The Dead Sea Scrolls

This paper re-examines 4QcryptA Lunisolar Calendar (4Q317), a scroll from Qumran in an esoteric Hebrew script with many emendations that aligns the moon’s daily waxing and waning to a 364-day calendar. It seeks to ascertain whether the calendar may be exegetically related to the Creation and also discusses the text’s arithmetical relationships with the cycles of the priestly courses from Qumran, possible intertextual allusions to other lunar calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QDaily Prayers [4Q503], 4QAstronomical Enocha-bar [4Q208–4Q209]), biblical passages, and parallels with another Mesopotamian calendar text. The first transcription of the largest fragments using a Cryptic A font is here published with a commentary (in the Appendix), focusing on the text’s unusual scribal features. A reconsideration of the calendar’s structure with a new arrangement of its dates is presented. [Please note there is a Hebrew transcription error in the Appendix, p.87 at 4Q317 frags 1+1a, line 9: the penultimate letter is cryptic waw, not a tav]

Unlike any other group or philosophy in ancient Judaism, the yaḥad sect obliged all members of the sect to leave their places of residence all over the country and gather in the sect’s central site to participate in a special annual ceremony of renewal of the covenant between God and each of the members. The increase of the communities that composed the sect and their spread over the entire country during the first century BCE required the development of the appropriate infrastructure for hosting this annual gathering at Qumran. Consequently, the hosting of the gathering became the main function of the site, and the southern esplanade with the buildings surrounding it became the epicenter of the site.

Second Temple Hebrew (Late Biblical Hebrew, Ben Sira, and Qumranic Hebrew) makes predicative use of two seemingly similar constructions: לא + infinitive and אין + infinitive. A syntactic examination of the two from a historical perspective, in light of morphosyntactic changes in the verbal system of Second Temple Hebrew and its sentence patterns, reveals that in spite of the similarities between them in form and in function, these are two separate constructions that evolved independently. The former, initially a verbal phrase, is the negative counterpart of the affirmative predicative infinitive, and the latter, which constitutes a complete predication, is an offshoot of the existential pattern יש/אין + nominal phrase. In the Hebrew style of the Second Temple period the difference between them narrowed, so that they were occasionally interchangeable.

Ritual baths (miqwa’ot) built adjacent to winepresses and olive-presses have been unearthed at about twenty sites dating to the Second Temple period, most of them in Judea and the environs of Jerusalem. While much has been written in recent years on the form and function of ancient ritual baths in general, little scholarly attention has been paid to miqwa’ot found in agricultural contexts.
The presence of these miqwa’ot suggests that the ritual purity of the wine and olive oil processed in these installations was of particular importance. The fact that these ritual baths were situated adjacent to winepresses and olive-presses suggests that agricultural laborers made use of these miqwa’ot immediately prior to commencing work in these installations, a practice which accords with the Pharisaic concept of tevul yom. These finds thus provide rare archaeological evidence for the observance of ritual purity laws based on the Pharisaic system of halakhah.

A careful analysis of the Qumran "sectarian" texts reveals a consistent preference for self-identification as "Israel" rather than "Judah." In fact, they contain no unambiguous identifications of the community as "Judah" or its members as "Judeans". Like most biblical texts and unlike Josephus and the authors of 1–2 Maccabees, the Qumran community does not equate "Israelite" with "Judean." They regard themselves as the vanguard of the eschatological restoration of the twelve tribes; for them, the Judean state is not the sole heir of biblical Israel.

This article takes a material and comparative approach to the Qumran collection. Distinctive features set the Qumran manuscripts apart from other Judaean Desert collections, suggesting a scholarly, school-like collection of predominantly literary texts. The few literary texts from other Judaean Desert sites reflect the valuable copies owned by wealthy individuals or families and are illustrative of the spread of these texts within various strata of ancient Jewish society. The historical context of most manuscript depositions in the Judaean Desert is characterized by violence and conflict, and such a context probably also typified the deposition of the Qumran manuscripts. In contrast to at least some of the other Judaean Desert sites where refugees hid with their manuscripts, the deposition evidence at Qumran may suggest an anticipation of such violence. The movement behind the Dead Sea Scrolls can be characterized as a textual community, reflecting a milieu of Jewish intellectuals who were engaged on various levels with their ancestral traditions. The collection of texts attracted people and shaped their thinking, while at the same time people shaped the collection, producing and gathering more texts. In this sense, the site of Qumran and its surrounding caves functioned like a storehouse for scrolls.

