The place is now located by almost everyone in the area of mines and rubble of tell Hum, in which the remains of a synagogue have been excavated. The data of the Gospels also point to that region, located just 5 km west of the mouth of the Jordan in Lake Genesaret.
Jesus, “leaving Nazareth, went to live in Capernaum, the maritime city, on the border of Zebulun and Naphtali” (Mat 4:13); the territory of the tribe of Zebulun was on the western shore of the lake of Galilee. Since Jesus made his residence there, Capernaum is † œhis city † (Mat 9: 1), with an expression that is not to be interpreted in an affective sense but merely administratively.
The northwestern shore of the lake was also the territory of Capernaum, if it was Tell Hum. The vocation of the tax collector Levi/Matthew (Matt 9:9) points to that northwestern shore, because the Jordan River, which flows into the lake there, formed the border between the territory of Herod Antipas and that of Philip. Also the presence of a small garrison, referred to by the “centurion of Capernaum” (Mat 8:15), highlights the character of the border region.
This centurion, perhaps a Greek in the service of Heredes Antipas, had built a synagogue for the Jews of Capernaum (Luke 7:5). The now visible remains of the synagogue undoubtedly come from a construction around the year 200 AD; but some Israeli archaeologists think that the foundations would be from the synagogue mentioned in Luk 7:5; they would be the foundation of the synagogue in which Jesus frequently taught.
Capernaum was the place of residence of Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, both from Bethsaida.
Although Capernaum was the residential city of Jesus and the geographical center of a good part of his ministry, the truth is that in the city he made few followers (Mat 11:23). The place must have been very small at the time, and perhaps had from a thousand to two thousand inhabitants. But in later times (around AD 200) it must have grown. It is difficult to say whether or not its population participated in the two Jewish wars against Rome (AD 66-73 and 135); their settlement around 200, which included an expensive synagogue for that time, suggests that they did not take up arms. And it is possible that there, in a frontier place oriented to economic profit, both in the time of Jesus and in the time of the Jewish wars against Rome, it was the same reason that kept the inhabitants away from the messianic proclamations of Jesus, for one part, as of national wars, on the other. So the expulsion edict of 135 AD would not have affected the inhabitants of Capernaum and would have made the city a marginal enclave of Palestinian Judaism, which — as far as we know — forged some of its kind, especially in Galilee.
Capernaum lay on the northern edge of the plain of Gennesaret. She is not mentioned in the OT. Its name means: “village of Nahúm,” without this Nahúm being known to us.
Source: Dictionary of Bible Geography
(See CAPERNAUM)
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
City on the banks of the Genezareth, north of the lake. In it, according to the Gospel, Jesus fixed his residence (Mt. 9.1.).
It was a place of some importance: it had a synagogue (Mt. 8.15 and Lk. 7.1), it had a Roman garrison, Peter had his house there, and there the legal tribute to Jesus was claimed (Mt. 17. 23). In its surroundings, Jesus performed various miracles (Lk. 4. 23; Jn. 4.46; Mc. 2.1) One of the caravan routes ended there. The population was very diverse and is estimated at about 2,000 inhabitants. In that context, Jesus could pass more unnoticed than in Nazareth.
The data that archeology has obtained from the town in the first part of the 1st century is enough to think about what it was like and how people lived in it, and what the synagogue in which Jesus spoke should have been more or less like.
Pedro Chico González, Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy, Editorial Bruño, Lima, Peru 2006
Source: Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy
DJN
A
City of Galilee, belonging to the tetrarchy of -> Herod Antipas, which is located in the northwest corner of the shores of Lake Genesaret or Sea of Galilee. It is already a border city, whose territory adjoined the Tetrarchy of Philip, from which it was separated by the course of the Upper Jordan. Its etymology (Kfar Nahúm) refers to the farm or farmstead of an individual named Nahúm. The city is mentioned in Flavio Josefo and numerous times in the four gospels, which consider it to be the city of Jesus (Mt 9, 1), base of operations and starting point for his evangelizing journeys throughout the north of the country. It was a rather small city and, unlike the great Galilean cities such as Sephoris and Tiberias, its population must have been for the most part of Jewish origin and religion. However, the fact that it was a border town meant the existence of numerous tax collectors (publicans), preferably in charge of collecting taxes that entered the small autonomous state of Antipas through that important border. And there was also a garrison of mercenary soldiers belonging to the tetrarch’s army, whose captain (centurion) must also have been in charge of naval surveillance in that conflictive sector of the lake. In the Gospels reference is made both to such publicans, among whom Jesus chose one of his disciples (Mt 9, 9, Mk 2, 14; Lk 5, 27), as well as to the aforementioned centurion (Mt 8, 5-13; Lk 7, 1-10). But it was the fishermen who occupied a very prominent place among the population of the city. Capernaum, like Bethsaida, was located in the richest fishing area of the entire lake, where good and abundant catches were obtained, especially in winter; hence the importance of its port and its fishing fleet. The gospels expressly tell us about two families, whose components were dedicated to the fishing business. That of Pedro and Andrés, who, although originally from Bethsaida, had settled in Capernaum (Mt 8, 14; Mk 1, 29-31; Lk 4, 38) and that of Zebedeo, whose sons Santiago and Juan were also called as disciples of Jesus (Mt 4, 21-22; Mk 1, 19-20). Zebedee had at least one ship of his own and laborers working for him, in addition to his children; Peter would also have his own boat according to the Gospel of Luke (Lk 5, 1-11; Cf. Jn 21, 1-13).
