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Nazareth

January 11, 2024

For other uses, see Nazareth (disambiguation).
"Nazaret" redirects here. For the name, see Nazaret (name).

Nazareth (/ˈnæzərəθ/ NAZ-ər-əth; Arabic: النَّاصِرَة, an-Nāṣira; Hebrew: נָצְרַת, Nāṣəraṯ; Syriac: ܢܨܪܬ, Naṣrath) is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. In 2021 its population was 77,925.[1] Known as "the Arab capital of Israel",[2] Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and commercial center for the Arab citizens of Israel, and is also a center of Arab and Palestinian nationalism.[3] The inhabitants are predominantly Arab citizens of Israel, of whom 69% are Muslim and 30.9% Christian.[2][4][5][6] The city also commands immense religious significance, deriving from its status as the hometown of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity.

Nazareth
النَّاصِرَة
an-Nāṣira
נָצְרַת‎
Natsrat
View of Nazareth, with the Basilica of the Annunciation at the center
Seal
Nazareth
Location of Nazareth in Northern Israel
Nazareth
Location of Nazareth in Israel
Coordinates: 32°42′07″N 35°18′12″E / 32.70194°N 35.30333°E / 32.70194; 35.30333
Country Israel
DistrictNorthern
Founded2200 BC (Early settlement)
AD 300 (Major city)
MunicipalityEst. 1885
Government
 • TypeMayor–council
 • BodyMunicipality of Nazareth
 • MayorAli Sallam
Area
 • Total14.123 km2 (5.453 sq mi)
Elevation
347 m (1,138 ft)
Population
 (2021)[1]
77,925
DemonymNazarene
Ethnicity
[1]
 • Jews and others0.2%
 • Arabs99.8%
Time zoneUTC+2 (IST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (IDT)
Area code+972 (Israel)
Websitewww.nazareth.muni.il

Findings unearthed in the neighboring Qafzeh Cave show that the area around Nazareth was populated in the prehistoric period. Nazareth was a Jewish village during the Roman and Byzantine periods and is described in the New Testament as the childhood home of Jesus.[7] It became an important city during the Crusades after Tancred established it as the capital of the Principality of Galilee. The city declined under Mamluk rule, and following the Ottoman conquest, the city's Christian residents were expelled, only to return once Fakhr 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.

Since late antiquity, Nazareth has been a center of Christian pilgrimage, with many shrines commemorating biblical events. The Church of the Annunciation is considered one of the largest Christian sites of worship in the Middle East. It contains the Grotto of the Annunciation, where, according to Catholic tradition, angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she would conceive and bear Jesus. According to Greek Orthodox belief, the same event took place at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation, also known as Church of Saint Gabriel. Other important churches in Nazareth include the Synagogue Church, St. Joseph's Church, the Mensa Christi Church, and the Basilica of Jesus the Adolescent.[8]

Etymology

Hebrew Netzer

One view holds that "Nazareth" is derived from one of the Hebrew words for 'branch', namely ne·ṣer, ‏נֵ֫צֶר‎,[9] and alludes to the prophetic, messianic words in Book of Isaiah 11:1, 'from (Jesse's) roots a Branch (netzer) will bear fruit'. One view suggests this toponym 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 verb na·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 the Gospel of John suggest that ancient Jews did not connect the town's name to prophecy.[13]

Greek Nazara

Another theory holds that the Greek form Ναζαρά (Nazará), used in Matthew and Luke, may derive from an earlier Aramaic form of the name, or from another Semitic language form.[14] If there were a tsade (צ) in the original Semitic form, as in the later Hebrew forms, it would normally have been transcribed in Greek with a sigma (σ) instead of a zeta (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 Lower Galilee.[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]

Arabic an-Nāṣira

The Arabic name for Nazareth is an-Nāṣira, and Jesus (Arabic: يَسُوع, Yasū`) is also called an-Nāṣirī, reflecting the Arab tradition of according people an attribution, a name denoting whence a person comes in either geographical or tribal terms. In the Qur'an, Christians are referred to as naṣārā, meaning "followers of an-Nāṣirī", or "those who follow Jesus of Nazareth".[17]

New Testament references

In Luke's Gospel, Nazareth is first described as "a town of Galilee" and home of Mary.[18] Following the birth and early epiphanial events of chapter 2 of Luke's Gospel, 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 the Nazarēnos" or "Jesus the Nazōraios."[20] One plausible view is that Nazōraean (Ναζωραῖος) is a normal Greek adaptation of a reconstructed, hypothetical term in Jewish Aramaic for the word later used in Rabbinical sources to refer to Jesus.[21] "Nazaréth" is named twelve times in surviving Greek manuscript versions of the New Testament, 10 times as Nazaréth or Nazarét,[22] and twice as Nazará.[15] The former two may retain the 'feminine' endings common in Galilean toponyms.[15] The minor variants, Nazarat and Nazarath are also attested.[23] Nazara (Ναζαρά) might be the earliest form of the name in Greek, going back to the putative Q document. It is found in Matthew 4:13[24] and Luke 4:16.[25][15][dubious – discuss] However, the Textus Receptus clearly translates all passages as Nazara 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 of Galilean Aramaic."[28]

