Nazareth

In Nazareth,  about one hundred yards from the Church of the Annunciation, stands the Church of St. Joseph. An archeological investigation done by Bagatti in 1970 uncovered grottoes, cisterns and a wine press under the church. He also found pottery ranging from Iron Age II through the Crusader era. In addition, he found a basin that he identified as a baptistery. This he dated to the late second or early third century, when it would have been used by Judeo-Christians who, if not related to the Holy Family, likely remembered the spots where Joseph and Mary lived out their lives.

Bibliography. Finegan, Jack, The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992), 56-60.

The hometown of Jesus was Nazareth in Galilee (Matt.2:23, Mark 1:9, Luke 2:39). Nazareth lies on the north slope of the Jezreel Valley (or Plain of Esdraelon), across to the north-east from Megiddo and Mount Carmel. At 1,150 feet, it overlooks the valley about 950 feet below.

The relative size and importance of the village of Nazareth at the time of Jesus is seen by the almost total lack of mention of it in period sources. It is not mentioned in the Old Testament. Josephus, in his catalogue of forty-five towns in Galilee does not list Nazareth. The Talmud refers to sixty-three villages in Galilee, but also does not mention it.¹ It was not on any major trade route, but it was on the road from the regional administrative center of Sepphoris. Because of this, Unger has argued that “while Nazareth was not a bustling emporium, it was far from isolated from the busy Galilean cities and the stirring events of the time.”² Archaeology has also given evidence of how small Nazareth was during Jesus’ time. It is estimated to have been approximately sixty acres and had a population of less than five hundred.³

This lack of historical textual evidence has caused some fringe skeptics to claim the town never existed.⁴ However, archaeological evidence has been found that shows Nazareth was inhabited well before, during, and after the time of Jesus.

In 1963 burial caves were found containing pottery from the first part of the Middle Bronze Age (2100-2000 B.C.), lending evidence that Nazareth had been settled from a very early date.⁵ Archeological excavations done by Bagatti in 1955 under the Church of the Annunciation yielded grottoes, grain silos, oil and water cisterns, raisin and olive presses, millstones, and a large amount of pottery.⁶ The pottery is of special interest because it ranges from Iron II (900-600 B.C.) all the way through the Byzantine period. The finds show that Nazareth was a village for many centuries organized around agriculture. Unger speculates that Jesus’ repetitive use of agricultural illustrations is due to His having been raised in that environment.⁷ Also of interest is that some of the grottos discovered had been modified to be used as dwellings and other buildings. This gives credence to the traditional location of the Church of St. Joseph, said to have been built over the grotto where Joseph had his house and workshop, and where Jesus grew up.

Very recently excavations in Nazareth led by Yardenna Alexandre have revealed a first-century house. The Roman period house was found next to the Church of the Annunciation, and according to Alexandre, “The building that we found is small and modest and it is most likely typical of the dwellings in Nazareth in that period.”⁸ The house consisted of two rooms with a courtyard, typical of the time (see Houses in First Century Israel). Roman era pottery was found, along with chalk containers, unique to Jewish sites (due to the fact that chalk vessels were not susceptible to become ritually impure, unlike normal clay pottery). In addition, a camouflaged pit was discovered, which also contained potsherds. Alexandre theorizes the pit was constructed and stocked in preparation for the Jewish revolt of A.D. 67.

In Nazareth the Church of the Annunciation marks the traditional spot where the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Messiah. Excavations at the church conducted by Bagatti revealed that a Byzantine era church existed at the site, and underneath it, built in a similar style as synagogues in Galilee which have been dated to the middle of the third century A. D., another structure. Bagatti found various artifacts including columns, cornices, door jambs and windows. Bagatti also found a large amount of graffiti of Judeo-Christian origin. One of these, written in the plaster on a column says, “ΥΠΟΑΓΙΩΤΟΠΟΜ . . . ΕΓΡΑΨΑ . . .” (“under the holy place of M… I wrote …”). Finegan says the graffiti was likely a pilgrim “asking for remembrance in this holy place.” The artifacts and graffiti, along with the evidence that Jesus’ extended family continued to dwell in Nazareth long after Jesus’ death and resurrection, lead Finegan to conclude that it is “surely not impossible” that the site of the Church of the Annunciation is the actual place where Mary received Gabriel’s announcement.

Bibliography. Bagatti, Bellarmino, Church from Circumcision, (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1971), 125. Finegan, Jack, The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992), 49.

In Nazareth, about 100 yards from the Church of the Annunciation, stands the Church of St. Joseph. An archeological investigation uncovered grottos, cisterns, and a wine press under the church.¹ It also found pottery ranging from Iron Age II through the Crusader era. In addition, the excavators found a basin that they identified as a baptistery. This basin was dated to the late second or early third century, when it would have been used by Judeo-Christians who, if not directly related to the Holy Family, likely remembered the spots where Joseph and Mary lived out their lives.²