ABSTRACT

The historical-critical method that characterizes academic biblical studies too often remains separate from approaches that stress the history of interpretation, which are employed more frequently in the area of Second Temple or Dead Sea Scrolls research. Inaugurating the new Eisenbrauns series, Critical Studies in the Hebrew Bible, A More Perfect Torah explores a series of test-cases in which the two methods mutually reinforce one another. The volume brings together two studies that investigate the relationship between the composition history of the biblical text and its reception history at Qumran and in rabbinic literature.

The Temple Scroll is more than the blueprint for a more perfect Temple. It also represents the attempt to create a more perfect Torah. Its techniques for doing so are the focus of part 1, entitled “Revelation Regained: The Hermeneutics of KI and 'IM in the Temple Scroll.” This study illuminates the techniques for marking conditional clauses in ancient Near Eastern literature, biblical law, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. It also draws new attention to the relationship between the Temple Scroll’s use of conditionals and the manuscript’s carefully organized spacing system for marking paragraphs. Syntax serves as a technique, no less than pseudepigraphy, to advance the Temple Scroll’s claim to be a direct divine revelation.

Part 2 is entitled “Reception History as a Window into Composition History: Deuteronomy’s Law of Vows as Reflected in Qoheleth and the Temple Scroll.” The law of vows in Deut 23:22-24 is difficult in both its syntax and its legal content. The difficulty is resolved once it is recognized that the law contains an interpolation that disrupts the original coherence of the law. The reception history of the law of vows in Numbers 20, Qoh 5:4–7, 11QTemple 53:11–14, and Sipre Deuteronomy confirms the hypothesis of an interpolation. Seen in this new light, the history of interpretation offers a window into the composition history of the biblical text.

The volume shows the significance of syntax and historical linguistics for understanding how ancient scribes established claims of religious and textual authority. Appendixes on the use of conditionals in biblical law and the Dead Sea Scrolls provide resources for further research.

KEYWORDS

Pentateuch, Biblical Law, Dead Sea Scrolls, Qumran, Historical Criticism, History of Interpretation, Historical Linguistics, Reception History, Composition History, Redaction, Exegesis, Innerbiblical Exegesis, Rewritten Scripture, Halakic Exegesis, Legal Exegesis, Legal Hermeneutics, Covenant Code, Law of Vows, Syntax, Grammar, Oaths, Vows, Pleonasm, Conditionals, Casuistic Law, Scribal Practice, Textual Authority, Interpolation, Revelation, Voicing, Protasis, Apodosis, Lexik, Bundesbuch, Auslegungsgeschichte, Entstehungsgeschichte des Dtn, Wirkungsgeschichte, Grammatik, Innerbiblische Exegese

REVIEWS

"A More Perfect Torah is an important contribution to the ongoing dialogue about text and composition. The best feature of the work is the author's effort to bring together two often insular disciplines—biblical studies and the history of Jewish interpretation."
—Matthew McAffee, Bulletin for Biblical Research 24.1 (2014)

"L. has provided us with two fine detailed studies that nicely demonstrate the interplay of language and hermeneutics. The brief summary presented here does not do full justice to his arguments, which draw parallels from cuneiform law and rabbinics as well as from the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls."
—John J. Collins in Theologische Literaturzeitung 139.2 (2014)

"[In this book,] Levinson accomplishes his goal with a clarity and specificity that is–in sum–nearly unassailable. . . . [He] states his case clearly, carefully, and brilliantly. . . . Levinson’s argument is so persuasive and his critical skills so sharpened by use that readers may find themselves bewitched into accepting without argument or question the conclusions he proffers. . . . [As a result,] it is so very tempting to surrender and suggest that Levinson has uttered the final word on the subject. The book is just that good."
—Jim West, "Zwinglius Redivivus" blog (2013)

