 Along with the discovery of the godfearers/theosebeis inscription from Aphrodisias, it provides indisputable evidence for the continued vitality of Jewish
communities in Asia Minor, their integration into general Roman imperial civic life, and their
size and importance at a time when many scholars previously assumed that Christianity had eclipsed Judaism.A Jewish 'romaniote' community existed there from the Byzantine period, praying in the Etz Ha-Hayim Synagogue.After 1492, Jews expelled from Spain settled there, joining approximately one hundred romaniote families.