PRI: Public Radio International

Archaeologists in Israel discover synagogue dating from time of Jesus

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 10:30:00 -0600

In a bid to construct a hotel and church for a Christian priest, archaeologists in Israel may have made a major discovery. As they dug, they came across the remains of a synagogue, one thousands of years old with potential implications for Judaism and Christianity.

paul

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 11:43:30 -0600

Nazereth did not exist until the third century. All censuses ,records and archaeology agree. Christianity started later....long after the fictional Jesus as Judaism started long after a fictional Moses.

Sol

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 12:14:51 -0600

Neat!

Mike

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 17:35:17 -0600

paul, are you claiming Christianity started after the third century? If so that is quite a claim that is easily refuted.

Joshua

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 17:37:08 -0600

http://www.doxa.ws/Jesus_pages/Nazareth1.html

This link disproves the notion that Nazareth didn't somehow exist during the time of Christ. Typical straw-man Paul.

Nic

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:50:33 -0600

Source?

Bootman

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 22:37:20 -0600

You are incorrect. All censuses ,records and archaeology, including Roman and Jewish sources (e.g. the writings of Tacitus and Josephus) agree that Christianity originated as a Jewish sect in the mid-1st century.

Also, archaeological findings in Nazareth date back to the early Roman period, though it is generally thought to have been a small settlement at the time.

nimuex

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 22:57:02 -0600

This is a truly fascinating discovery. Thank you for bringing this spectacular find to the Worlds attention.

- hope this synagogue will prove to bé a great blessing for your tourism project. Thank you

to paul

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 02:38:36 -0600

Wikipedia:
James F. Strange, an American archaeologist, notes: “Nazareth is not mentioned in ancient Jewish sources earlier than the third century AD. This likely reflects its lack of prominence both in Galilee and in Judaea.” Strange originally calculated the population of Nazareth at the time of Christ to be "roughly 1,600 to 2,000 people" but, in a subsequent publication, revised this figure down to “a maximum of about 480.” In 2009 Israeli archaeologist Yardenna Alexandre excavated archaeological remains in Nazareth that might date to the time of Jesus in the early Roman period. Alexandre told reporters, "The discovery is of the utmost importance since it reveals for the very first time a house from the Jewish village of Nazareth."

Ryan

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 04:39:01 -0600

Paul,
The Hittites were considered Bible fiction by higher criticism until, voilà, they were 'discovered.' All scholars agree that the New Testament was written before 300 CE. So, Nazareth was there, no doubt about it.

paul

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 19:53:34 -0600

All the answers to the ridiculous assertions above are at the jesusneverexisted.website.

meshell

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 22:03:54 -0600

Paul, don't make any changes to Wikipedia please. Your facts are ignorant, do a bit more research.

Thomas

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 08:03:53 -0600

jesusneverexisted finds it remarkable that Nazareth is not found on the road map of the Roman empire in Byzantine times!

Never mind that the Tabula Peutingeriana does not list Tzippori (Sepphoris) either, a well-laid out city nearby. As far as I can see, it mentions only two places in the province of Palaestina Secunda, namely Tiberias and Beth-Shean. (Alongside are Caesarea Philippi north of the province and Maximianopolis and Nablus to the south.)

The saying relayed in John’s Gospel, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” suggests that Nazareth was a small and insignificant place which we would not expect to leave many traces.

The place may have hosted only one farm although this would of course not mean that only a farmer, his wife and four children lived in Nazareth. jesusneverexisted does not mention a single archaeologist who questions Stephen Pfann’s estimate that two or three clans lived there in 35 homes spread over 2.5 hectares.

Rhos henke

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 08:59:55 -0600

I thought that nazerath was in PALESTINE

Thomas

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 06:32:22 -0600

Palestine was sub-divided into two provinces in Byzantine times. Nazareth belonged to Palaestina Secunda. Maximianopolis and Nablus were in Palaestina Prima.

Thomas

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 07:54:15 -0600

Correcting myself. There was a third Palestinian province - Palaestina Salutaris, south of Beersheba. Not that it matters much. The Galilee was in Palaestina II along with Transjordanian lands, bordering Phoenicia.

The point is that there were most likely some 200 Galilean villages and towns at the time of Jesus, only two of which make it onto the road map of the whole Roman empire in Byzantine times - for understandable reasons. There is no reason whatsoever to expect Nazareth to get a mention on the Tabula Peutingeriana. And in any case, surely not even René Salm claims that Nazareth did not exist in Byzantine times.

Paul Seligman

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 17:29:15 -0600

BIU

If the Beit Hamichdash was still orking as the article says Christianity was either not in existence or it was in its infant stage because the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.Many of the Gospels were believed to have been written after 70AD.