Extrabiblical references

 
Nazareth as depicted on a Byzantine mosaic (Chora Church, Constantinople)

The form Nazara is also found in the earliest non-scriptural reference to the town, a citation by Sextus Julius Africanus dated about AD 221[29] (see "Middle Roman to Byzantine Periods" below). The Church Father Origen (c. AD 185 to 254) knows the forms Nazará and Nazarét.[30] Later, Eusebius in his Onomasticon (translated by St. Jerome) also refers to the settlement as Nazara.[31] The nașirutha of the scriptures of the Mandeans refers to "priestly craft", not to Nazareth, which they identified with Qom.[32]

The first non-Christian reference to Nazareth is an inscription on a marble fragment from a synagogue found in Caesarea 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 the Bar 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]

Nazarenes, Nasranis, Notzrim, Christians

Main article: Nazarene (title)

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 by Paul in Romans, and "Nazarenes" once by Tertullus, 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 the Nazarenes, Nazoraioi, "men of Nazareth" in Acts. Against this, some medieval Jewish polemical texts connect notzrim with the netsarim "watchmen" of Ephraim in Jeremiah 31:6. In Syriac Aramaic Nasrath (ܢܨܪܬ) is used for Nazareth, while "Nazarenes" (Acts 24:5) and "of Nazareth" are both Nasrani or Nasraya (ܕܢܨܪܝܐ) an adjectival form.[36][37][38] Nasrani is used in the Quran for Christians, and in Modern Standard Arabic may refer more widely to Western people.[39] Saint Thomas Christians, an ancient community of Jewish Christians in India who trace their origins to evangelistic activity of Thomas 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 at Kfar HaHoresh, about two miles (3.2 km) from current Nazareth, dates back roughly 9,000 years to the Pre-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 priest Bellarmino Bagatti, "Director of Christian Archaeology", carried out extensive excavation of this "Venerated Area" from 1955 to 1965. Fr. Bagatti uncovered pottery dating from the Middle Bronze Age (2200 to 1500 BC) and ceramics, silos and grinding mills from the Iron Age (1500 to 586 BC) which indicated substantial settlement in the Nazareth basin at that time.

Roman period

 
Historic photo of Mary's Well

Archaeological evidence shows the Nazareth was occupied during the late Hellenistic period, through the Roman period and into the Byzantine period.[44][45]

According to the Gospel of Luke, Nazareth was the home village of Mary as well as the site of the Annunciation (when the angel Gabriel informed Mary that she would give birth to Jesus). According to the Gospel of Matthew, Joseph and Mary resettled in Nazareth after returning from the flight 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]

A Hebrew inscription found in Caesarea dating to the late 3rd or early 4th century mentions Nazareth as the home of the priestly Hapizzez/Hafizaz family after the Bar 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 in Galilee where it settled. Nazareth is not spelled with the "z" sound but with the Hebrew tsade (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 18th Kohen family Happitzetz (הפצץ), for at least several centuries after the Bar 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, when Sextus Julius Africanus, cited by Eusebius (Church History 1.7.14), speaks of Nazara as a village in Judea and locates it near Cochaba (modern-day Kaukab).[51] In the same passage Africanus writes of desposunoi – relatives of Jesus – who he claims kept 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]

 
The Basilica of the Annunciation

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 a mikva.[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 (possibly Sepphoris). 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 the Bronze and Iron Ages, and states that "Nazareth was a strongly Jewish settlement in the Roman period."[61]

Byzantine period

Epiphanius in his Panarion (c. AD 375) numbers Nazareth among the cities devoid of a non-Jewish population.[62] Epiphanius, writing of Joseph of Tiberias, a wealthy Roman Jew who converted to Christianity in the time of Constantine, says he claimed to have received an imperial rescript to build Christian churches in Jewish towns and villages where no gentiles or Samaritans dwell, naming Tiberias, Diocaesarea, Sepphoris, Nazareth and Capernaum.[63] From this scarce notice, it has been concluded that a small church which encompassed a cave complex might have been located in Nazareth in the early 4th century",[64] although the town was Jewish until the 7th century.[65]

The Christian monk and Bible translator Jerome, writing at the beginning of the 5th century, says Nazareth was a viculus or mere village.[66]

In the 6th century, religious narrations from local Christians about the Virgin Mary began to spark interest in the site among pilgrims, who founded the first church at the location of the current Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation at the site of a freshwater spring, today known as Mary's Well. Around 570, the Anonymous of Piacenza reports travelling from Sepphoris 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.[67] 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."[68] 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.[69]

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 the Persians invaded Palestine.[66] The Christian Byzantine author Eutychius claimed that Jewish people of Nazareth helped the Persians carry out their slaughter of the Christians.[66] When the Byzantine or Eastern Roman emperor Heraclius ejected the Persians in AD 629-630, he expelled the Jews from the village, turning it all-Christian.[69]

