Capernaum

• SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see Category:Capernaum (subject)
• ANCIENT SOURCES: see Capernaum (sources)

Capernaum was a village in Galilee on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Overview

Capernaum was a small village in Galilee.

The site was more structurally inhabited starting from the mid 2nd-century BCE and declined by the 12-13th centuries CE. During the Second Temple period, it remained a small settlement of farmers and fishermen, with no walls or fortifications. Mentioned by Josephus, it was the center of the preaching of Jesus of Nazareth.

In Byzantine period, Capernaum remained a small village in Galilee with a Jewish population, including a Christian community.

Capernaum in ancient sources

• See Capernaum (sources)

Capernaum in Scholarship

Capernaum was first described by American explorer Edward Robinson in 1838: "The whole place is desolate and mournful. A few Arabs only of the Semekiyeh were here encamped in tents, and had built up a few hovels among the ruins which they used as magazines." He also noticed "the prostrate ruins of an edifice which, for expense, labour and ornament, surpasses any thing we have yet seen in Palestine." He later correctly identified the ruins as that of a synagogue.

In 1866 British explorer Charles W. Wilson made some soundings and described two monumental tombs.

To protect the site from damage and vandalism, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land purchased it in 1894.

In 1905 the excavation of the synagogue started under the direction of Heinrich Kohl and Carl Watzinger of the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, followed (1906-1915) by Franciscan architect Wendelin von Menden.

Between 1921 and 1926, Fr. Gaudentius Orfali of Nazareth made additional excavations of the site and completed the restoration of the synagogue (1922-1925). It was believed that the monumental synagogue dated from the first century and was the one mentioned in the Gospels.

From 1986 to 1991, Virgilio Corbo and Stanislao Loffreda directed a systematic excavation that included not only the synagogue but also the ruins of a Byzantine octagonal church and of the entire site. In the same years, V. Tzaferis of the Department of Antiquities conducted five seasons of excavations in the nearby Greek-Orthodox property (1978-1982).

The excavations demonstrated that the monumental synagogue was built in the late 4th century. Some elements seems to suggest the presence of a previous synagogue, but the evidence is disputed.

Close to synagogue, the ruins of a Byzantine octagonal church from the 5th century CE were excavated. The church was built on some older buildings, which have been suggested could be the house where Peter and Andrew lived.

In 1986 the remains of a 1st-century fishing boat were found, and are now on display at the Yigal Alon Museum in Kibbutz Ginosar, Tiberias. Although no evidence connects the artifact to Jesus or his disciples, the boat provides a good example of the type of boat used of the time.

Today, Capernaum is a popular archaeological site. The major attractions are the ruins of the monumental synagogue and of the socalled House of Peter, and the remains of the Sea of Galilee boat.

References

Chen 1986: D. Chen, On the Chronology of the Ancient Synagogue at Capernaum, "Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins" 102 (1986), pp. 134-143.

Corbo-Loffreda 1975: V. Corbo-S. Loffreda-A. Spijkerman-E. Testa, Cafarnao, I-IV, Jerusalem 1985.

Foester 1981: G. Foester, "Notes on Recent Excavations at Capernaum", in L..J. Levine (ed.), Ancient Synagogues Revealed, Jerusalem 1981, pp. 57-59.

Guérin 1880: V. Guérin, Description géographique, historique et archéologique de la Palestine: Galilée, I, Paris 1880, pp. 226-239.

Kohl-Watzinger 1959:H. Kohl-C. Watzinger, Antike Synagogen in Galiläa, Leipzig 1916.

Kopp 1959: C. Kopp, Die heiligen Stätten der Evangelien, Regensburg 1959, pp. 215-230.

Loffreda 1985: S. Loffreda, Recovering Capharnaum, Jerusalem 1985.

Loffreda 1995: S. Loffreda, Cafarnao, Jerusalem 1995.

Loffreda-Tzaferis 1993: S. Loffreda-V. Tzaferis, Capernaum, voce in E. Stern (ed.), The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, voll. I-IV, Jerusalem 1993.

Loffreda-Tzaferis 1994: S. Loffreda-V. Tzaferis, Capernaum, voce in Y. Tsafrir-L. Di Segni-J. Green, Tabula Imperii Romani. Judaea-Palaestina. Maps and Gazetter, Jerusalem 1994.

Neemann 1967: D. Neemann, Capernaum, Tel Aviv 1967.

Orfali 1922: G. Orfali, Capharnaüm et ses ruines, Paris 1922.

Riesner 1985: R. Riesner, Neues von den Synagogen Kafarnaums, "Bibel und Kirke" 40 (1985), pp. 133-135.

Tzaferis 1983: V. Tzaferis, New Archeological Evidence on Ancient Capernaum, "Biblical Archaeologist" 46 (1983), pp. 198-204.

Tzaferis 1989: V. Tzaferis et alii, Excavations at Capernaum, I, Winoina Lake 1989

External links

• Wikipedia
• Jewish Virtual Library / BiblePlaces.com

Pictures on the web

• Artistic Reconstruction of ancient Capernaum (Art by Balage Balogh) <ferrelljenkins.wordpress.com>