Around the beginning of the Common Era, the fishing village of Capernaum was entirely Jewish. It was very small. During the rule of Herod it guarded the frontier. A Roman garrison was stationed with a centurion at its head. Passengers had to pay taxes to a customs office. The centurion also seems to have ordered the building of the synagogue. The first synagogue does not exist anymore, but as archaeologists have shown in recent digs, it lies buried under the present synagogue.
The current synagogue was built somewhere in the fourth century. In the past it was thought that the synagogue dated from the third century. But now archaeologists argue that the correct date is late fourth century, because pottery and coins from the 4th century have been found under the floor