Was the Bible Right?
1st century CE·New Testament·Site

Nazareth in Jesus' Day

Scripture: Luke 2:39–40; Mark 6:1–3; John 1:46

19th-century engraving of the village of Nazareth
19th-century engraving of the village of Nazareth · Photo: Philip Schaff, A Dictionary of the Bible (1887) · No restrictions · Source

The claim

Jesus grows up in Nazareth, an obscure village in Galilee.

What archaeology found

Some skeptics argued that Nazareth did not exist in the 1st century. In 2009 Yardenna Alexandre excavated a modest 1st-century house there. Ken Dark's work under the Sisters of Nazareth convent documented another early house and rock-cut tombs. A 3rd–4th century inscription from Caesarea lists Nazareth as a home of a priestly family.

Sources

  1. Ken Dark, Roman-Period and Byzantine Nazareth and Its Hinterland, Routledge (2020)

Verdict history

  • SupportedInitial verdict.