"This cutting-edge monograph is the first in the new Eisenbrauns series Critical Studies in the Hebrew Bible. It is presented in two parts, the first of which, 'Revelation Regained: The Hermeneutics of ky and 'm in the Temple Scroll', was co-authored with Molly Zahn. By examining the syntax, linguistic forms, and the spacing system employed, the authors explain the replacement of the conditional particle ky ('if') in Deuteronomy with 'm ('if' or 'when') in 11QT as the redactor's desire to resolve the inconsistent arrangement and awkward content of the pre-existing laws. This textual sprucing was further accompanied by re-presenting the speeches of Moses as direct divine revelation, to construct a superior and definitive finished product for the Temple Scroll's audience(s). A separate analysis of the reception of Deuteronomy's law of vows (in Num. 20, Qoh. 5.4-7, 11QT 53.11-14 and Sifre Deut.) is then shown to illuminate the compositional history of the earlier biblical forms. This is a highly persuasive and compelling study, less accessible to non-specialists, but essential reading for understanding the development of authoritative Judaean texts in the Second Temple Period."
—Sandra Jacobs, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 38:5 (2014): 194

“In the final analysis, this short book about biblical literature should challenge scholars of rabbinic Judaism in a number of productive ways. First, the book’s daunting melding of hermeneutics with historical linguistics argues against the separation of labor that currently characterizes a great deal of work on rabbinic Judaism. Second, the book convincingly destabilizes the categories of scripture and rewritten scripture. This is not only a helpful reminder that the history of biblical exegesis begins before scripture was fixed. By showing how the earliest exegetical impulses have impacted biblical texts, Levinson is shaking the canonical foundation on which many histories of biblical exegesis begin. Third, the book demonstrates what can be seen by working both forward and backward through time. A great deal of scholarship on rabbinic Judaism is structured chronologically—from the Torah to the Talmud. There are plenty of good reasons for this, and certainly no justification for wholesale change. Indeed, the first chapter of the present work is perfectly chronological. But the second chapter disturbs this all-to-neat structural device, demonstrating that the shakiness of some foundations can best be seen not just by looking down from above but by climbing down and probing deeply and carefully. Finally, Levinson’s contribution to our understanding of the Second Temple period quest for a more perfect Torah sheds general light on rabbinic literature, especially by implicit contrast. Rabbinic Judaism—with its belief in the dual Torah, and its employment of explicitly exegetical midrashic styles—developed an entirely different approach, whereby revelation could be regained from a Torah that need not, and no longer could, be perfected by rewriting.”
    —Jonathan Klawans, The Review of Rabbinic Judaism 18 (2015): 167–170

“A More Perfect Torah contains two short yet richly rewarding studies which seek to combine what are frequently considered separate disciplinary pursuits within biblical studies, skillfully demonstrating the benefits of a broader and more integrative approach to the field. . . .

“The two studies. . .demonstrate that history critics must at least consider Rewritten Scripture and reception history as avenues of historical-critical inquiry. Moreover, the studies show that the evidence of Rewritten Scripture or reception history will, in certain cases, be determinative or strongly corroborative of historical-critical conclusion. The studies in this volume thus not only issue a challenge to the boundaries between disciplinary specialization within biblical studies, but significantly problematize any distinction between Scripture and Rewritten Scripture or between Bible and reception.”
—Deane Galbraith, University of Otago, Relegere: Studies in Religion and Reception 4:1 (2014): 105–8. Online: http://dx.doi.org/10.11157/rsrr4-1-636

For those of us in this post-Gutenberg age who spend our days studying written media-books, articles, and reviews--to craft a credible piece of scholarship for publication, the contrast could not be stronger. 1 In Greco-Roman antiquity, the most credible "scholarship" was offered in person, through "the living voice" of the teacher. Loveday Alexander has drawn attention to a common proverb that circulated in antiquity that favored the "living voice" over written expression in instruction. It is mentioned by many ancient writers. The famed physician Galen cites in a prologue a saying that "gathering information out of a book is not the same thing, and cannot even compare to learning from the living voice." Seneca (EP.6.6) wrote that the living voice of a teacher is more profitable than a treatise. Quintilian (Inst.2.2.8) and Pliny (Ep.2.3) also aver that "the living voice" of an orator provides a more powerful means of communication over the written words of texts. 2 This accords with the importance of the living voice generally in training for different societal roles. The principle was current across a range of social classes and contexts, among the different philosophical schools and occupations: rhetoriticians, doctors, craftsmen, and teachers. She writes:

The Dead Sea Scrolls are one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the last century. They have great historical, religious, and linguistic significance, not least in relation to the transmission of many of the books which came to be included in the Hebrew Bible. This companion comprises over 70 articles, exploring the entire body of the key texts and documents labelled as Dead Sea Scrolls.

