Haaretz reports that traces of a synagogue have been uncovered at the site of the ancient Greek city of Phanagoria located on the Taman Peninsula, what is now southern Russia’s Black Sea coast. The building measured about 69 feet long and 20 feet wide and was split into two chambers.

Engravings of menorahs; inscriptions dating back to the first century, including the words for “synagogue,” and “proseuche,” or “house of prayer;” fragments of a marble menorah; and a symbol of a shofar were found in the structure.

The synagogue is thought to have been in use for some 500 years, into the sixth century, when it was destroyed by fire during an attack on the city. Archaeologist Vladimir Kuznetsov of the Russian Academy of Sciences suggests that Jewish settlers, possibly from the Jewish Diaspora, introduced Judaism to the region. “Alternatively, Judaism might have been brought to the northern Black Sea area by local converts,” he continued.

A number of Jewish settlers may have also relocated to the Kerch Strait coastline in the second century, after the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt, he concluded.

source archaeology.org