• Mark 1

  • Video Introduction to the Book of Mark

  • Gospel of Mark—Some Major Events

  • The Wilderness

  • John the Baptizer’s Clothing and Appearance

  • Locusts

  • Wild Honey

  • Sandals

  • The Jordan River

  • View of the Valley of Jezreel

  • The Wilderness of Judea, West of the Jordan River

  • Wild Beasts of the Wilderness

  • Casting a Net

  • Fish of the Sea of Galilee

  • Synagogue in Capernaum

  • Mark 4

  • Domestic Lampstand

  • First-Century Fishing Boat

  • Remains of a Galilean Fishing Boat

  • Jesus Calms the Storm

  • Mark 5

  • Cliffs on the Eastern Side of the Sea of Galilee

  • Mark 6

  • Staff and Food Pouch

  • Baskets

  • The Marketplace

  • Mark 8

  • Coin Made by Herod Antipas

  • Mark 9

  • Mount Hermon

  • Mount Hermon As Seen From the Hula Valley Nature Reserve

  • Upper and Lower Millstones

  • Modern-Day Valley of Hinnom

  • Salt on the Shore of the Dead Sea

  • Mark 10

  • East of the Jordan​—Perea

  • Mark 11

  • Bethphage, the Mount of Olives, and Jerusalem

  • Colt, or Young Donkey

  • Mark 12

  • Winepress

  • Tiberius Caesar

  • The Marketplace

  • The Front Seats in the Synagogue

  • Prominent Places at Evening Meals

  • The Treasury Chests and the Widow

  • Mark 13

  • Stones From the Temple Mount

  • Mount of Olives

  • Mark 14

  • Alabaster Jar

  • The Passover Meal

  • Upper Room

  • Vine

  • Mark 15

  • The Sanhedrin

  • Nail in a Heel Bone

  • Tomb Chamber

  • Mark 16

  • Codex Sinaiticus—End of Mark’s Gospel

  • Codex Vaticanus—End of Mark’s Gospel

The items shown in the illustrations and 3-D video footage in the Media Gallery are based on extensive research. However, they are artists’ renditions and, at times, depict only one of several possibilities.

The Front Seats in the Synagogue

The Front Seats in the Synagogue

The reconstruction shown in this animation is partly based on the ruins of a first-century synagogue in Gamla, a city located about 10 km (6 mi) northeast of the Sea of Galilee. No synagogues from the first century have survived intact, so the exact features are uncertain. This depiction includes some of the features that were likely present in many synagogues of that time.

1. The front, or best, seats in the synagogue may have been located on or near the speaker’s platform.

2. The platform from which the Scriptures would be read. The exact location of the platform may have varied from one synagogue to the next.

3. Seating along the wall may have been occupied by people with status in the community. Others might have sat on mats on the floor. The synagogue in Gamla seems to have had four rows of seats.

4. An ark, or chest, in which sacred scrolls were kept may have been located on the back wall.

The seating arrangements in the synagogue were a constant reminder to those in attendance that some had greater status than others, a topic often debated by Jesus’ disciples.​—Mt 18:​1-4; 20:20, 21; Mr 9:​33, 34; Lu 9:​46-​48.

Related Scripture(s)

Mt 23:6; Mr 12:39; Lu 20:46
Mark 1
Mark 4
Mark 5
Mark 6
Mark 8
Mark 9
Mark 10
Mark 11
Mark 12
Mark 13
Mark 14
Mark 15
Mark 16