A Bit Of History
Capernaum
actually dated to the second or third century C.E. Today, most
scholars date the building’s construction to the late fourth or fifth
Capernaum was a small Jewish fishing and agricultural century C.E. on the basis of pottery evidence, coin finds, and
community on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was stylistic considerations.
apparently a principal base of Jesus’ operations, with Matt 9:1
going so far as to call it Jesus’ “own city.” According to Mark 1:29, Many scholars are intrigued by the possibility that the limestone
it was the hometown of Jesus’ disciples Simon, Andrew, James, synagogue was built on top of an earlier synagogue that may
and John. It is the setting for well-known stories such as Jesus’ call go back to the first century, pointing to remains of basalt walls
of a tax collector to follow and pavements underneath the fifth-century building. Because
him (Mark 2:12-17), his thorough excavation of the basalt structures would require
preaching and exorcism in dismantling the limestone synagogue, it is likely that this question
a synagogue (Mark 1:21-28, will never be resolved with certainty.
Luke 4:31-37), the healing
of Simon’s mother-in-law Were Roman soldiers stationed at Capernaum in the time of
(Matt 8:14-15, Mark 1:29- Jesus?
31, Luke 4:38-39) and the
healing of a paralytic man Some interpreters understandably assume that the centurion
(Matt 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12). mentioned in Matt 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10 was a Roman army
Perhaps the most famous story associated with Capernaum is that officer. However, while both gospels refer to the centurion as
of the Gentile centurion whose faith Jesus praises after healing his Gentile, neither identifies him as a Roman, and it is unlikely
servant (Matt 8:5-13, Luke 7:1-10).
that Capernaum had a Roman garrison in the early first century.
Galilee at the time belonged to the territory of Antipas, a
Various scholars explored and excavated portions of the site in Herodian client-king who served at the whim of the Romans but
the late 1800s and early 1900s. In the late 1960s, archaeologists had some degree of autonomy. It would have been unusual for the
associated with the Studium Biblical Franciscanum
(Franciscan Biblical School) in Jerusalem began
more extensive work there, followed a decade later by
archaeologists associated with the Greek Orthodox
Church. The most famous discoveries are a limestone
synagogue constructed in the late fourth or early fifth
century C.E. that can now be seen in reconstructed
form and an octagonal church built in the fifth
century. The church sits atop a first-century house that
itself underwent extensive renovation in the preceding
centuries. Aramaic, Greek, Latin, and Syriac graffiti
demonstrate that it was a site of pilgrimage already
in the fourth century. Because the fourth-century
Christian pilgrim Egeria wrote that she visited the
house of Peter, many believe that ancient architectural remains Romans to station soldiers in the territory of a loyal client-king
underneath the octagonal church are in fact the disciple’s house. who faced no serious internal or external threats. Roman troops
were apparently not permanently stationed in Galilee until the
Archaeological finds from the first century are more modest but second century C.E. A famous milestone exhibited at modern
nonetheless extensive and important, consisting of basalt houses Capernaum that documents the construction of a road by Roman
with accompanying courtyards, streets, and various small objects. soldiers dates not to the time of Jesus but to the reign of Emperor
Fragments from stone vessels attest to the village’s predominantly Hadrian (117-138 C.E.). Because the armies of the Herodian
Jewish population, as only Jews in this region used such vessels, kings included Gentiles and were sometimes organized along