Early Muslim period

The Arab Muslim invasion of AD 638 had no immediate impact on the Christians of Nazareth and their churches, since Bishop Arculf 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.[69] The 721 iconoclastic edict of Caliph Yazid 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).[70] 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 an Arab geographer in 943.[71]

Crusader period

 
Makam al-Nabi Sain Mosque of Nazareth

In 1099, the Crusader Tancred captured Galilee and established his capital in Nazareth. He was the ruler of the Principality of Galilee, which was established, at least in name, in 1099, as a vassal of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Later, in 1115, Nazareth was created as a seigneury within the principality. A Martin of Nazareth, who probably acted as viscount of Nazareth, is documented in 1115 and in 1130/1131.[72] Nazareth was the original site of the Latin Patriarch, also established by Tancred. The ancient diocese of Scythopolis was relocated under the Archbishop 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 of Saladin in the Battle of Hattin, the remaining Crusaders and European clergy were forced to leave town.[73] 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.[73]

Mamluk period

In 1263, Baybars, the Mamluk 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.[73] 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 the grotto.[73] In the 14th century, Franciscan friars were permitted to return and live within the ruins of the basilica.[73]

Ottoman period

 
Titus Tobler's 1868 map of Nazareth
 
Nazareth, in 1657, by Jan Janssonius
 
Nazareth, in 1839, published in The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia
 
Well of St. Mary, Nazareth, by Felix Bonfils, ca 1880

In 1584 the Franciscan friars were evicted again from the site of the ruined basilica.[73] In 1620, Fakhr-al-Din II, a Druze emir who controlled this part of Ottoman Syria, permitted them to build a small church at the Grotto of the Annunciation. Pilgrimage tours to surrounding sacred sites were organised by the Franciscans, but the monks suffered harassment from surrounding Bedouin tribes who often kidnapped them for ransom.[73]

Stability returned with the rule of Zahir al-Umar, a powerful Arab sheikh who ruled the Galilee, and later much of the Levantine 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's sheikhdom because it allowed him to wield control over the agricultural areas of central Galilee.[74] He ensured Nazareth's security for other reasons as well, among them strengthening ties with France by protecting the Christian community and protecting one of his wives who resided in Nazareth.[75]

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.[73] He also permitted the Franciscans to purchase the Synagogue Church in 1741 and authorized the Greek Orthodox community to build St. Gabriel's Church in 1767.[75] Zahir commissioned the construction of a government house known as the Seraya, 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.[76]

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.[77] Nazareth was temporarily captured by the troops of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799, during his Syrian campaign. Napoleon visited the holy sites and considered appointing his general Jean-Andoche Junot as the duke of Nazareth.[73] During the rule of Governor Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt (1830–1840) over much of Ottoman 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 the massacres of 1860 by Aqil Agha, the Bedouin leader who exercised control over the Galilee between 1845 and 1870.[73]

Kaloost Vartan, an Armenian from Istanbul, arrived in 1864 and established the first medical mission in Nazareth, the Scottish "hospital on the hill", or the Nazareth Hospital as it is known today, with sponsorship from the Edinburgh 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.[73] In 1871 Christ Church, the city's only Anglican church, was completed under the leadership of the Rev John Zeller and consecrated by Bishop Samuel Gobat.[78]

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 many souks (open-air markets), which included separate souks for agricultural produce, metalwork, jewelry and leathers.[79] 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 eight souks.[80] The Ottomans lost control of Palestine, including Nazareth, to the Allied Powers during World War I. By then, Nazareth's importance declined significantly as most of the Arab villages in the Jezreel Valley had been replaced by newly established Jewish communities.[79]

British Mandate period

 
Nazareth, postcard by Karimeh Abbud, ca 1925
 
Nazareth, postcard by de:Fadil Saba, ca 1925
 
Nazareth, 1937

The United Kingdom gained control of Palestine in 1917, the same year of the Balfour 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 the Zionist movement, sending a delegation to the 1919 First Palestine Arab Congress and issuing a letter of protest in 1920 that condemned the movement while also proclaiming solidarity with the Jews of Palestine. Politically, Nazareth was becoming further involved in the growing Palestinian 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 the Supreme Muslim Council's Organization of Muslim Youth and the National Muslim Association were established in Nazareth later in the 1920s.[81] in 1922 there had been a small population of 58 Jews and Jewish families living in Nazareth.[82]

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.[83] This included adding two reservoirs at the northwestern hills and several new cisterns.[81] By 1930, a church for the Baptist denomination, a municipal garden at Mary's Well and a police station based in Zahir al-Umar's Seraya had been established and the Muslim Sharqiya Quarter had expanded.[79]

In the 1936–1939 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 Christian Fu'ad Nassar and Nazareth resident and Indur native Tawfiq al-Ibrahim. The nearby villages of Saffuriya and al-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 the British proposal to include the Galilee 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.[84]

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.[79] A new police station was built on Nazareth's southernmost hill,[79] 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.[81]

Nazareth was in the territory allotted to the Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan. In the months leading up to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the town became a refuge for Arab-Palestinians fleeing the urban centers of Tiberias, Haifa and Baysan before and during the Haganah's capture of those cities on 18 April, 22 April and 12 May 1948, respectively.[85]

