Capernaum

Kfar Naḥūm, the original name of the town, means "village of comfort" (כְּפַר נַחוּם (Kfar Nahum)) in Hebrew, and apparently there is no connection with the prophet named Nahum. In the writings of Josephus, the name is rendered in Greek as Kαφαρναούμ (Kapharnaoúm)[6] and Κεφαρνωκόν (Kepharnōkón);[7] the New Testament uses Kapharnaoúm in some manuscripts, and Kαπερναούμ (Kapernaoúm) in others. In the Midrash Rabba (Ecclesiastes Rabba 7:47) the name appears in its Hebrew form, Kǝfar Naḥūm (Hebrew: כפר נחום‎). In Arabic, it is also called Talḥūm, and it is assumed that this refers to the ruin (tall) of Ḥūm (perhaps an abbreviated form of Nāḥūm).[6]

The word capharnaum in modern English, means a place with a "disorderly accumulation of objects", is derived from the town's name.[8]

James Tissot – Healing of the Lepers at Capernaum (Guérison des lépreux à Capernaum) – Brooklyn Museum

The town is cited in all four gospels (Matthew 4:13, 8:5, 11:23, 17:24, Mark 1:21, 2:1, 9:33, Luke 4:23, 31,7:1, 10:15, John 2:12, 4:46, 6:17, 24, 59) where it was reported to have been the hometown of the tax collector Matthew, and located not far from Bethsaida, the hometown of the apostles Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John. Some readers take Mark 2:1 as evidence that Jesus may have owned a home in the town, but it is more likely that he stayed in the house of one of his followers here. He certainly spent time teaching and healing there. One Sabbath, Jesus taught in the synagogue in Capernaum and healed a man who was possessed by an unclean spirit (Luke 4:31–36 and Mark 1:21–28). This story is notable as the only one that is common between the gospels of Mark and Luke, but not contained in the Gospel of Matthew (see Synoptic Gospels for more literary comparison between the gospels). Afterward, Jesus healed Simon Peter's mother-in-law of a fever (Luke 4:38–39). According to Luke 7:1–10 and Matthew 8:5, this is also the place where Jesus healed the servant of a Roman centurion who had asked for his help. Capernaum is also the location of the healing of the paralytic lowered by friends through the roof to reach Jesus, as reported in Mark 2:1–12 and Luke 5:17–26.

In Matthew 9:1 the town is referred to only as "his own city", and the narrative in Matthew 9:2–7 does not mention the paralytic being lowered through the roof. Most traditional biblical commentators (e.g. Bengel, Benson and the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary) assume that in Matthew 9:1–7 "his own city" means Capernaum, because of the details that are common to the three synoptic gospels.[9]

According to the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus selected this town as the center of his public ministry in Galilee after he left the small mountainous hamlet of Nazareth (Matthew 4:12–17). He also formally cursed Capernaum, along with Bethsaida and Chorazin, saying "you will be thrown down to Hades!" (Matthew 11:23) because of their lack of faith in him as the Messiah.

Archaeological evidence demonstrates that the town was established in the 2nd century BC during the Hasmonean period, when a number of new fishing villages sprung up around the lake. The site had no defensive wall and extended along the northwestern shore of the lake. The cemetery zone is found 200 meters north of the synagogue, which places it beyond the inhabited area of the town. The historic site of Capernaum is 2.5 kilometers from Tabgha,[10] an area which appears to have been used for agricultural purposes, judging by the many oil and grain mills which were discovered in the excavation. Fishing was also a source of income; the remains of another harbor were found to the west of that built by the Franciscans.

No sources have been found for the belief that Capernaum was involved in the bloody Jewish revolts against the Romans, the First Jewish-Roman War (AD 66–73) or Bar Kokhba's revolt (132–135), although there is reason to believe that Josephus, one of the Jewish generals during the earlier revolt, was taken to Capernaum (which he called Κεφαρνωκόν, Kepharnōkón[7]) after a fall from his horse in nearby Bethsaida.[7][11]

Josephus referred to Capernaum as a fertile spring. (Wars – Book III, 10, 8) He stayed the night there after bruising his wrist in a riding accident.[11] As early as 530 CE, Capernaum was mentioned in the writings of Theodosius the archdeacon who said that it was situated, as one goes northward from Tiberius, two miles from Tabga (Heptapegan) and six miles short of Bethsaida along the same route.[12][13]

Olive press from Roman times, different elements

In 1838, American explorer Edward Robinson discovered ruins which he identified as those of a synagogue, but did not relate this to ancient Capernaum.[14] In 1866, Charles William Wilson identified the location (then known as Tel Hum) as Capernaum. In 1894, Franciscan Friar Giuseppe Baldi of Naples, the Custodian of the Holy Land, was able to purchase a good part of the land around the ruins. Additional land on the eastern portion of the site became the property of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem.[15]

In 1905, Germans Heinrich Kohl and Carl Watzinger began a study of Galilean synagogues.[16] These were continued by Franciscans Fathers Vendelin von Benden (1905–1915) and Gaudenzio Orfali (1921–1926). The excavations resulted in the discovery of two public buildings, the synagogue (which was partially restored by Fr Orfali), and an octagonal church.[15]

In 1968, excavation of the western portion of the site—the portion owned by the Franciscans—was resumed by Virgilio Corbo and Stanislao Loffreda. During this phase, the major discovery was of a 1st-century house which is believed by Christians to be the home of St. Peter.[4] These excavations have been ongoing, with some publication on the Internet as recently as 2003.[17]

The excavations revealed that the site was established at the beginning of the Hasmonean period, roughly in the 2nd century BC, and abandoned in the 11th century.[4]

The eastern half of the site, which is owned by the Orthodox Monastery of the Holy Apostles, centered on the red-roofed Church of the Holy Apostles, was surveyed and partially excavated under the direction of Vassilios Tzaferis. This section has uncovered the village from the Byzantine and Early Arab periods. Features include a pool apparently used for the processing of fish, and a hoard of gold coins (Tzaferis, 1989).

