Nazareth[a] is the largestcity in theNorthern District ofIsrael. In 2023 its population was 77,208.[1] Known as "the Arab capital of Israel",[2] Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and commercial center for theArab citizens of Israel.[3] The inhabitants are predominantly Arabs, of whom 69% areMuslim and 31%Christian.[2][4][5][6] The city also commands immense religious significance, deriving from its status as the hometown ofJesus, the central figure ofChristianity and a prophet inIslam and theBaháʼí Faith.
Findings unearthed in the neighboringQafzeh Cave show that the area around Nazareth was populated in the prehistoric period. Nazareth was aJewish village during theRoman andByzantine periods, and is described in theNew Testament as the childhood home of Jesus.[7] It became an important city during theCrusades afterTancred established it as the capital of thePrincipality of Galilee. The city declined underMamluk rule, and following theOttoman conquest, the city's Christian residents were expelled, only to return onceFakhr ad-Dīn II granted them permission to do so.[8] In the 18th century,Zahir al-Umar transformed Nazareth into a large town by encouraging immigration to it. The city grew steadily during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when European powers invested in the construction of churches, monasteries, educational and health facilities.
One view holds that the name 'Nazareth' is derived from one of the Hebrew words for 'branch', namelyne·ṣer,נֵ֫צֶר,[b] and alludes to the prophetic, messianic words inBook of Isaiah 11:1: "from (Jesse's) roots a Branch [netzer] will bear fruit".[9] One view suggests thistoponym might be an example of a tribal name used by resettling groups on their return from exile.[10] Alternatively, the name may derive from the verbna·ṣar,נָצַר, 'watch, guard, keep",[11] and understood either in the sense of 'watchtower' or 'guard place', implying the early town was perched on or near the brow of the hill, or, in the passive sense as 'preserved, protected' in reference to its secluded position.[12] The negative references to Nazareth in theGospel of John suggest that ancient Jews did not connect the town's name to prophecy.[13]
GreekNazara
Another theory holds that the Greek formΝαζαρά (Nazará), used in theGospel of Matthew andGospel of Luke, may derive from an earlierAramaic form of the name, or from anotherSemitic language form.[14] If there were atsade (צ) in the original Semitic form, as in the later Hebrew forms, it would normally have been transcribed in Greek with asigma (σ) instead of azeta (ζ).[15] This has led some scholars to question whether "Nazareth" and its cognates in the New Testament actually refer to the settlement known traditionally as Nazareth in LowerGalilee.[16] Such linguistic discrepancies may be explained, however, by "a peculiarity of the 'Palestinian' Aramaic dialect wherein a sade (ṣ) between two voiced (sonant) consonants tended to be partially assimilated by taking on a zayin (z) sound".[15]
Arabican-Nāṣira
The Arabic name for Nazareth isan-Nāṣira, and Jesus (Arabic:يَسُوع,romanized: Yasū') is also calledan-Nāṣirī, reflecting the Arab tradition of according people anattribution, a name denoting whence a person comes in either geographical or tribal terms. In theQur'an, Christians are referred to asnaṣārā, meaning "followers ofan-Nāṣirī", or "those who follow Jesus of Nazareth".[17]
New Testament references
In the Gospel of Luke, Nazareth is first described as "a town of Galilee" and home ofMary.[18] Following the birth and early epiphanial events of chapter 2 of Luke, Mary,Joseph and Jesus "returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth".[19]
The phrase "Jesus of Nazareth" appears seventeen times in English translations of the New Testament, whereas the Greek original contains the form "Jesus theNazarēnos" or "Jesus theNazōraios."[c] One plausible view is thatNazōraios (Ναζωραῖος) is a normal Greek adaptation of a reconstructed, hypothetical term inJewish Aramaic for the word later used in Rabbinical sources to refer to Jesus.[d] "Nazaréth" is named twelve times in surviving Greek manuscript versions of the New Testament, 10 times asNazaréth orNazarét,[22] and twice asNazará.[15] The latter two may retain the 'feminine' endings common in Galilean toponyms.[15] The minor variants,Nazarat andNazarath are also attested.[e]Nazara (Ναζαρά) might be the earliest form of the name in Greek, going back to the putativeQ document. It is found in Matthew 4:13[24] and Luke 4:16.[25][15][dubious –discuss] However, theTextus Receptus clearly translates all passages asNazara, leaving little room for debate there.[26]
Many scholars have questioned a link between "Nazareth" and the terms "Nazarene" and "Nazoraean" on linguistic grounds,[27] while some affirm the possibility of etymological relation "given the idiosyncrasies ofGalilean Aramaic."[28]
The formNazara is also found in the earliest non-scriptural reference to the town, a citation bySextus Julius Africanus dated about AD 221[29] (see "Middle Roman to Byzantine Periods" below). The Church FatherOrigen (c. AD 185 to 254) knows the formsNazará andNazarét.[30] Later,Eusebius in hisOnomasticon (translated bySt. Jerome) also refers to the settlement asNazara.[31] Thenașirutha of the scriptures of theMandeans refers to "priestly craft", not to Nazareth, which they identified withQom.[32]
The first non-Christian reference to Nazareth is an inscription on a marble fragment from asynagogue found inCaesarea Maritima in 1962.[33] This fragment gives the town's name in Hebrew as נצרת (n-ṣ-r-t). The inscription dates to c. AD 300 and chronicles the assignment of priests that took place at some time after theBar Kokhba revolt, AD 132–35.[34] (See "Middle Roman to Byzantine Periods" below.) An 8th-century AD Hebrew inscription, which was the earliest known Hebrew reference to Nazareth prior to the discovery of the inscription above, uses the same form.[15]
Around 331, Eusebius records that, from the name Nazareth, Christ was called a Nazoraean, and that, in earlier centuries, Christians were once called Nazarenes.[35]Tertullian (Against Marcion 4:8) records that "for this reason the Jews call us 'Nazarenes'." In the New Testament Christians are called "Christians" three times (in Acts 11:26; 26:28; and 1 Peter 4:16), but never directly by the Apostle Paul. They are called "Nazarenes" once byTertullus, a Jewish lawyer. The Rabbinic and modern Hebrew name for Christians,notzrim, is also thought to derive from Nazareth, and be connected with Tertullus' charge against Paul of being a member of the sect of theNazarenes,Nazoraioi, "men of Nazareth" in Acts. Against this, some medieval Jewish polemical texts connectnotzrim with thenetsarim "watchmen" of Ephraim in Jeremiah 31:6. In Syriac AramaicNasrath (ܢܨܪܬ) is used for Nazareth, while "Nazarenes" (Acts 24:5) and "of Nazareth" are bothNasrani orNasraya (ܕܢܨܪܝܐ) an adjectival form.[36][37][38]Nasrani is used in the Quran for Christians, and inModern Standard Arabic may refer more widely to Western people.[39]Saint Thomas Christians, an ancient community of Christians inIndia who trace their origins to evangelistic activity ofThomas the Apostle in the 1st century, are sometimes known by the name "Nasrani" even today.[40][41]
History
Stone Age
Archaeological researchers[who?] have revealed that a funerary and cult center atKfar HaHoresh, about two miles (3.2 km) from current Nazareth, dates back roughly 9,000 years to thePre-Pottery Neolithic B era.[42] The remains of some 65 individuals were found, buried under huge horizontal headstone structures, some of which consisted of up to 3 tons of locally produced white plaster. Decorated human skulls uncovered there have led archaeologists to identify Kfar HaHoresh as a major cult centre in that era.[43]
Bronze and Iron Age
The Franciscan priestBellarmino Bagatti, "Director of Christian Archaeology", carried out extensive excavation of this "Venerated Area" from 1955 to 1965. Fr. Bagatti uncovered pottery dating from theMiddle Bronze Age (2200 to 1500 BC) and ceramics, silos and grinding mills from theIron Age (1500 to 586 BC) which indicated substantial settlement in the Nazareth basin at that time.