Beginning with a section on the complex methods used in discovering, archiving and analysing the Scrolls, the focus moves to consideration of the Scrolls in their various contexts: political, religious, cultural, economic and historical. The genres ascribed to groups of texts within the Scrolls- including exegesis and interpretation, poetry and hymns, and liturgical texts - are then examined, with due attention given to both past and present scholarship. The main body of the Companion concludes with crucial issues and topics discussed by leading scholars. Complemented by extensive appendices and indexes, this Companion provides the ideal resource for those seriously engaging with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Seven animal hide scrolls with Hebrew and Aramaic writing were sold in Jerusalem in 1947. Additional smaller fragments of similar scrolls were sold from 1948 to 1950. Within a few years of their appearance, these “Jerusalem Scrolls” as they were then known, became “the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran Cave 1.” While this change of names may seem trivial, it glosses over some difficult questions about the provenance of these materials. What we now call “Cave 1Q” or “Qumran Cave 1” was excavated in 1949, but scholarship reveals considerable confusion concerning which purchased scrolls can be materially connected to fragments that were excavated by archaeologists under controlled conditions in Cave 1. Furthermore, Cave 1 is often treated as if it was a sealed context rather than the highly contaminated site that it actually was at the time of its excavation by archaeologists. For these reasons, it is not completely clear whether all the scrolls usually assigned to Cave 1 actually originated at this site. This article is an attempt to sort through the evidence to determine exactly which scrolls and fragments attributed to Cave 1 were purchased, when and from whom such pieces were purchased, and what can actually be known with confidence about the connection of these “Jerusalem Scrolls” with the site we now call Qumran Cave 1.

It is not possible today to prove beyond doubt that at least some of the Dead Sea Scrolls had Pharisaic origins. On the other hand, it is likewise not possible to prove beyond doubt that they were written by the Essenes, the Sadducees, etc. The arguments presented in this paper show that (a) the distinctive use of the key phrase מעשי התורה / ἔργα νόμου (“works of the law”) in both 4QMMT C 27 and the letters of the Pharisee Paul (Rom 3:20.28; Gal 2:16; 3:2.5.10), (b) the attribution of the halachic ideas contained in the so-called Damascus Document to the Pharisees in the Gospel of Mark (CD X, 22–23 in Mk 2:23–24) and in the Gospel of Luke (CD XI, 13–14a.16–17a in Lk 14:1–6), as well as (c) the use of the key verb פרש in the Damascus Document (CD IV, 8; VI, 14; 4Q266 XI, 18 = 4Q270 7 II, 12) and 4QMMT C 7 as possible linguistic backgrounds to the coining of the name of the Pharisees point to a connection of at least 4QMMT and the Damascus Document to the ideas and terminology of the Pharisees.
From the methodological point of view, the New Testament writings should be regarded not only as evidence of the impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls on later religious ideas, but also as important sources for the understanding of the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves. Since they are significantly earlier than the mishnaic writings, their witnesses to distinctively Pharisaic ideas and terminology, and consequently, to possible links between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the ideas and terminology of the Pharisees, should be taken into serious consideration.

This study mathematically reconstructs 4QAstronomical Enoch a-b ar (4Q208-4Q209) in detail. The findings challenge the recently proposed reconstruction of 4Q209 by Eshbal Ratzon as a full triennial cycle (with a synchronized lunar and solar year), known from the Judean Hebrew calendrical texts found in Qumran (in contrast to Milik's proposal that the texts represented the first year of a triennial cycle). This reconstruction demonstrates that the Ara-maic fragments more accurately match one single synchronized year which is not connected with a triennial cycle. It identifies the placement of certain fragments containing relevant data according to a scheme founded on contempo-raneous ancient astronomy in the region and that of another Qumran Aramaic calendrical text. The study finds that the Aramaic calendar of 4Q208-4Q209 should be analyzed on its own terms.

There is disagreement among Hebrew philologists about how to interpret the difference between the ancient suffixed verb form variously called perfect, past, ʿavar, and qatal, and the contrasting prefixed verb form called imperfect, future, ʿatid, or yiqtol. Some scholars interpret the Dead Sea Scrolls as if ancient Hebrew was tenseless and instead expressed aspect; others insist it did in fact have tenses that could be used to identify the point in time at which something takes place.
This model lays the foundation for a synchronic description of the Hebrew verbal system in the two centuries just before the turn of the era.

