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Excursions on Agioi Saranta
easyCruise offers guided tours and exciting events to various interesting sites at all the destinations. We have selected these special tours for you to enjoy, which represent particular highlights of the destination./p>
Ancient Butrint, Saranta & the Onhezmi Synagogue
Excursion: Ancient Butrint, Saranta & the Onhezmi Synagogue
Duration: 4 hrs 30 mins
On board price: € 33 per person
Ancient Butrint was an important Greco-Roman city port, now an impressive ancient site listed under UNESCO World Heritage, located on the coast of South Albania, south of Saranta port, on a cape half-circled by a large salt lake. Inhabited continuously from the 7th BC until abandoned in the 18th century, its impressive walls are reminiscent of Ancient Mycenae, however most of the noteworthy excavated remains are Early Hellenistic and Roman. Of special interest is the circular baptistery of the 6th century A.D. paved with fine mosaics. The town of Saranta is the main town in South Albania. It is build directly over the Roman town ruins in the area. The Onhezmi Synagogue was built in the 5th Century A.D. inside the Onhezmi fort area. Judging from the size of the two storey structure, the local Jewish community was a large and wealthy one. Onhezmi was located on the sea coast, on the overland trade route between Corfu, Thessaloniki and Constantinople (Istanbul). The Hebrew populations scattered on the Mediterranean shores in the late antiquity period were surely involved in trade. It is known from one late antiquity text, that Onhezmi community had contacts with an Italian Hebrew community near Lecce. The inscription on a tombstone says that the deceased was the daughter of the head of the Onhezmi Hebrew community. The synagogue served both as a religious and as a community service centre.
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