Archaeological evidence shows that Nazareth was occupied during the late Hellenistic period, through the Roman period and into the Byzantine period.[44][45]
According to theGospel of Luke, Nazareth was the home village of Mary as well as the site of theAnnunciation (when the angelGabriel informed Mary that she would give birth to Jesus). According to theGospel of Matthew, Joseph and Mary resettled in Nazareth after returning from theflight from Bethlehem to Egypt. According to the Bible, Jesus grew up in Nazareth from some point in his childhood. However, some modern scholars also regard Nazareth as the birthplace of the historical Jesus.[46]
AHebrew inscription found inCaesarea dating to the late 3rd or early 4th century mentions Nazareth as the home of thepriestly Hapizzez/Hafizaz family after theBar Kokhba revolt (AD 132–135).[47][48] From the three fragments that have been found, the inscription seems to be a list of the twenty-four priestly courses,[49] with each course (or family) assigned its proper order and the name of each town or village inGalilee where it settled. Nazareth is not spelled with the "z" sound but with the Hebrewtsade (thus "Nasareth" or "Natsareth").[50]Eleazar Kalir (a Hebrew Galilean poet variously dated from the 6th to 10th century) mentions a locality clearly in the Nazareth region bearing the name Nazareth נצרת (in this case vocalized "Nitzrat"), which was home to the descendants of the 18thKohen family Happitzetz (הפצץ), for at least several centuries after theBar Kochva revolt.[citation needed]
Although it is mentioned in the New Testament gospels, there are no extant non-biblical references to Nazareth until around AD 200, whenSextus Julius Africanus, cited by Eusebius (Church History 1.7.14), speaks of Nazara as a village in Judea and locates it near Cochaba (modern-dayKaukab).[51] In the same passage Africanus writes ofdesposunoi – relatives of Jesus – who he claimskept the records of their descent with great care.Ken Dark describes the view that Nazareth did not exist in Jesus's time as "archaeologically unsupportable".[52]
James F. Strange, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Florida,[53] 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."[54] Strange originally calculated the population of Nazareth at the time of Christ as "roughly 1,600 to 2,000 people" but, in a subsequent publication that followed more than a decade of additional research, revised this figure down to "a maximum of about 480."[55] In 2009, Israeli archaeologist Yardenna Alexandre excavated archaeological remains in Nazareth that 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."[56][57][44]
Other sources state that during Jesus' time, Nazareth had a population of 400 and one public bath, which was important for civic and religious purposes, as amikva.[58]
Crusader-era carving in Nazareth
A tablet at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, dating to AD 50, was sent from Nazareth to Paris in 1878. It contains an inscription known as the "Ordinance of Caesar" that outlines the penalty of death for those who violate tombs or graves. However, it is suspected that this inscription came to Nazareth from somewhere else (possiblySepphoris). Bagatti writes: "we are not certain that it was found in Nazareth, even though it came from Nazareth to Paris. At Nazareth there lived various vendors of antiquities who got ancient material from several places."[59] C. Kopp is more definite: "It must be accepted with certainty that [the Ordinance of Caesar]... was brought to the Nazareth market by outside merchants."[60]Princeton University archaeologist Jack Finnegan describes additional archaeological evidence related to settlement in the Nazareth basin during theBronze andIron Ages, and states that "Nazareth was a stronglyJewish settlement in theRoman period."[61]
Some scholars believedJesus, a native of Nazareth, was influenced byCynicism,[64][65] which was popular in Hellenized Galilean cities such asGadara.[66]
The Christian monk and Bible translatorJerome, writing at the beginning of the 5th century, says Nazareth was aviculus or mere village.[71]
In the 6th century, religious narrations from local Christians about theVirgin Mary began to spark interest in the site among pilgrims, who founded the first church at the location of the currentGreek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation at the site of a freshwater spring, today known asMary's Well. Around 570, theAnonymous of Piacenza reports travelling fromSepphoris to Nazareth. There he records seeing in the Jewish synagogue the books from which Jesus learnt his letters, and a bench where he sat. According to him, Christians could lift it, but Jews could not, since it disallowed them from dragging it outside.[72] Writing of the beauty of the Hebrew women there, he records them saying St. Mary was a relative of theirs, and notes that, "The house of St. Mary is a basilica."[73] Constantine the Great ordered that churches be built in Jewish cities, and Nazareth was one of the places designated for this purpose, although construction of churches apparently only started decades after Constantine's death, i.e. after 352.[74]
Archaeologists have unearthed evidence that previous to the erection of the Byzantine-period church at the site of Mary's house in the mid-5th century, Judeo-Christians had built there a synagogue-church, leaving behind Judeo-Christian symbols.[47] Until being expelled in c. 630, Jews probably kept on using their older synagogue, while the Judeo-Christian needed to build their own, probably at the site of Mary's house.[47]
The Jewish town profited from the Christian pilgrim trade which began in the 4th century AD, but latent anti-Christian hostility broke out in AD 614 when thePersians invaded Palestine.[71] The Christian Byzantine author Eutychius claimed that Jewish people of Nazareth helped the Persians carry out their slaughter of the Christians.[71] When theByzantine or Eastern Roman emperorHeraclius ejected the Persians in AD 629–630, he expelled the Jews from the village, turning it all-Christian.[74]
Early Muslim period
TheArab Muslim invasion of AD 638 had no immediate impact on the Christians of Nazareth and their churches, since BishopArculf remembered seeing there around 670 two churches, one at the house of Joseph where Jesus had lived as a child, and one at the house of Mary where she received the Annunciation – but no synagogue, which had possibly been transformed into a mosque.[74] The 721iconoclastic edict ofCaliphYazid II apparently led to the destruction of the former church, so that Willibald found during his pilgrimage in 724–26 only one church there, the one dedicated to St. Mary, which Christians had to save through repeated payments from destruction by the "pagan Saracens" (Muslim Arabs).[75] The ruins of St. Joseph's remained untouched for a very long time, while the Church St. Mary is repeatedly mentioned throughout the following centuries, including by anArab geographer in 943.[76]
