in any ancient text, and Jewish literature failed to register an ancient Jewish town on that site. It is thought by some to correspond to the Biblical Carmel (Josh 15.5), a proposal made by Avraham Negev. Others argue that, in the wake of the Second Revolt (AD 132-5), when the Romans garrisoned Khirbet el-Karmil, identified as the biblical Carmel, religious Jews uncomfortable with pagan symbols moved 2 km south-west to the present Susya, which they perhaps already farmed, and that, while they still regarded their new community as Carmel, the name was lost when the village's fortunes declined in the early Arab period, perhaps because the new Muslim overlords would not have tolerated its economy, which was based on wine.

The site, in Arabic Khirbet Susiya/Susiyeh, "Ruin of the Liquorice Plant" was first described by V. Guérin in 1869, who first recognized its importance. The spelling Susya represents the Hebrew name, as determined by the Israeli Naming committee. In the Survey of Western Palestine, based on an observation in 1875 on the area of the southeastern slope of a hill west of Susya, Charles Warren and Claude Conder labeled Susya as an 'Important public structure'. German accounts later stated that it was a remnant of an ancient church. In 1937, the building to the north was identified by L. A. Meyer and A. Reifenberg as the site of a synagogue.