This interlinear edition of the biblical Hebrew Dead Sea Scrolls brings a new level of user-friendly functionality to this priceless collection of ancient texts. The resource collates the textual witnesses of hundreds of manuscript fragments into a single text of the Hebrew Bible as collectively attested in the Qumran scrolls.

The text draws on expert scholarly analysis to select the best readings for verses with multiple manuscript witnesses. Verses with multiple witnesses include notes linking to individual transcriptions of the variant readings. This edition also features Logos Hebrew Morphology, so you can search the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Lexham Hebrew Bible as a single body of literature in one search.

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was a monumental event in the history of biblical studies. With the Lexham Dead Sea Scrolls Hebrew-English Interlinear Bible, you can dig into this biblical treasure trove and see for yourself what a powerful witness these ancient manuscripts bear to the text of the Hebrew Bible!

SUMMARY This paper studies the question on which (Julian) date falls an ancient dating according to the Jewish calendar. It is only incompletely known how in Biblical times the beginning of the lunar month was reckoned and how the lunar calendar was adapted to the solar year. The article investigates ancient documents with double datings or with information about the day of the week, with the result that the calendar was mainly based on the observation of the moon and of the vegetation, which cannot be exactly reconstructed in retrospect. Hence, the dates provided by the Gospels are not sufficient in order to reconstruct the year in which Jesus was crucified.
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Die Studie behandelt die Frage, auf welchen (julianischen) Tag eine antike Datumsangabe nach jüdischem Kalender fiel. Wie der Beginn des Mond-Mo-nats genau festgelegt wurde und wie der Mondkalender mit dem Sonne!ahr in Einklang gebracht wurde, ist für die biblische Zeit nur lückenhaft bekannt. Dieser Artikel untersucht antike Dokumente, die doppelt datiert sind oder die neben der Datumsangabe den Wochentag angeben, mit dem Ergebnis, daß der Kalender weitgehend auf der Beobachtung des Mondes und der Vegetation beruhte, was im nachhinein nicht genau rekonstruierbar ist. Deshalb genügen die Datums-und Wochentagsangaben der Evangelien nicht, um das Jahr, in dem Jesus gekreuzigt worden ist, rekonstruieren zu können.

The aim of this paper is to present a very simple proof that errors in translations, interpretations and logic when dealing with the opening passages of the Damascus Document (CD) have served to mislead modern scholars resulting in a very confused set of outcomes. These errors seemed to have arisen since the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, thereby locking many scholars into Qumran and the Essenes in an era encompassing the year 175BC. The belief expressed in this paper is that the early root of the Yahad was “planted of old”, well before the time of the Babylonian Exile.
          Joseph L. Angel has this to say about the above mentioned problem; “……underscored the need to broaden our perspective regarding Qumran origins beyond the confining borders of the Essene hypothesis”. Oddly enough whilst setting out to follow this advice, in the end I found myself still confined by the Essene hypothesis but I had moved well beyond the confining borders of Qumran.
        The argument presented in this paper revolves around the belief that the Yahad, in considering themselves to be the “True Israel”; and in the opinion of those inside the sect, the only true Israel, a group spared by God himself and set aside of old to restore Israel to purity and greatness once again; when combined with the fact that the rest of the opening in CD is obviously a potted history of the Yahad, this makes it possible for the opening passages referring to Israel in the Damascus Document, ie “He hid His face from Israel”, to be interpreted to read “He hid His face from the Yahad”.
        This then points out that the Yahad considered themselves guilty of treasonous acts carried out before they were taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar (587BC), thus creating a situation with very serious ramifications in regards to event timing, particularly the raising of the Teacher.
        The paper analyses this problem and others and by comparing two quite different translations of the opening passages in the Damascus Document (Schechter and Gaster) and attempts to assess which of the two translations delivers a more realistic outcome.
        In the course of this discussion it becomes quite obvious that one translation delivers a much better outcome than the other, however from the outset and from both translations, it is also quite obvious that the age of the Yahad is much older than commonly accepted by modern scholarship. This is due not so much to translation problems, but to problems with interpretation.
        A result that is more or less in line with conclusions arrived at in the past by scholars such as Theodor Gaster and Fr Jeromy O’Connor.

Readers have long wondered what is the meaning of the dog that briefly appears in the Jewish fairy tale known as the Book of Tobit. This article considers common answers such as influence from Ahikar, the Odyssey, influence of Persian culture and influence of folktale and goes into depth of the dog's significance in human culture, especially in connection with healing and defeating dragons and evil spirits and raises questions about the dog's possible connection to the archangel Raphael.