In 1099, the CrusaderTancred captured Galilee and established his capital in Nazareth. He was the ruler of thePrincipality of Galilee, which was established, at least in name, in 1099, as avassal of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Later, in 1115, Nazareth was created as aseigneury within the principality. A Martin of Nazareth, who probably acted as viscount of Nazareth, is documented in 1115 and in 1130/1131.[77] Nazareth was the original site of the Latin Patriarch, also established by Tancred. The ancient diocese ofScythopolis was relocated under theArchbishop of Nazareth, as one of the four archdioceses in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. When the town returned to Muslim control in 1187 following the victory ofSaladin in theBattle of Hattin, the remaining Crusaders and European clergy were forced to leave town.[78]Frederick II managed to negotiate safe passage for pilgrims from Acre in 1229, and in 1251,Louis IX, the king of France, attended mass in the grotto, accompanied by his wife.[78]
Mamluk period
In 1263,Baybars, theMamluk Sultan, destroyed the Christian buildings in Nazareth and declared the site off-limits to Latin clergy, as part of his bid to drive out the remaining Crusaders from Palestine.[78] While Arab Christian families continued to live in Nazareth, its status was reduced to that of a poor village. Pilgrims who visited the site in 1294 reported only a small church protecting thegrotto.[78] In the 14th century, Franciscan friars were permitted to return and live within the ruins of the basilica.[78]
In 1584 the Franciscan friars were evicted again from the site of the ruined basilica.[78] In 1620,Fakhr-al-Din II, aDruzeemir who controlled this part ofOttoman Syria, permitted them to build a small church at theGrotto of the Annunciation. Pilgrimage tours to surrounding sacred sites were organised by the Franciscans, but the monks suffered harassment from surroundingBedouin tribes who often kidnapped them for ransom.[78]
Stability returned with the rule ofZahir al-Umar, a powerful Arabsheikh who ruled theGalilee, and later much of theLevantine coast and Palestine. He transformed Nazareth from a minor village into a large town by encouraging immigration to it. Nazareth played a strategic role in Zahir'ssheikhdom because it allowed him to wield control over the agricultural areas of central Galilee.[79] He ensured Nazareth's security for other reasons as well, among them strengthening ties withFrance by protecting the Christian community and protecting one of his wives who resided in Nazareth.[80]
Zahir authorized the Franciscans to build a church in 1730. That structure stood until 1955, when it was demolished to make way for a larger building completed in 1967.[78] He also permitted the Franciscans to purchase theSynagogue Church in 1741 and authorized the Greek Orthodox community to buildSt. Gabriel's Church in 1767.[80] Zahir commissioned the construction of a government house known as theSeraya, which served as the city's municipal headquarters until 1991. His descendants—known as the "Dhawahri"—along with the Zu'bi, Fahum, and 'Onassah families later constituted Nazareth's traditional Muslim elite.[81]
Nazareth's Christian community did not fare well under Zahir's Ottoman successor,Jazzar Pasha (r. 1776–1804), and friction increased between its Christians and Muslim peasants from the surrounding villages.[82] Nazareth was temporarily captured by the troops ofNapoleon Bonaparte in 1799, during hisSyrian campaign. Napoleon visited the holy sites and considered appointing his generalJean-Andoche Junot as the duke of Nazareth.[78] During the rule of GovernorIbrahim Pasha of Egypt (1830–1840) over much ofOttoman Syria, Nazareth was opened to European missionaries and traders. After the Ottomans regained control, European money continued to flow into Nazareth and new institutions were established. The Christians of Nazareth were protected during themassacres of 1860 byAqil Agha, the Bedouin leader who exercised control over the Galilee between 1845 and 1870.[78]
Kaloost Vartan, anArmenian fromIstanbul, arrived in 1864 and established the first medical mission in Nazareth, the Scottish "hospital on the hill", orthe Nazareth Hospital as it is known today, with sponsorship from theEdinburgh Medical Missionary Society. The Ottoman Sultan, who favored the French, allowed them to establish an orphanage, the Society of Saint Francis de Sale. By the late 19th century, Nazareth was a town with a strong Arab Christian presence and a growing European community, where a number of communal projects were undertaken and new religious buildings were erected.[78] In 1871 Christ Church, the city's only Anglican church, was completed under the leadership of the RevJohn Zeller and consecrated by BishopSamuel Gobat.[83]
In the late 19th century and the first years of the 20th century, Nazareth prospered as it served the role of a market center for the dozens of rural Arab villages located within its vicinity. Local peasants would purchase supplies from Nazareth's manysouks (open-air markets), which included separatesouks for agricultural produce, metalwork, jewelry and leathers.[84] In 1914, Nazareth consisted of eight quarters: 'Araq, Farah, Jami', Khanuq, Maidan, Mazazwa, Sharqiya and Shufani. There were nine churches, two monasteries, four convents, two mosques, four hospitals, four private schools, a public school, a police station, three orphanages, a hotel, three inns, a flour mill and eightsouks.[85] The Ottomans lost control of Palestine, including Nazareth, to theAllied Powers duringWorld War I. TheGreek Orthodox Patriarchate invested in properties that further anchored its landholdings in areas of Christian pilgrimage and demographic importance around Nazareth.[86]By then, Nazareth's importance had declined significantly as most of the Arab villages in theJezreel Valley had been replaced by newly establishedJewish communities.[84]
TheUnited Kingdom gained control of Palestine in 1917, the same year of theBalfour Declaration, which promised British support for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. In the years preceding and following the declaration, Jewish immigration to Palestine had been increasing. Representatives of Nazareth opposed theZionist movement, sending a delegation to the 1919First Palestine Arab Congress and issuing a letter of protest in 1920 that condemned the movement while also proclaiming solidarity with theJews of Palestine. Politically, Nazareth was becoming further involved in the growingPalestinian nationalist movement. In 1922, a Muslim-Christian Association was established in the town, largely sponsored by the Muslim al-Zu'bi family. A consistent and effective united Palestinian Arab religious front proved difficult to establish and alternative organizations such as theSupreme Muslim Council's Organization of Muslim Youth and the National Muslim Association were established in Nazareth later in the 1920s.[87] In 1922 there were 7,424 people (4,885 Christians, 2,486 Muslims and 53 Jews) living in Nazareth with 16 languages spoken (7,035Arabic, 135English, 72French, 43Hebrew, 42German, 20Armenian, 12Greek, 12Italian, fiveMaltese, fiveTurkish, fourPolish, threeYiddish, twoAbyssinian, twoMagyar, and twoSpanish).[88] Nazareth was relatively slow to modernize. While other towns already had wired electricity, Nazareth delayed its electrification until the 1930s and invested instead in improving its water supply system.[89] This included adding two reservoirs at the northwestern hills and several newcisterns.[87] By 1930, a church for the Baptist denomination, a municipal garden at Mary's Well and a police station based in Zahir al-Umar'sSeraya had been established and the Muslim Sharqiya Quarter had expanded.[84]