The archaeological excavations in Capernaum, only started at the beginning of the 20th century by K. Watzinger, W. von Meneden and Fr. Orfali, have been carried out by the Franciscan Biblical study of Jerusalem between 1969 and 1985, under the direction of V. Corbo and S. Loffreda. From them it is deduced that there was already a settlement there in the Middle Bronze around the first half of the II millennium BC. C. In Persian times, around the 5th century BC. C., the place is inhabited again, until in the Hellenistic period, around the 1st century a. C., the construction of the city that Jesus knew begins. From what we know so far, Capernaum occupied an area of about 6 ha. and its population would probably not exceed 5,000 inhabitants. It had a regular layout with straight and perpendicular streets, among which the “main street” cardo maximus stands out, which headed towards the lake passing next to an important synagogue and two blocks of large houses (insulae) with interior patios and numerous rooms, although probably single-storey. To the left of the were smaller houses with shops facing the street (tabernae). The houses are made of black basalt stone, generally without plaster, and the floors are usually paved. The windows in series are characteristic, typical of the Galilean houses of the time, intended for greater ventilation of the rooms in a hot climate such as that of the lake shores. The roofs in most cases must have been made of renewable plant elements (trunks, branches…), perhaps mixed with hardened earth. The abundance of hand mills for grain, as well as oil presses, indicate the existence in the city of industrial or craft activities derived from agriculture.
The most outstanding building among the ruins of the city is, without a doubt, the synagogue, called “White Synagogue” because of the tonality of the limestone in which it is built, which contrasts vividly with the black stone of the other constructions. . It is a building of almost 800 m2 built on a platform or podium. Inside there is a row of 16 tall columns, with beautiful Corinthian capitals, which form a “U” in plan with the opening towards the main door. This is facing south, it is. say, towards Jerusalem. The building also has two smaller doors on the same façade, which communicate directly with the side “naves” caused by the column structure. The interior side walls feature continuous double-tiered benches all along. At the northwest end there is a square-shaped room that communicates with the great hall, and on the eastern side there is a large adjoining patio, with a 13-column porch, used as a synagogue school. The great synagogue was splendidly decorated with plant motifs on its pediments and cornices. Its construction apparently dates from the 4th century AD. C., while the synagogue school must be a later century. Excavations have shown that the white synagogue was built on the ruins of a “black synagogue” in basalt, more modest but with similar characteristics and dimensions. It is not certain whether this black synagogue or one of even older chronology belongs to a large tiled floor dating back to the 1st century AD. C. and that in any case would correspond to the synagogue that is repeatedly spoken of in the Gospels, and that, according to Luke, was built under the patronage of the captain of the military garrison (Lk 7, 5). At a deeper archaeological level, the ruins of a block of houses have appeared, similar to the others discovered in the vicinity, dating from the 1st century BC. C., which had to be demolished to build the first synagogue.
The other notable building, discovered after excavations, belongs to a Christian basilica from the 5th century, with an octagonal floor plan and mosaic floors, the most important of which has in its center the figure of a peacock, a symbol of immortality. This basilica, which is already mentioned in the 6th century by the Pilgrim of Piacenza identified with what was once Peter’s house, was built on the ruins of an ecclesiae resulting from the progressive adaptation of one of the rooms of the old house that it was found there and that it was similar to the one that archaeologists have called “insula II” (between that one and the synagogue). The walls of that room and the floors were repeatedly plastered, covering the basalt stones. The walls preserve traces of painting of plant motifs, as well as numerous with reverential allusions to Jesus,…