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A map of ancient Galilee from the Historical Atlas by William Shepherd.

NAZARETH AT THE TIME OF JESUS

(draft edits)

Nazareth was a small town in Galilee, said to been the home of a carpenter named Joseph, Mary his wife, and their son Jesus. According to the Gospels, Jesus grew up in Nazareth, before leaving to preach his message to the people of Israel. Later, he returned to his hometown to teach in the Synagogue and survived an attempt by the townspeople to throw him off a cliff.

Nazareth is now a predominantly Arab city of about 60,000 people, the majority of them Muslim. Some scholars have speculated that Nazareth did not exist at the time of Jesus and therefore Jesus was a 'mythical being'. However, recent archaeological finds have challenged the Mythicist position.

History

The ancient hamlet of Nazareth was situated not far from Sea of Galilee near the major city of Sepphoris. Built on a rocky ridge, archaeologists estimate that the Nazareth of Jesus' time occupied some 60 acres. It is clear from the Gospels and the Book of Acts that Nazareth was an important site to early Christians. When Constantine the Great made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire he appointed his mother, Augusta Imperatrix. In the year 326, she received unlimited access to the imperial treasury, in order that she may travel to Holy Land to locate sites and relics of Judeo-Christian tradition. It was Helena who constructed the first shrine in Nazareth.

During the Islamic takeover of the Holy land, Christian sites suffered much. However Nazareth's Christian status was restored by the Crusaders in 1099 and later made the seat of the Bishopric of Beth Shan. Then Saladin defeated the Crusaders at the nearby Horns of Hattin. Nazareth was later occupied by Frederick II, the Turks in 1517 and in 1620 the Franciscans became guardians of the holy places throughout the Nazareth. The British recaptured town from the Turks in 1918 and it was finally given to the modern day state of state of Israel.

Mythicist position

The small town of Nazareth is not mentioned in Old Testament literature, nor Josephus, nor in the Talmud. This has led some scholars take the position that Nazareth was "invented" and never really existed at the time of Jesus. Mythicists believe that there is convincing archaeological evidence that the town of Nazareth was not settled until after the First Jewish War (i.e. after the year 70). Furthermore, exhaustive revaluation of the artifacts from the Nazareth Plateau shows that there was no "continuous habitation" and this core element of the Jesus myth was an invention of the Evangelists who wrote their Gospels at the end of the First Century.

A study of archaeological record from the Stone Age until modern times, exposes the scandalous history of evidentiary suppression reaching back into Early Christian Times. By proving scientifically that Nazareth was uninhabited at the time Jesus, Mythicists strike the Achilles' heel of the Christ Myth. We know the Wizard of Oz is not real, since we know there never was a Land of Oz. Because of exhaustive archaeological investigation, we now know that Jesus was Mythical being.

Excavation

Other scholars believe the “mythicist” argument that Nazareth did not exist in NT times is little more than "Pseudo-scholarship". Almost one year after renowned mythicist René Salm published his ground breaking work, The Myth Of Nazareth: The Invented Town Of Jesus, Israeli archaeologists made a stunning announcement. In possibly the most significant discovery of this century, archaeologists believe they have uncovered the childhood home of Jesus Christ. Located beneath the Sisters of Nazareth Convent in Nazareth, this ancient Jewish dwelling actually dates back to the first century.

Historians are excited about the opportunity to study the early life of Jesus. The excavated house was cut out of a limestone hillside. It made up of simple mortar and stone walls and was complete with a first-century courtyard, a number of rooms, doors, windows and the remains of a staircase. Broken cooking pots, a spindle whorl and numerous limestone artifacts have been recovered. Archaeologists conclude that the house was inhabited by Jews for those in the Jewish community preferred using limestone utensils as they considered limestone to be a "pure" material.

The dig at Nazareth has produced substantial archaeological evidence which establishes that this site in Nazareth is where Jesus transitioned from a boy to a man. Because the house, which was cut into the "rocky hillside" has been decorated with mosaics and tributes by the Byzantine Empire who said it was the home of Jesus, there is "no good archaeological reason" to discredit this archaeological find. Although archaeologists never be 100% sure that this was the actual house of Jesus Christ the inscription 'De Locus Sanctis' is of significance, as is the fact that the house was protected by both the Byzantine and Crusader Christians, showing its historical importance.

What the excavations have proven is that Nazareth most certainly did exist at the time of Jesus. Ongoing archaeological work in Nazareth has revealed extraordinary "evidence of stone masonry and viticulture". The absence of references in ancient Jewish literature simply indicates the insignificance and smallness of this community, as reflected in the unflattering question "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (See John 1:46). Modern scholars believe Nazareth was overshadowed by the larger city Sepphoris nearby. Although the extent of archaeological investigation is still quite limited, all indications suggest that Nazareth of New Testament times was an active and productive center, whose inhabitants had little need to seek employment in outlying areas.

Summary

Mythicists have long argued that the entire New Testament is a work of fiction and Jesus was a mythical being. Central to this argument was the "fact" that Nazareth never existed. The archaeological discoveries at Nazareth have challenged this position. The debate is ongoing as the archaeological dig is a work in progress.