In the1931 census, Nazareth is listed with a population of 8,756 (5,445 Christians, 3,226 Muslims, 79 Jews, fiveBaha'i, and oneDruze) in 1,834 occupied houses with 138 (119 Muslims and 19 Christians) in nearby suburbs in 28 occupied houses.[90]
In the1936–1939 Arab Revolt, Nazareth played a minor role, contributing two rebel commanders out of 281 rebel commanders active in the country. The two were Nazareth native and ChristianFu'ad Nassar and Nazareth resident andIndur native Tawfiq al-Ibrahim. The nearby villages ofSaffuriya andal-Mujaydil played a more active military role, contributing nine commanders between them. The leaders of the revolt sought to use Nazareth as a staging ground to protest theBritish proposal to include theGalilee into a future Jewish state. On 26 September 1937, the British district commissioner of the Galilee,Lewis Yelland Andrews, was assassinated in Nazareth by local rebels.[91]
In the 1938 village statistics, Nazareth is listed with a population of 9,900 (including 100 Jews) with 161 in nearby suburbs.[92] In the 1945 village statistics, Nazareth is listed with a population of 14,200 (8,600 Christians and 5,600 Muslims).[93]
By 1946, the municipal boundary of Nazareth had been enlarged and new neighborhoods, namely Maidan, Maslakh, Khanuq and Nimsawi, were established. New homes were established in existing quarters and the town still had an abundance of orchards and agricultural fields. Two cigarette factories, a tobacco store, two cinemas and a tile factory had been established, significantly boosting Nazareth's economy.[84] A new police station was built on Nazareth's southernmost hill,[84] while the police station in the Seray had been converted into Nazareth's municipal headquarters. Watchtowers were also erected on some of the hilltops around the town. Other new or expanded government offices included a headquarters for the district commissioner at the former Ottoman military barracks, and offices for the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Survey and Settlement.[87]
Nazareth was in the territory allotted to the Arab state under the1947 UN Partition Plan. In the months leading up to the1948 Arab–Israeli War, the town became a refuge for Arab-Palestinians fleeing the urban centers ofTiberias,Haifa andBaysan before and during theHaganah'scapture of those cities on 18 April 22 April and 12 May 1948, respectively.[94]
Nazareth itself was not a field of battle during the 1948 War, which began on 15 May, before the first truce on 11 June, although some of the villagers had joined the loosely organized peasant military and paramilitary forces, and troops from theArab Liberation Army (ALA) had entered Nazareth on 9 July. The local defense of the town consisted of 200–300 militiamen distributed along the hills surrounding the town. The defense in the southern and western hills collapsed after Israeli shelling, while resistance in the northern hills had to contend with an incoming Israeli armored unit. Not long after the Israelis began shelling the local militiamen, Nazareth's police chief raised a white flag over the town's police station.[95]
Most of the fighting around Nazareth occurred in its satellite villages, particularly inSaffuriya, whose residents put up resistance until largely dispersing following Israeli air raids on 15 July.[96] During the ten days of fighting which occurred between the first and second truce, Nazareth capitulated to Israeli troops duringOperation Dekel on 16 July, after little more than token resistance. By then, morale among local militiamen was low and most refused to fight alongside the ALA because of their perceived weakness in the face of Israel's perceived military superiority and the alleged maltreatment of Christian residents and clergy by ALA volunteers. Seeking to prevent the town's destruction, the Muslim mayor of Nazareth, Yusef Fahum requested a halt to all resistance put up by Nazarenes.[95]
The surrender of Nazareth was formalized in a written agreement, whereby the town's leaders agreed to cease hostilities in return for promises from the Israeli officers, including brigade commanderBen Dunkelman (the leader of the operation), that no harm would come to the civilians of the town. Soon after the signing of the agreement, Dunkelman received an order from the Israeli GeneralChaim Laskov to forcibly evacuate the city's Arabs. He refused, remarking that he was 'shocked and horrified' that he would be commanded to renege on the agreement he, and also Chaim Laskov, had just signed. Twelve hours after defying his superior, he was relieved of his post, but not before obtaining assurances that the security of Nazareth's population would be guaranteed.David Ben-Gurion backed Dunkelman's judgement, fearing that expelling Christian Arabs might provoke an outcry throughout the Christian world.[97] By the end of the war, Nazareth's population saw a large influx of refugees from major urban centers and rural villages in the Galilee.[91]
1950s–1960s
View of modern Nazareth
In the first few years of its incorporation into Israel, Nazareth's affairs were dominated by the issues of land expropriation,internally displaced refugees and the hardships of martial law, which included curfews and travel restrictions. Efforts to resolve these issues were largely unsuccessful and led to frustration among the inhabitants, which in turn contributed to political agitation in the city.[98] As the largest Arab town in Israel, Nazareth became a center ofArab andPalestinian nationalism, and because theCommunist Party was the sole legal political group that took up many of the local Arab causes, it gained popularity in Nazareth.[99] Arab political organization within Nazareth and Israel was largely stymied by the state until recent decades.[100] Arab and Palestinian nationalist sentiment continue to influence Nazareth's political life.[101]
In 1954, 1,200dunams of Nazareth's land, which had been slated for future urban expansion by the municipality, was expropriated by state authorities for the construction of government offices and, in 1957, for the construction of the Jewish town ofNazareth Illit. The latter was built as a way for the state to counterbalance the Arab majority in the region.[102]Knesset memberSeif el-Din el-Zoubi, who represented Nazareth, actively opposed theAbsentees' Property Law, which allowed state expropriation of land from Arab citizens who were not permitted to return to their original villages. Zoubi argued that the internally displaced refugees were not absentees as they were still living in the country as citizens and wanted to return to their homes.[103] Israel offered compensation to these internal refugees, but most refused for fear of permanently relinquishing theirright of return. Tensions between Nazareth's inhabitants and the state came to a head during a 1958May Day rally where marchers demanded that refugees be allowed to return to their villages, an end to land expropriation, and self-determination for Palestinians. Several young protesters were arrested for throwing stones at security forces.[99] Martial law ended in 1966.
