City
Nazareth
NAZ-uh-reth · Modern Nazareth, Israel
Nazareth is a city of the biblical world.
What is known
- Childhood home of Jesus, who was known throughout his ministry as "Jesus of Nazareth"
- So obscure and unremarkable that Nathanael asks, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" (John 1:46)
- Archaeological excavations have uncovered 1st-century dwellings, cisterns, and agricultural installations consistent with a small farming village
History
- Founded
- An obscure village not mentioned in the Old Testament, Josephus, or the Talmud; existed by the Roman period
- Population
- Very small — estimates around 200–400 residents in the 1st century AD
- Industry
- Agriculture and small artisan trades, including carpentry/stonework
- Coordinates
- 32.7021° N, 35.3032° E
Rulers and powers
- Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee — 4 BC – AD 39
Archaeology
Excavations beneath and around the Basilica of the Annunciation uncovered remains of the 1st-century Jewish village of Nazareth — cisterns, grain silos, and cave-dwellings — including a small house with a courtyard cistern reported in 2009 as the first residential building recovered from the time of Jesus, supporting the Gospels' depiction of Nazareth as a modest Galilean village whose very existence in the 1st century was once doubted but is now well attested. The nearby Nazareth Village site preserves an excavated 2,000-year-old rock-cut winepress and terraced fields from a working 1st-century farm.
Scripture references
- Matthew 2:23
- Luke 1:26
- Luke 2:39
- Luke 4:16-30 — Jesus rejected in his hometown synagogue
- John 1:46
- Acts 10:38
On a modern map
Further reading
Reflect
People asked whether anything good could come from Nazareth — where have you written someone or somewhere off too quickly?
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