Ruins of the Roman-period town.

On both sides of an ample north-south main street arose small districts bordered by small cross-sectional streets and no-exit side-streets. The walls were constructed with coarse basalt blocks and reinforced with stone and mud, but the stones (except for the thresholds) were not dressed and mortar was not used.

The most extensive part of the typical house was the courtyard, where there was a circular furnace made of refractory earth, as well as grain mills and a set of stone stairs that led to the roof. The floors of the houses were cobbled. Around the open courtyard, modest cells were arranged which received light through a series of openings or low windows.[18]

Given the coarse construction of the walls, there was rarely a second story to a typical home,[19] and the roof would have been constructed of light wooden beams and thatch mixed with mud. This, along with the discovery of the stairs to the roof, recalls the biblical story of the Healing of the Paralytic: "And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay." (Mark 2:4)

A study of the district located between the synagogue and the octagonal church showed that several extended families clustered together, communally using the same courtyards and doorless internal passages. The houses had no hygienic facilities or drainage;[20] the rooms were narrow. Most objects found were made of clay: pots, plates, amphoras, and lamps. Fish hooks, weights for fish nets, striker pins, weaving bobbins, and basalt mills for milling grain and pressing olives were also found.[21]

As of the 4th century, the houses were constructed with good quality mortar and fine ceramics. This was about the time that the synagogue now visible was built. Differences in social class were not noticeable. Buildings constructed at the founding of the town continued to be in use until the time of the abandonment of the town.

Remains of the 4th-century synagogue

According to Luke's Gospel, the Capernaum synagogue at the time of Jesus' ministry had been built or funded by a Roman centurion based there.[22]

The ruins of a later building, among the oldest synagogues in the world, were identified by Charles William Wilson. The large, ornately carved, white building stones of the synagogue stood out prominently among the smaller, plain blocks of local black basalt used for the town's other buildings, almost all residential. The synagogue was built almost entirely of white blocks of calcareous stone brought from distant quarries.

The synagogue appears to have been built around the 4th or 5th century. Beneath the foundation of this synagogue lies another foundation made of basalt, and Loffreda suggests that this is the foundation of a synagogue from the 1st century, perhaps the one mentioned in the Gospels.[21] Later excavation work was attempted underneath the synagogue floor, but while Loffreda claimed to have found a paved surface, others are of the opinion that this was an open, paved market area.

The building consists of four parts: the praying hall, the western patio, a southern balustrade and a small room at the northwest of the building. The praying hall measured 24.40 m by 18.65 m, with the southern face looking toward Jerusalem. The internal walls were covered with painted plaster and fine stucco work found during the excavations. Watzinger, like Orfali, believed that there had been an upper floor reserved for women, with access by means of an external staircase located in the small room. But this opinion was not substantiated by the later excavations of the site.

The ancient synagogue has two inscriptions, one in Greek and the other in Aramaic, that commemorate the benefactors that helped in the construction of the building.[4] There are also carvings of five- and six-pointed stars and of palm trees.

In 1926, the Franciscan Father Gaudenzio Orfali began the restoration of the synagogue. The work was interrupted by his death in a car accident in 1926 (which is commemorated by a Latin inscription carved onto one of the synagogue's columns), and was continued by Virgilio Corbo beginning in 1976.

Interior of the modern Memorial built over the house of St Peter

Foundations of octagonal 5th-century church, visible through a glass floor

One block of homes, called by the Franciscan excavators the sacra insula or "holy insula" ("insula" refers to a block of homes around a courtyard) was found to have a complex history. Located between the synagogue and the lake shore, it was found near the front of a labyrinth of houses from many different periods. Three principal layers have been identified:

1. A group of private houses built around the 1st century BC which remained in use until the early 4th century.
2. The great transformation of one of the homes in the 4th century.
3. The octagonal church in the middle of the 5th century.

The excavators concluded that one house in the village was venerated as the house of Peter the fisherman as early as the mid-1st century, with two churches having been constructed over it.[18]

• Ancient synagogues in the Palestine region
  • Ancient synagogues in Israel
• Archaeology of Israel
• List of oldest synagogues
• Monastery of the Holy Apostles, the Greek Orthodox church and monastery at Capernaum
• National parks and nature reserves of Israel
• New Testament places associated with Jesus
• Sea of Galilee Boat – 1st-century CE fishing boat wreck discovered near the shore of the Sea of Galilee
• Tourism in Israel
• Woes to the unrepentant cities, pronounced by Jesus and which include Capernaum

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Capernaum.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Capernaum.

• Strong's G2584
• Capharnaum – The town of Jesus – Franciscan Cyberspot
• Capernaum – information from the Israeli government
• Capernaum – Sacred Destinations (includes 38 photos)
• Images of Capernaum
• Article by Dr. Zeev Goldmann