As of the early 1990s, no city plans drafted by Nazareth Municipality have been approved by the government (both the British Mandate and later Israel) since 1942.[105] This has left many people in Nazareth who vote in the city's municipal elections and receive services from its municipality effectively outside of the city's jurisdiction. Such areas include the Sharqiya and Jabal el-Daula quarters which are in Nazareth Illit's jurisdiction and whose residents had to acquire building permits from the latter city. Similarly, the Bilal neighborhood of the Safafra Quarter is located withinReineh's jurisdiction. In 1993, the residents of Bilal became official residents of Reineh.[105] Nazareth's municipal plans for expansion prior to the establishment of Nazareth Illit, were to the north and east, areas that the latter city now occupy. Arab satellite towns are closely located to the north, west and southwest. Thus, the remaining area within the city's municipal boundaries available for expansion were to the northwest and the south, where the topography restricted urban development. After lobbying the Knesset and theInterior Ministry, el-Zoubi was able to have areas to the northwest of the city annexed to the municipality.[106]
In the 1980s, the government began attempts to merge the nearby village ofIlut with Nazareth, although this move was opposed by residents from both localities and the Nazareth Municipality.[106] Ilut's residents were included as part of Nazareth's electorate in the 1983 and 1989 municipal elections, which Ilut's residents largely boycotted, and in the 1988 national elections. Ilut was designated by the Interior Ministry as a separatelocal council in 1991.[105] The Israeli government has designated a Nazarethmetropolitan area that includes thelocal councils ofYafa an-Naseriyye to the south, Reineh,Mashhad andKafr Kanna to the north,Iksal and Nazareth Illit to the east andMigdal HaEmek to the west.
As the political center of Israel's Arab citizens, Nazareth is the scene of annual rallies held by the community includingLand Day since March 1975 and May Day.[107] There are also frequent demonstrations in support of the Palestinian cause.[108] During theFirst Intifada (1987–1993), May Day marchers vocally supported the Palestinian uprising. On 22 December 1987, riots broke out during a strike held in solidarity with the Intifada. On 24 January 1988, a mass demonstration attracted between 20,000 and 50,000 participants from Nazareth and other Arab towns.[109] On 13 May, during afootball match inNahariya, a riot broke out between Arab and Jewish fans, resulting in a Jewish man being stabbed and 54 people, mostly Arabs, being arrested. A rally in Nazareth on 19 May followed, in which thousands of Arabs protested against "racist attacks" against the Arab fans and discriminatory policies against Arabs in general.[107]
Preparations for thePope's visit to Nazareth in 2000 triggered highly publicized tensions related to theBasilica of the Annunciation. In 1997, permission was granted to construct a paved plaza to handle the thousands of Christian pilgrims expected to arrive. A small group of Muslims protested and occupied the site, where a nephew of Saladin, namedShihab al-Din, is believed[who?] to be buried. A school, al-Harbyeh, had been built on the site by the Ottomans, and the Shihab-Eddin shrine, along with several shops owned by thewaqf, were located there. Government approval of plans for a large mosque on the property triggered protests from Christian leaders. In 2002, a special government commission permanently halted construction of the mosque.[110]
In March 2006, public protests followed the disruption of a prayer service by an Israeli Jew and his Christian wife and daughter, who detonated firecrackers inside the church. The family said it wanted to draw attention to their problems with the welfare authorities.[111] In July 2006 a rocket fired byHezbollah as part of the2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict killed two children in Nazareth.[112]
In March 2010, the Israeli government approved a $3 million plan to develop Nazareth's tourism industry. New businesses receive start-up grants of up to 30 percent of their initial investment from theMinistry of Tourism.[113]
Two locations for Nazareth are cited in ancient texts: the Galilean (northern) location in the Christian gospels and a southern (Judean) location mentioned in several early noncanonical texts.[116]
Modern-day Nazareth is nestled in a natural bowl which reaches from 320 metresabove sea level to the crest of the hills about 488 metres.[117] Nazareth is about 25 kilometres from theSea of Galilee and about 9 kilometres west fromMount Tabor. The major cities ofJerusalem andTel Aviv are situated approximately 146 kilometres and 108 kilometres respectively, away from Nazareth. The Nazareth Range, in which the town lies, is the southernmost of several parallel east–west hill ranges that characterize the elevated tableau of Lower Galilee.