Israeli period

1948 War

 
Amin-Salim Jarjora (left), Mayor of Nazareth, with Israeli prime minister Moshe Sharett, 1955

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 the Arab 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.[86]

Most of the fighting around Nazareth occurred in its satellite villages, particularly in Saffuriya, whose residents put up resistance until largely dispersing following Israeli air raids on 15 July.[87] During the ten days of fighting which occurred between the first and second truce, Nazareth capitulated to Israeli troops during Operation 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. The Muslim mayor of Nazareth, Yusef Fahum requested a halt to all resistance put up by Nazarenes to prevent the town's destruction.[86]

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 commander Ben 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 General Chaim 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 his judgement up, fearing that expelling Christian Arabs might provoke an outcry throughout the Christian world.[88] 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.[84]

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.[89] As the largest Arab town in Israel, Nazareth became a center of Arab and Palestinian nationalism, and because the Communist Party was the sole legal political group that took up many of the local Arab causes, it gained popularity in Nazareth.[90] Arab political organization within Nazareth and Israel was largely stymied by the state until recent decades.[91] Arab and Palestinian nationalist sentiment continue to influence Nazareth's political life.[92]

In 1954, 1,200 dunams 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 of Nazareth Illit. The latter was built as a way for the state to counterbalance the Arab majority in the region.[93] Knesset member Seif el-Din el-Zoubi, who represented Nazareth, actively opposed the Absentees' 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.[94] Israel offered compensation to these internal refugees, but most refused for fear of permanently relinquishing their right of return. Tensions between Nazareth's inhabitants and the state came to a head during a 1958 May 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.[90] Martial law ended in 1966.

On 5 January 1964, Pope Paul VI included Nazareth in the first ever papal visit to the Holy Land.[95]

1980s–2010s

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.[96] 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 within Reineh's jurisdiction. In 1993, the residents of Bilal became official residents of Reineh.[96] 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 the Interior Ministry, el-Zoubi was able to have areas to the northwest of the city annexed to the municipality.[97]

In the 1980s, the government began attempts to merge the nearby village of Ilut with Nazareth, although this move was opposed by residents from both localities and the Nazareth Municipality.[97] 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 separate local council in 1991.[96] The Israeli government has designated a Nazareth metropolitan area that includes the local councils of Yafa an-Naseriyye to the south, Reineh, Mashhad and Kafr Kanna to the north, Iksal and Nazareth Illit to the east and Migdal HaEmek to the west.

 
Monument to Arab Israeli casualties in the October 2000 events, Nazareth

As the political center of Israel's Arab citizens, Nazareth is the scene of annual rallies held by the community including Land Day since March 1975 and May Day.[98] There are also frequent demonstrations in support of the Palestinian cause.[99] During the First 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 20,000–50,000 participants from Nazareth and other Arab towns.[100] On 13 May, during a football match in Nahariya, 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.[98]

Preparations for the Pope's visit to Nazareth in 2000 triggered highly publicized tensions related to the Basilica 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, named Shihab 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 the waqf, 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.[101]

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.[102] In July 2006 a rocket fired by Hezbollah as part of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict killed two children in Nazareth.[103]

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 the Ministry of Tourism.[104]

2020s

Riots broke out in Nazareth during the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis.[105]

Geography

 
Nazareth cityscape

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.[106]

Modern-day Nazareth is nestled in a natural bowl which reaches from 320 metres above sea level to the crest of the hills about 488 metres.[107] Nazareth is about 25 kilometres from the Sea of Galilee and about 9 kilometres west from Mount Tabor. The major cities of Jerusalem and Tel 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.

Further information: Iphtahel

Climate

Nazareth has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa).

Climate data for Nazareth, Israel
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 22
(72) 		28
(82) 		31
(88) 		37
(99) 		42
(108) 		40
(104) 		40
(104) 		42
(108) 		41
(106) 		38
(100) 		32
(90) 		30
(86) 		42
(108)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 15.2
(59.4) 		16.0
(60.8) 		18.3
(64.9) 		22.7
(72.9) 		27.9
(82.2) 		30.1
(86.2) 		31.2
(88.2) 		31.6
(88.9) 		30.0
(86.0) 		28.1
(82.6) 		23.5
(74.3) 		17.5
(63.5) 		24.3
(75.8)
Daily mean °C (°F) 11.2
(52.2) 		12.0
(53.6) 		13.6
(56.5) 		17.1
(62.8) 		21.8
(71.2) 		24.4
(75.9) 		26.0
(78.8) 		26.6
(79.9) 		25.0
(77.0) 		22.8
(73.0) 		18.7
(65.7) 		13.7
(56.7) 		19.4
(66.9)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 7.1
(44.8) 		7.9
(46.2) 		8.9
(48.0) 		11.5
(52.7) 		15.7
(60.3) 		18.7
(65.7) 		20.8
(69.4) 		21.5
(70.7) 		19.9
(67.8) 		17.5
(63.5) 		13.8
(56.8) 		9.8
(49.6) 		14.4
(58.0)
Record low °C (°F) −2.4
(27.7) 		−3.9
(25.0) 		−1
(30) 		2
(36) 		6
(43) 		8
(46) 		17
(63) 		17
(63) 		12
(54) 		7
(45) 		1
(34) 		−1.4
(29.5) 		−3.9
(25.0)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 156
(6.1) 		111
(4.4) 		72
(2.8) 		23
(0.9) 		7
(0.3) 		0
(0) 		0
(0) 		0
(0) 		1
(0.0) 		15
(0.6) 		72
(2.8) 		123
(4.8) 		580
(22.7)
Average precipitation days 16 14 11 6 3 1 0 1 1 6 9 15 83
Average relative humidity (%) 68 63 61 53 50 50 52 55 56 59 59 70 58
Mean daily sunshine hours 6 6 7 8 11 12 12 11 10 9 7 6 9
Percent possible sunshine 54 57 59 65 76 85 86 85 81 75 68 55 71
Source 1: [108]
Source 2: [109] (sunshine percentages)

