The jewish quarter in the greeK cities of the ottoman empire HISTORIC CITY CENTERS BEFORE 1856: THE JEWISH QUARTER In principal, the location of the Jewish quarter in the Greek cities is related to a number of parameters, such as the size of the initial nucleus intra muros city, the time of settlement of Jews, and the history of the fortification of each city. In antiquity, according to Josephus, the synagogue and by extension the Jewish quarter, were located close to a water source. There may also be a direct relationship in the position of the Jewish quarter and the occupation of its Jewish inhabitants: the tanning and textile industries, which require running water, have been the main occupations of the Jews of Greece in antiquity. It is quite possible that this is the main reason for the proximity of synagogues and the Jewish quarter to a water source. We have examples in Aegina, Salonika and Philippi. The Jewish community of Aegina settled near the old military port. The primary occupation of the Jews of the island was textile dyeing and leather. The location of the Jewish quarter to the southeast of the city center and the commercial port of Aegina, near the sea, enabled the community to practice its occupation. In Salonika, the Etz Hayim Synagogue, which is believed to be the oldest and perhaps the ancient synagogue of the city, is recorded to have The eastern part of the city of Serres based on the survey of 1913, after this area was destroyed by fire. The Jewish houses organized around an open courtyard, marked here in black. (Chronika, December 1985, p. 16)
The Jewish quarter (Barbouta) in Veroia after the Second World War. (Chronika 138, 1995, p. 14)
been until the end of the 19th century adjacent to the coastal walls of the city. It is believed that this was the same location of the synagogue where St. Paul the Apostle preached in the 1st century CE. The position of this synagogue near the coastal walls locates the position of the Jewish quarter near the coastal walls and therefore near the sea. Similar references to a synagogue next to a river are from Phillipi, where St. Paul preached. It is likely that the Jews in Phillipi were engaged in similar professions, and their quarter was next to their synagogue and next to the river, as he describes in Acts 16:13. During medieval times, this pattern changed and Jews lived confined within fortified cities, often somewhat distant from water sources. Veroia is an exception, when Evligia Chelebi visited the Jewish community there in the 17th century. Their main occupation was textile and the Jewish quarter was located adjacent to the river Tripotamos, which offered both protection to the quarter due to its steep slopes, and the valuable water for the dyeing of textiles. The settlement of Jews within the city walls depended on the urban organization initially determined during the Byzantine era, and the changes that took place during Ottoman times. In both cases, there were periods when cities were deserted, sections of the walls destroyed and patterns of settlement changed accordingly. The settlement of Jews within the
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