Old postcard of Nazareth women based on photo byFélix Bonfils
Nazareth is the second largest Arab city in Israel.[120] In 2009, theIsrael Central Bureau of Statistics reported that Nazareth's Arab population was 69% Muslim and 31% Christian.[121] The greater Nazareth metropolitan area had a population of 210,000, including 125,000 Arabs (59%) and 85,000 Jews (41%). It is the only urban area with over 50,000 residents in Israel where the majority of the population isArab.[122] The greater Nazareth metropolitan area includesNof HaGalil,Yafa an-Naseriyye,Reineh,Migdal HaEmek,Ein Mahil,Ilut,Kafr Kanna,Mashhad andIksal.[123]
Nazareth is home to the largest ArabChristian community in Israel.[124] The Christian communities of Nazareth are varied and includes various denominations, the most prominent among them theGreek Orthodox,Melkite Greek Catholic,Latin Catholics,Maronites,Armenian Orthodox, andProtestants.[125] By far the largest among them is the Greek-Orthodox community, headed by a Patriarch based in Jerusalem, and represented in Nazareth by a Metropolite.[126] The Christian communities in Nazareth tend to be wealthier and better educated compared to other Arabs elsewhere in Israel, and Christians of Nazareth occupy the majority of the top positions in the town: threehospitals and bank managers, judges and school principals and faculties.[127] The socio-economic gap between the Christians wealth and Muslim poverty led sometimes to sectarian crises.[128]
Many of the descendants of theZayadina clan in modern-dayIsrael use the surname 'al-Zawahirah'[129] or 'Dhawahri'[130] in honor of Zahir (whose name is colloquially transliterated as 'Dhaher'). They mostly live in the Galilee localities of Nazareth,Bi'ina,Kafr Manda, and, beforeits depopulation in the1948 Arab-Israeli war, the village ofDamun.[131]Dhawahri, made up one of the important families in Muslim community of Nazareth, beside theFahoums, theZu'bis, and theOnallas.[132]
Demographic history
During the late Ottoman era, the religious majority of the city fluctuated. In 1838, there were 325 Christian families (half of whom were Greek Orthodox, the remainder belonged to various Catholic churches) and 120 Muslim families.[133] In 1856, the population was estimated to be 4,350, of which Muslims comprised 52%, while Christians from various denominations comprised 48%. In 1862, the population estimate was lower (3,120) and Christians formed a substantial majority of over 78%. The population grew to 5,660 in 1867 and Christians constituted roughly two-thirds and Muslims one-third of the inhabitants. These estimates during the late Ottoman era likely represented crude figures.[134]
A population list from about 1887 showed that Nazareth had about 6,575 inhabitants; 1,620 Muslims, 2,485 Greek Catholics, 845 Catholics, 1,115 Latins, 220 Maronites and 290 Protestants.[135]
In 1918, Nazareth had an estimated population of 8,000, two-thirds Christian.[136] In the1922 British census, Nazareth's population was recorded as 7,424 residents, of which 66% were Christian, 33% were Muslim and roughly 1% were Jewish. In the1931 census, the population grew to 8,756 and the ratio of Muslims increased to 37%. The largest Christian community were theGreek Orthodox denomination, followed by theRoman Catholics and theMelkites. Smaller communities ofAnglicans,Maronites,Syriac Catholics,Protestants andCopts also existed.[137]
In 1946, Nazareth had a population of 15,540, of whom roughly 60% were Christians and 40% were Muslims. The 1948 War led to an exodus of Palestinians and many expelled or fleeing Muslims from villages in the Galilee and the Haifa area found refuge in Nazareth. At one point, some 20,000 mostly Muslim internally displaced persons were present in the city. Following the war's conclusion, the internally displaced persons ofShefa-'Amr,Dabburiya,Ilut andKafr Kanna returned to their homes. However, those Muslim and Christian internally displaced persons from the nearby destroyed villages ofMa'lul,al-Mujaydil,Saffuriya, the Haifa-area village ofBalad al-Sheikh and the major cities ofAcre,Haifa,Tiberias,Safad andBaysan remained as they were not able to return to their hometowns.[138] During the war and in the following months, internally displaced persons from Saffuriya established the Safafra Quarter, named after their former village.[139] Around 20% of Nazareth's native inhabitants left Palestine during the war. In an Israeli army census in July 1948, Nazareth had a total population of 17,118, which consisted of 12,640 Nazarenes and 4,478 internally displaced persons. In 1951, the population was recorded as 20,300, 25% of whom were internally displaced persons. The internally displaced persons came from over two dozen villages, but most were from al-Mujaydil, Saffuriya, Tiberias, Haifa, Ma'lul andIndur.[140]
Today, Nazareth still has a significant Christian population, made up of various denominations.[5] The Muslim population has grown due to a number of historical factors that include the city having served as administrative center under British rule, and the influx ofinternally displaced Palestinian Arabs absorbed into the city from neighboring towns during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.[5]
In 2011, Nazareth had over 20 Arab-owned high-tech companies, mostly in the field of software development. According to theHaaretz newspaper the city has been called the "Silicon Valley of the Arab community" in view of its potential in this sphere.[141]
The Church of Our Lady of the Fright (Roman Catholic) marks the spot where Mary is said to have seen Jesus being taken to a cliff by the congregation of the synagogue
TheJesus Trail pilgrimage route connects many of the religious sites in Nazareth on a 60 km (37 mi) walking trail which ends in Capernaum
International Marian Evangelization Center "Mary of Nazareth" (see here:[146]), containing among other things the only archaeologically excavated house from first-century AD Nazareth
TheWhite Mosque (Masjid al-Abiad), the oldest mosque in Nazareth, located inHarat Alghama ("Mosque Quarter") in the center of the Old Market.[147][148]
"Venerated area" near the Basilica of the Annunciation
While excavations conducted prior to 1931 in the Franciscan "venerated area" (the side of the hill known as Jabal Nebi Sa'in, stretching north of the Basilica of the Annunciation) revealed no trace of a Greek or Roman settlement there,[149] later digs under Fr. Bagatti, who acted as the principalarchaeologist for the venerated sites in Nazareth, unearthed quantities of laterRoman andByzantine artifacts,[150] attesting to unambiguous human presence there from the 2nd century AD onward.John Dominic Crossan, a noted New Testament scholar, remarked that Bagatti's archaeological drawings indicate just how small the village actually was, suggesting that it was little more than an insignificanthamlet.[151]
Early Roman house
Remains of a residential house dating to the Early Roman period were discovered in 2009 next to the Basilica of the Annunciation and are on display in the "International Marian Center of Nazareth". According to theIsrael Antiquities Authority, "The artifacts recovered from inside the building were few and mostly included fragments of pottery vessels from the Early Roman period (the first and second centuries AD)... Another hewn pit, whose entrance was apparently camouflaged, was excavated and a few pottery sherds from the Early Roman period were found inside it." Archaeologist Yardenna Alexandre adds that "based on other excavations that I conducted in other villages in the region, this pit was probably hewn as part of the preparations by the Jews to protect themselves during the Great Revolt against the Romans in 67 AD".[152]
Kokh tombs
Noteworthy is that all the post-Iron Age tombs in the Nazareth basin (approximately two dozen) are of thekokh (pluralkokhim) or later types; this type probably first appeared in Galilee in the middle of the 1st century AD.[153] Kokh tombs in the Nazareth area have been excavated by B. Bagatti, N. Feig, Z. Yavor, and noted by Z. Gal.[154]
Nazareth contains a number of official buildings, some of which date back to the Ottoman era in Palestine. One of the most important of these buildings is the Nazareth Brigades, an important historical ruling building from the Ottoman period, built around 1740 by thegovernor of Galilee,Zahir al-Umar, who took it as his own home and as the Ottoman rule building, from which he supervised security in Marj Ibn Amer. The building housed stables and a prison. The building became the seat of the municipality of Nazareth after theNakba in 1948 until the beginning of the 1990s, when the municipal headquarters moved to another place in the city.