Demographics

 
Old postcard of Nazareth women based on photo by Félix Bonfils

Nazareth is the largest Arab city in Israel.[110] In 2009, the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics reported that Nazareth's Arab population was 69% Muslim and 30.9% Christian.[111] 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 is Arab.[112] The greater Nazareth metropolitan area includes Nof HaGalil, Yafa an-Naseriyye, Reineh, Migdal HaEmek, Ein Mahil, Ilut, Kafr Kanna, Mashhad and Iksal.[113]

Nazareth is home to the largest Arab Christian community in Israel,[114] the Christian communities of Nazareth are varied and included various denominations, the most prominent among them the Greek Orthodox, Melkite Greek Catholic, Latin Catholics, Maronites, Armenian Orthodox, and Protestants.[115] 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.[116] 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: three hospitals and bank managers, judges and school principals and faculties.[117] The socio-economic gap between the Christians wealth and Muslim poverty led sometimes to sectarian crises.[118]

Many of the descendants of the Zayadina clan in modern-day Israel use the surname 'al-Zawahirah'[119] or 'Dhawahri'[120] 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, before its depopulation in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the village of Damun.[121] Dhawahri, made up one of the important families in Muslim community of Nazareth, beside the Fahoums, the Zu'bis, and the Onallas.[122]

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.[123] 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.[124]

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.[125]

For much of the British Mandatory period (1922–1948), Nazareth had a Christian majority (mostly Orthodox Christians) and a Muslim minority.[5]

In 1918, Nazareth had an estimated population of 8,000, two-thirds Christian.[126] In the 1922 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 the 1931 census, the population grew to 8,756 and the ratio of Muslims increased to 37%. The largest Christian community were the Greek Orthodox denomination, followed by the Roman Catholics and the Melkites. Smaller communities of Anglicans, Maronites, Syriac Catholics, Protestants and Copts also existed.[127]

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 of Shefa-'Amr, Dabburiya, Ilut and Kafr Kanna returned to their homes. However, those Muslim and Christian internally displaced persons from the nearby destroyed villages of Ma'lul, al-Mujaydil, Saffuriya, the Haifa-area village of Balad al-Sheikh and the major cities of Acre, Haifa, Tiberias, Safad and Baysan remained as they were not able to return to their hometowns.[128] During the war and in the following months, internally displaced persons from Saffuriya established the Safafra Quarter, named after their former village.[129] 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 and Indur.[130]

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 of internally displaced Palestinian Arabs absorbed into the city from neighboring towns during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.[5]

Economy

 
Nazareth Hi-Tech Park

In 2011, Nazareth had over 20 Arab-owned high-tech companies, mostly in the field of software development. According to the Haaretz newspaper the city has been called the "Silicon Valley of the Arab community" in view of its potential in this sphere.[131]

Religious sites

Christian

 
Church in Nazareth on the supposed site of Joseph's workshop, 1891
 
Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation
 
Christmas Eve In Nazareth

Nazareth is home to dozens of monasteries and churches, many of them in the Old City.[132]

Muslim

Muslim holy sites include

Muslim places of worship include

  • The White Mosque (Masjid al-Abiad), the oldest mosque in Nazareth, located in Harat Alghama ("Mosque Quarter") in the center of the Old Market.[137][138]
  • The Peace Mosque (Masjid al-Salam).

