CAPERNAUM

CAPERNAUM, ancient village on the N.W. shore of the sea of Galilee. Its name is derived from the Hebrew Kefar ("village of") Naḥum (an unknown personage). It is first mentioned by josephus as a village on his line of advance toward the issue of the Jordan into the Sea of Galilee and is described by him as "a highly fertile spring called by the inhabitants Capharnaum" (Wars, 3:519–20). In the New Testament it appears as the place of residence chosen by Jesus on the shore of the lake and it is sometimes even termed "his own city" (Matt. 4:13; 9:1), and it is also stated that he preached in the synagogue of Capernaum one Sabbath (Mark 1:21; John 6:59). It was the seat of a Plan of the Capernaum synagogue, third century C.E. E.L. Sukenik, Ancient Synagogues in Palestine and Greece, London, 1934. Plan of the Capernaum synagogue, third century C.E. E.L. Sukenik, Ancient Synagogues in Palestine and Greece, London, 1934.   customs house (Matt. 9:9) and at least five of the apostles, including the very first ones, were fishermen from Capernaum. Although Jesus in the end reproved the people of Capernaum for their lack of belief (Matt. 11:23; Luke 10:15), a Judeo-Christian community continued there into talmudic times (Eccles. R. 1:8). Capernaum is identified with a ruin called Tell Ḥm in Arabic. Remains of a synagogue were excavated there by H. Kohl and C. Watzinger in 1905; it was entirely cleared and partly restored by the Franciscan fathers who own the site. Dating from the late second or early third century, it is one of the best preserved Galilean synagogues of the early type. The synagogue measures 360 sq. m. (c. 3,240 sq. ft.) and consists of a main basilica-shaped hall with one large and two small entrances in the facade which faces south toward Jerusalem. The facade is ornately decorated: above the main entrance is a large semicircular window with a sculptured frieze running round it. The base of the triangular gable is arched in the "Syrian" style. The hall contains two parallel rows of columns along its length and one transverse row, and stone benches along the walls. The interior is undecorated and no evidence was found of a fixed Torah ark. Steps outside the building led to an upper gallery (probably for women worshipers). The wall of the gallery was adorned with an elaborate stone frieze depicting symbols of the plants of the Holy Land, Jewish religious symbols, including the Tabernacle, menorah, and Torah ark, and magic symbols such as the pentagram and hexagram. A colonnaded court with porches east of the hall probably served as a guest house. Excavations in 1978–87 revealed a Roman Bath house of the "corridor" type and excavations in 1998 found cist graves belonging to the necropolis. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Kohl and C. Watzinger, Antike Synagogen in Galilaea (1916), 4ff.; G. Orfali, Capharnaum et ses ruines (1922); Goodenough, Symbols, 1 (1953), 181–92. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Negev and S. Gibson, Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land (20012). (Michael Avi-Yonah)