Mayors
Since the establishment of its first municipality in 1875, Nazareth has had a number of mayors, including nine after the establishment of Israel in 1948, in addition to two temporary committees in two different periods.
With the near total depopulation of the Palestinian Arabs in the major cities of Haifa and Jaffa as a result of the 1948 war, Nazareth,Kafr Yasif andRameh became one of a few towns in the newly-established state of Israel to emerge as a central space forArab culture and politics.[161]
Three prestigious ArabChristian schools in Nazareth are the St. Joseph's Eclerical School, run by theMelkite Greek Catholic Church, the Nuns of St. Joseph School, a Catholic institution, and the Nazareth Baptist High School, aProtestant institution.[162] About half of students in Nazareth attendChristian schools (10 schools) that are found in the city.[163]Christian schools in Nazareth are among the best schools in the country, and while those schools represent only 4% of the Arab schooling sector, about 34% of Arab university students come fromChristian schools.[164][165] These Arab Christian schools accommodate Christian students, Muslims,Druze from across the country.[166]
Healthcare
Italian Nazareth Hospital
The city has three hospitals, run by the Christian community of Nazareth,[127] and serving its districts:
^Ναζαρηνός ('Nazarene') and its permutations are at Mark 1:24; 10:47; 14:67; 16:6; Luke 4:34 and 24:19.Ναζωραῖος ('Nazōraean') and its permutations are at Matthew 2:23; 26:71; Luke 18:37; John 18:5, 7; 19:19; and six times in Acts of the Apostles.
^According to G.F. Moore, the HebrewNôṣri, thegentilic used of Jesus from theTannaitic period onwards, would have corresponded to a hypothetical Jewish Aramaic*Nōṣrāyā, which would have in turn produced*Neṣōrāyā. A normal adaptation of this in Greek would yieldNazoraios.[20][21]
^Nazarat/Nazarath are attested in a few Greek manuscripts, while the Syriac versions readNazarath.[23]
^Tamir Sorek (10 March 2015).Palestinian Commemoration in Israel: Calendars, Monuments, and Martyrs (2 ed.). Stanford University Press. p. 97.ISBN9780804795203.
^"2005"(PDF). Cbs.gov.il. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 5 September 2012. Retrieved16 November 2012.
^Bargil Pixner, cited in Paul Barnett, Jesus & the Rise of Early Christianity: A History of New Testament Times,InterVarsity Press, 2002 p. 89, n. 80.
^"...if the wordNazareth is be derived from Hebrew at all, it must come from this [Hebrew] root [i.e. 'to watch']" (Merrill, Selah, (1881)Galilee in the Time of Christ, p. 116. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, Charles A. Briggs,The Brown–Driver–Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (1906/2003), p. 665.
^R. H. Mounce, "Nazareth", in Geoffrey W. Bromiley (ed.)The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. 3 Eerdmans Publishing 1986, pp. 500–501.
^Bauckham, Jude,Jude, Relatives of Jesus in the Early Church, pp. 64–65. SeeJohn 1:46 andJohn 7:41–42
^abcdefCarruth, Shawn; Robinson, James McConkey; Heil, Christoph (1996).Q 4:1–13,16: the temptations of Jesus : Nazara. Peeters Publishers. p. 415.ISBN90-6831-880-2.
^T. Cheyne, "Nazareth", in Encyclopaedia Biblica, 1899, col. 3358 f. For a review of the question see H. Schaeder, "Nazarenos, Nazoraios", in Kittel,Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, IV:874 f.
^G.F.Moore, 'Nazarene and Nazareth,' inThe Beginnings of Christianity 1/1, 1920 pp. 426–432
^Textual evidence suggests this form is an emendation made during the secondary process of synoptic standardization. Shawn Carruth, James McConkey Robinson, Christoph Heil,Q 4:1–13,16: The Temptations of Jesus: Nazara, p. 395
^Q 4:1–13,16: The Temptations of Jesus: Nazara, p. 402.
^Cheyne in 1899 Ency. Biblica, "Nazareth"; Lidzbarski [Kittel p. 878]; Kennard [JBL 65:2,134 ff.]; Berger [Novum Test. 38:4,323],et multi.
^S. Chepey, "Nazirites in Late Second Temple Judaism" (2005), p 152, referring to W. Albright, G. Moore, and H. Schaeder.
^EusebiusEcclesiastical History, 1, vii,14, cited in Carruth, ibid. p. 415.
^Comment. In Joan. Tomus X (Migne,Patrologia Graeca 80:308–309.
^Meistermann, Barnabas (1911)."Nazareth" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^E. S. Drower,The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, Oxford University Press, 1937 reprint Gorgias Press, 2002 p. 6
^Avi-Yonah, M. (1962). "A List of Priestly Courses from Caesarea".Israel Exploration Journal.12:137–139.
^R. Horsley,Archaeology, History and Society in Galilee. Trinity Press International, 1996, p. 110.
^Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies: Volume 65, Issue 1 University of London. School of Oriental and African Studies – 2002 "... around 331, Eusebius says of the place name Nazareth that ' from this name the Christ was called a Nazoraean, and in ancient times we, who are now called Christians, were once calledNazarenes ';6 thus he attributes this designation ..."
^Bruce Manning Metzger The early versions of the New Testament p. 86. 1977 "Peshitta Matt, and Luke ... nasraya, 'of Nazareth'."