Archaeology

"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,[139] later digs under Fr. Bagatti, who acted as the principal archaeologist for the venerated sites in Nazareth, unearthed quantities of later Roman and Byzantine artifacts,[140] 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 insignificant hamlet.[141]

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 the Israel 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".[142]

Kokh tombs

Noteworthy is that all the post-Iron Age tombs in the Nazareth basin (approximately two dozen) are of the kokh (plural kokhim) or later types; this type probably first appeared in Galilee in the middle of the 1st century AD.[143] Kokh tombs in the Nazareth area have been excavated by B. Bagatti, N. Feig, Z. Yavor, and noted by Z. Gal.[144]

Ancient bathhouse at Mary's Well

In the mid-1990s, a shopkeeper discovered tunnels under his shop near Mary's Well in Nazareth. The tunnels were identified as the hypocaust of a bathhouse.[145] Excavations in 1997–98 revealed remains dating from the Roman, Crusader, Mamluk and Ottoman periods.[146][147][148][149][150]

Education

 
Don Bosco School

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 and Rameh became one of a few towns in the newly-established state of Israel to emerge as a central space for Arab culture and politics.[151]

Three prestigious Arab Christian schools in Nazareth are the St. Joseph’s Eclerical School, run by the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, the Nuns of St. Joseph School, a Catholic institution, and the Nazareth Baptist High School, a Protestant institution.[152] About half of students in Nazareth attend Christian schools (10 schools) that are found in the city.[153] 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 from Christian schools.[154][155] These Arab Christian schools accommodate Christian students, Muslims, Druze from across the country.[156]

Sports

The city's main football club, Ahi Nazareth, currently plays in Liga Leumit, the second tier of Israeli football. The club spent two seasons in the top division, in 2003–04 and again in 2009–10. They are based at the Ilut Stadium in nearby Ilut. Other local clubs are Al-Nahda Nazareth, currently plays in Liga Bet, Beitar al-Amal Nazareth, Hapoel Bnei Nazareth and Hapoel al-Ittihad Nazareth all play in Liga Gimel.

Hospitals

 
Italian Nazareth Hospital

The city has three hospitals, run by the Christian community of Nazareth,[117] and serving its districts:

  • The Nazareth Hospital (also called the English Hospital)
  • French Nazareth Hospital
  • Italian Nazareth Hospital

Twin towns – sister cities

Nazareth is twinned with:

Other cooperation

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b c "Regional Statistics". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
  2. ^ a b Laurie King-Irani (Spring 1996). "Review of "Beyond the Basilica: Christians and Muslims in Nazareth"". Journal of Palestine Studies. 25 (3): 103–105. doi:10.1525/jps.1996.25.3.00p0131i. JSTOR 2538265.
  3. ^ Tamir Sorek (10 March 2015). Palestinian Commemoration in Israel: Calendars, Monuments, and Martyrs (2 ed.). Stanford University Press. p. 97. ISBN 9780804795203.
  4. ^ (PDF). Cbs.gov.il. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2012-11-16.
  5. ^ a b c d Dumper, Michael; Stanley, Bruce E.; Abu-Lughod, Janet L. (2006). Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: a historical encyclopedia (Illustrated ed.). ABC-CLIO. pp. 273–274. ISBN 9781576079195.
  6. ^ Kanaaneh, Rhoda Ann (2002), Birthing the nation: strategies of Palestinian women in Israel, University of California Press, p. 117, ISBN 978-0-520-22379-0, from the original on 2014-01-11, retrieved 2016-02-27, All-Arab cities such as Nazareth, the largest Palestinian city in IsraelQuigley, John (1997), Flight into the maelstrom: Soviet immigration to Israel and Middle East peace, Garnet & Ithaca Press, p. 190, ISBN 978-0-86372-219-6, from the original on 2014-01-11, retrieved 2016-02-27, The other major Jewish population centre in Galilee was Upper Nazareth, established next to Nazareth, the principal Palestinian city in Arab-populated Galilee.
  7. ^ Jeffrey, David L. (1992). A Dictionary of biblical tradition in English literature. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 538–40. ISBN 978-0-85244-224-1. from the original on 2020-10-08. Retrieved 2020-11-01.
  8. ^ a b "Nazareth | Israel | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-08-02.
  9. ^ The other is ‏צֶמַח‎ tsémakh.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ "...if the word Nazareth is be derived from Hebrew at all, it must come from this root [i.e. נָצַר, naṣar, 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.
  12. ^ R. H. Mounce, "Nazareth", in Geoffrey W. Bromiley (ed.) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. 3 Eerdmans Publishing 1986, pp. 500–501.
  13. ^ Bauckham, Jude, Jude, Relatives of Jesus in the Early Church, pp. 64–65. See John 1:46 and John 7:41–42.
  14. ^ Carruth, 1996, p. 417 2021-05-28 at the Wayback Machine.
  15. ^ a b c d e f Carruth, Shawn; Robinson, James McConkey; Heil, Christoph (1996). Q 4:1–13,16: the temptations of Jesus : Nazara. Peeters Publishers. p. 415. ISBN 90-6831-880-2.
  16. ^ 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.
  17. ^ Antoun, Richard T.; Quataert, Donald (1991). Richard T. Antoun (ed.). Syria: society, culture, and polity. SUNY Press. ISBN 9780791407134. from the original on 2021-05-28. Retrieved 2020-11-01.
  18. ^ Luke 1:26
  19. ^ Luke 2:39
  20. ^ Ναζαρηνός ("Nazarene") and its permutations are at Mk. 1:24; 10:47; 14:67; 16:6; Lk 4:34 and 24:19. Ναζωραῖος ("Nazōraean") and its permutations are at Mt 2:23; 26:71; Lk 18:37; Jn 18:5, 7; 19:19; and six times in the Acts of the Apostles.
  21. ^ G.F.Moore, ‘Nazarene and Nazareth,’ in The Beginnings of Christianity 1/1, 1920 pp.426–432, according to which Hebrew Nôṣri the gentilic used of Jesus from the Tannaitic 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 yield Nazoraios. In Carruth p.404
  22. ^ 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
  23. ^ Nazarat/Nazarath are attested in a few Greek manuscripts, while the Syriac versions read Nazarath. Q 4:1–13,16: The Temptations of Jesus : Nazara, p.402.
  24. ^ Matthew 4:13
  25. ^ Luke 4:16
  26. ^ "Blue Letter Bible: Lexicon". from the original on 2012-11-24. Retrieved 2013-01-13.
  27. ^ Cheyne in 1899 Ency. Biblica, "Nazareth"; Lidzbarski [Kittel p. 878]; Kennard [JBL 65:2,134 ff.]; Berger [Novum Test. 38:4,323], et multi.
  28. ^ S. Chepey, "Nazirites in Late Second Temple Judaism" (2005), p 152, referring to W. Albright, G. Moore, and H. Schaeder.
  29. ^ Eusebius Ecclesiastical History, 1, vii,14, cited in Carruth, ibid. p.415.
  30. ^ Comment. In Joan. Tomus X (Migne, Patrologia Graeca 80:308–309.
  31. ^ Meistermann, Barnabas (1911). "Nazareth" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  32. ^ E. S. Drower, The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, Oxford University Press, 1937 reprint Gorgias Press, 2002 p.6
  33. ^ Avi-Yonah, M. (1962). "A List of Priestly Courses from Caesarea". Israel Exploration Journal. 12: 137–139.
  34. ^ R. Horsley, Archaeology, History and Society in Galilee. Trinity Press International, 1996, p. 110.
  35. ^ 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 called Nazarenes ';6 thus he attributes this designation ..."
  36. ^ Bruce Manning Metzger The early versions of the New Testament p86 – 1977 "Peshitta Matt, and Luke ... nasraya, 'of Nazareth'."
  37. ^ William Jennings Lexicon to the Syriac New Testament 1926 p143
  38. ^ Robert Payne Smith Compendious Syriac Dictionary 1903 p349
  39. ^ . Mazyan Bizaf Show. Archived from the original on 2017-10-13. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  40. ^ Županov, Ines G. (2005). Missionary Tropics: The Catholic Frontier in India (16th–17th centuries). University of Michigan. p. 99 and note. ISBN 0-472-11490-5. from the original on 2014-06-11. Retrieved 2016-02-27.
  41. ^ Bindu Malieckal (2005) Muslims, Matriliny, and A Midsummer Night's Dream: European Encounters with the Mappilas of Malabar, India; The Muslim World Volume 95 Issue 2 page 300
  42. ^ 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).
  43. ^ "Pre-Christian Rituals at Nazareth". Archaeology: A Publication of the Archaeological Institute of America. November–December 2003. from the original on 2006-05-28. Retrieved 2006-07-02.
  44. ^ a b Yardenna Alexandre (2020). "The Settlement History of Nazareth in the Iron Age and Early Roman Period". 'Atiqot. 98. from the original on 2020-05-26. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  45. ^ Dark, Ken (2023). Archaeology of Jesus' Nazareth. Oxford University Press. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-19-268899-6.
  46. ^ 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.
  47. ^ a b c Emmett 1995, p. 17.
  48. ^ The family is thought to have moved to Nazareth after the First 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 Emperor Hadrian forbade Jews to reside in Jerusalem, forcing Jewish residents to move elsewhere.
  49. ^ cf. Books of Chronicles - 1 Chronicles 24:7–19 and Book of Nehemiah - Nehemiah 11;12
  50. ^ Avi-Yonah, M. (1962). "A List of Priestly Courses from Caesarea". Israel Exploration Journal. 12: 138.
  51. ^ "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 VII 2019-05-09 at the Wayback Machine,§ 14)
  52. ^ Ken Dark, "Book review of The 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.
  53. ^ "Excavating a Lasting Legacy". University of South Florida.
  54. ^ Article "Nazareth" in the Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
  55. ^ E. Meyers & J. Strange, Archaeology, the Rabbis, & Early Christianity Nashville: Abingdon, 1981; Article "Nazareth" in the Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
  56. ^ House from Jesus' time excavated 2013-07-06 at the Wayback Machine (December 23, 2009) in Israel 21c Innovation News Service 2012-02-29 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2010-01-05
  57. ^ "For the Very First Time: A Residential Building from the Time of Jesus was Exposed in the Heart of Nazareth (12/21/09)". Israel Antiquities Authority. from the original on 2016-12-21. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  58. ^ Korb, Scott. Life in Year One. New York: Riverhead books, 2010. print, 109. ISBN 978-1-59448-899-3.
  59. ^ Bagatti, B. Excavations in Nazareth, vol. 1 (1969), p. 249.
  60. ^ C. Kopp, "Beiträge zur Geschichte Nazareths." Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society, vol. 18 (1938), p. 206, n.1.
  61. ^ Jack Finnegan, The Archaeology of the New Testament, Princeton University Press: Princeton, 1992, pp. 44–46.
  62. ^ 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.
  63. ^ Frank Williams,The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, Book I (Sects 1–46) E. J. Brill (1897), rev.ed. 2009, p.140.
  64. ^ Taylor, J. Christians and the Holy Places. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993, p. 265.
  65. ^ Taylor 229, 266; Kopp 1938:215.
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Sources

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nazareth.
 