This article sheds light on the debates that took place in ancient Judaism between sectarian and early rabbinic interpretation of Scripture. Scholarship on 11QMelchizedek (11QMelch; 11Q13) has largely taken the scroll's harmonization of Deuteronomy's Sabbatical debt release (Deut 15:2) with the Jubilee (Lev 25:13) for granted, without examining its rationale. We provide an analysis of the hermeneutics that triggered the synthesis and argue that it was generated in part as a response to a legal-exegetical question: The Jubilee of Leviticus releases slaves, but does it require debt remission? When the separate sources of the Pentateuch were redacted into a single corpus, the compilation of originally inconsistent material into a single Torah must have posed interpretive problems for postexilic readers. After the promulgation of the Torah, Deuteronomy's Sabbatical debt law and the Jubilee were read synchronically, now for the first time as part of a unified literary composition. This had to raise the issue of their relationship. Among the questions that emerged for Second Temple readers was whether the Jubilee of Leviticus requires debt release, as Deuteronomy commands. But the absence of an explicit demand for debt release in Leviticus left the door open to argue that the Jubilee does not release debts (the position maintained in the halakic exegesis of the Sipre Deuteronomy and Sipra Leviticus). Taking a contrary stance, the author of 11QMelchizedek responded to that absence by identifying Leviticus's Jubilee with Deuteronomy's Sabbatical debt release. His synthesis of the two laws demonstrates that the often presumed opposition of legal and eschatological exegesis does not hold in the case of 11QMelchizedek.

Keywords: Dead Sea Scrolls, Qumran, Pesharim, Pentateuch, Exegesis, Innerbiblical Exegesis, Synthetic Exegesis, Eschatological Exegesis, Halakic Exegesis, Legal Exegesis, Legal Hermeneutics, Implicit, Legal Interpretation, Rewritten Scripture, Harmonization, Jubilee, Debt Remission, Sabbatical Year, Manumission, qōl wa-ḥômer, qal va-ḥomer, gezerah shavah, Eschatology, Andurāru, Auslegungsgeschichte, Rechtshermeneutik, Innerbiblische Exegese

The Jewish revolt against Rome in 67 C.E. has been variously characterized as a spontaneous reaction to political/economic oppression, a messianic holy war, or as some combination of the two. 1 In part, the diversity of opinions can be attributed to the methodological approaches of the investigators, but a greater portion of the controversy is due to the frustrating scarcity of data and the nature of the early witnesses to the Revolt. With the exception of Josephus's writings (and perhaps the Megillat Ta`anit, or "Scroll of Fasting"), no texts have survived that can be attributed to the participants in the Great Revolt

Over the past fifty years, archaeological excavations in Israel have unearthed about half a dozen ancient synagogues that were in use at different points in time between the first century BCE through the outbreak of the Bar-Kochba rebellion early in the second century of the Common Era.  In close proximity to each of these synagogues, a mikveh (ritual bath) has been discovered.  In contrast, no mikvaot have been discovered adjacent to any of the dozens of later synagogues that have been excavated and studied, with only one or two possible exceptions. 
At this point it is impossible to determine exactly when mikvaot ceased to be built in connection with synagogues, as the archaeological record reports very little about synagogues of the late second - early third century CE.  From an archaeological perspective, it is clear that at least from the second half of the third century, synagogues began to be built without regard for proximity to mikvaot.
Talmudic sources make no mention of a requirement to build mikvaot adjacent to synagogues. To date, no satisfactory explanation has been given for the evident connection between the synagogue and the mikveh in the early period, and the disappearance of such a connection in later periods of synagogue history. The objective of this paper is to present and explore a possible interpretation of this puzzling phenomenon.
  During the Second Temple and Mishnaic Periods, a rabbinical enactment was in effect requiring mikveh ablutions prior to engagement in Torah study and prayer for individuals who had experienced seminal emission. Careful study of the Talmudic sources reveals that this enactment was nullified early in the Amoraic Period, sometime during the second quarter of the third century CE.
It would appear that the mikvaot built adjacent to the earlier synagogues were intended for this precise function, serving visitors to the synagogue who required ritual ablutions prior to Torah study and prayer.  Once the rabbinical enactment regarding these ablutions was nullified, there was no longer need for such mikvaot, and hence the absence of mikvaot in proximity to the later synagogues.