^Bindu Malieckal (2005) "Muslims, Matriliny, and A Midsummer Night's Dream: European Encounters with the Mappilas of Malabar, India";The Muslim World Volume 95 Iss. 2 p. 300
^Goring-Morris, A.N. "The quick and the dead: the social context of Aceramic Neolithic mortuary practices as seen from Kfar HaHoresh." In: I. Kuijt (ed.),Social Configurations of the Near Eastern Neolithic: Community Identity, Hierarchical Organization, and Ritual (1997).
^"Pre-Christian Rituals at Nazareth". Archaeology: A Publication of the Archaeological Institute of America. November–December 2003.Archived from the original on 28 May 2006. Retrieved2 July 2006.
^John P. Meier,A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus: The Roots of the Problem and the Person,Vol. 1, Doubleday 1991, p. 216;Bart D. Ehrman,Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium, Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 97;E. P. Sanders,The Historical Figure of Jesus, Penguin 1993, p. 85.
^The family is thought to have moved to Nazareth after theFirst Jewish Revolt (70 AD), although some speculate that the relocation may have been "well into the second (or even the third) century [AD]."History and Society in Galilee, 1996, p. 110. In 131 AD, the Roman EmperorHadrian forbade Jews to reside in Jerusalem, forcing Jewish residents to move elsewhere.
^Avi-Yonah, M. (1962). "A List of Priestly Courses from Caesarea".Israel Exploration Journal.12: 138.
^"A few of the careful, however, having obtained private records of their own, either by remembering the names or by getting them in some other way from the registers, pride themselves on preserving the memory of their noble extraction. Among these are those already mentioned, called Desposyni, on account of their connection with the family of the Saviour. Coming from Nazara and Cochaba, villages of Judea, into other parts of the world, they drew the aforesaid genealogy from memory and from the book of daily records as faithfully as possible." (Eusebius,Church History, Book I, Chapter VIIArchived 9 May 2019 at theWayback Machine,§ 14)
^Ken Dark, "Book review ofThe Myth of Nazareth: The Invented Town of Jesus",STRATA: Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society, vol. 26 (2008), pp. 140–146; cf. Stephen J. Pfann & Yehudah Rapuano, "On the Nazareth Village Farm Report: A Reply to Salm",STRATA: Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society, vol. 26 (2008), pp. 105–112.
^Article "Nazareth" in theAnchor Bible Dictionary. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
^E. Meyers & J. Strange,Archaeology, the Rabbis, & Early Christianity Nashville: Abingdon, 1981; Article "Nazareth" in theAnchor Bible Dictionary. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
^John Dominic Crossan, (1991),The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant,ISBN0-06-061629-6
^In particular,Menippus (3rd century BC),Meleager (1st century BC), andOenomaus (2nd century CE), all came from Gadara.
^Epiphanius,Panárion 30.11.10, cited Andrew S. Jacobs,Remains of the Jews: The Holy Land and Christian Empire in Late Antiquity, Stanford University Press, p. 50 n. 124, p. 127.
^Frank Williams,The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, Book I (Sects 1–46) E.J. Brill (1897), rev.ed. 2009, p. 140.
^Taylor, J.Christians and the Holy Places. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993, p. 265.
^abcC. Kopp, "Beiträge zur Geschichte Nazareths." Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society, vol. 18 (1938), p. 215. Kopp is citing the Byzantine writer Eutychius (Eutychii Annales in Migne'sPatrologia Graeca vol. 111 p. 1083).
^Murray, Alan,The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A Dynastic History 1099–1125 (Unit for Prosopographical Research, Linacre College, Oxford, 2000) p. 217.
^(a) TheProtevangelium of James (c. 150 AD. See New Testament Apocrypha, ed. W. Schneemelcher, Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991, vol. 1, p. 421 ff.) was an immensely popular text in the early Christian centuries. In it, Jesus' family lives inBethlehem of Judea (PrJ 8.3; 17:1) and all events take place in and around the southern town. PrJ does not mention Galilee or "Nazareth"; (b) the earliest reference to Nazareth outside the Christian gospels, bySextus Julius Africanus (c. 200 AD), speaks of "Nazara" as a village in "Judea" and locates it near an as-yet unidentified "Cochaba"; (c) A fourth century work known as theHistory of Joseph the Carpenter knows a southern location for Nazareth. It locates "Nazareth", the home of Joseph,within walking distance of the Jerusalem Temple.
^MapSurvey of Palestine, 1946. 1:5,000OCLC17193107. Also, Emmett 1995b, p. 31, Fig. 11
^F. Emmett, Chad (2012).Beyond the Basilica: Christians and Muslims in Nazareth. University of Chicago Press. p. 128.ISBN9780226922492.
^F. Emmett, Chad (2012).Green Crescent Over Nazareth: The Displacement of Christians by Muslims in the Holy Land. University of Chicago Press. p. 21.ISBN9780226922492.
^abIsraeli, Raphael (2014).Narrow Gate Churches: The Christian Presence in the Holy Land Under Muslim and Jewish Rule. Routledge. p. 21.ISBN9781135315146.
^Mansour, Atallah (2004).Narrow Gate Churches: The Christian Presence in the Holy Land Under Muslim and Jewish Rule. Hope Publishing House. p. 280.ISBN9781932717020.
^H.P. Kuhnen, "Palaestina in Griechisch-Roemischer Zeit", (Muenchen, C. Beck, 1990, pp. 254–55).
^Gal, Z. Lower Galilee During the Iron Age (American Schools of Oriental Research, Eisenbrauns, 1992) p. 15; Yavor, Z. 1998 "Nazareth", ESI 18. pp. 32 (English), 48; Feig, N. 1990 "Burial Caves at Nazareth", 'Atiqot 10 (Hebrew series). pp. 67–79.
^Shacham , Tzvi. 2012. Bathhouse from the Crusader Period in Nazareth in Kreiner, R & W. Letzner (eds.). SPA: Sanitas per Aquam. Tagungsband des Internationalen Frontinus-Symposums zur Technik und Kulturgeschichte der antike Thermen. Aachen, 18–22. Marz 2009 : 319–326. Babesch Suppl. 21
^Alexandre, Yardenna. 2012. Mary's Well, Nazareth. The Late Hellenistic to the Ottoman Periods. Jerusalem, IAA Reports 49.
^Alexandre, Y. "Archaeological Excavations at Mary's Well, Nazareth", Israel Antiquities Authority bulletin, 1 May 2006.
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