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Nazareth.
  • Nazareth entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith
  • Nazareth Jewish Encyclopedia
  • Nazareth Easton's Bible Dictionary
  • Nazareth Village, recreation of Nazareth 2000 years ago. The Nazareth Jesus Knew
  • Nazareth Travel Guide 2016-04-01 at the Wayback Machine

January 11, 2024
nazareth, other, uses, disambiguation, nazaret, redirects, here, name, nazaret, name, əth, arabic, الن, اص, nāṣira, hebrew, nāṣəraṯ, syriac, ܢܨܪܬ, naṣrath, largest, city, northern, district, israel, 2021, population, known, arab, capital, israel, serves, cultu. For other uses see Nazareth disambiguation Nazaret redirects here For the name see Nazaret name Nazareth ˈ n ae z er e 8 NAZ er eth Arabic الن اص ر ة an Naṣira Hebrew נ צ ר ת Naṣeraṯ Syriac ܢܨܪܬ Naṣrath is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel In 2021 its population was 77 925 1 Known as the Arab capital of Israel 2 Nazareth serves as a cultural political religious economic and commercial center for the Arab citizens of Israel and is also a center of Arab and Palestinian nationalism 3 The inhabitants are predominantly Arab citizens of Israel of whom 69 are Muslim and 30 9 Christian 2 4 5 6 The city also commands immense religious significance deriving from its status as the hometown of Jesus the central figure of Christianity Nazareth الن اص ر ة an Naṣiraנ צ ר ת NatsratView of Nazareth with the Basilica of the Annunciation at the centerSealNazarethLocation of Nazareth in Northern IsraelShow map of Northern Haifa region of IsraelNazarethLocation of Nazareth in IsraelShow map of IsraelCoordinates 32 42 07 N 35 18 12 E 32 70194 N 35 30333 E 32 70194 35 30333Country IsraelDistrictNorthernFounded2200 BC Early settlement AD 300 Major city MunicipalityEst 1885Government TypeMayor council BodyMunicipality of Nazareth MayorAli SallamArea Total14 123 km2 5 453 sq mi Elevation347 m 1 138 ft Population 2021 1 77 925DemonymNazareneEthnicity 1 Jews and others0 2 Arabs99 8 Time zoneUTC 2 IST Summer DST UTC 3 IDT Area code 972 Israel Websitewww wbr nazareth wbr muni wbr ilFindings unearthed in the neighboring Qafzeh Cave show that the area around Nazareth was populated in the prehistoric period Nazareth was a Jewish village during the Roman and Byzantine periods and is described in the New Testament as the childhood home of Jesus 7 It became an important city during the Crusades after Tancred established it as the capital of the Principality of Galilee The city declined under Mamluk rule and following the Ottoman conquest the city s Christian residents were expelled only to return once Fakhr ad Din 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 Since late antiquity Nazareth has been a center of Christian pilgrimage with many shrines commemorating biblical events The Church of the Annunciation is considered one of the largest Christian sites of worship in the Middle East It contains the Grotto of the Annunciation where according to Catholic tradition angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she would conceive and bear Jesus According to Greek Orthodox belief the same event took place at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation also known as Church of Saint Gabriel Other important churches in Nazareth include the Synagogue Church St Joseph s Church the Mensa Christi Church and the Basilica of Jesus the Adolescent 8 Contents 1 Etymology 1 1 Hebrew Netzer 1 2 Greek Nazara 1 3 Arabic an Naṣira 2 New Testament references 3 Extrabiblical references 3 1 Nazarenes Nasranis Notzrim Christians 4 History 4 1 Stone Age 4 2 Bronze and Iron Age 4 3 Roman period 4 4 Byzantine period 4 5 Early Muslim period 4 6 Crusader period 4 7 Mamluk period 4 8 Ottoman period 4 9 British Mandate period 4 10 Israeli period 4 10 1 1948 War 4 10 2 1950s 1960s 4 10 3 1980s 2010s 4 10 4 2020s 5 Geography 5 1 Climate 6 Demographics 6 1 Demographic history 7 Economy 8 Religious sites 8 1 Christian 8 2 Muslim 9 Archaeology 9 1 Venerated area near the Basilica of the Annunciation 9 2 Early Roman house 9 3 Kokh tombs 9 4 Ancient bathhouse at Mary s Well 10 Education 11 Sports 12 Hospitals 13 Twin towns sister cities 13 1 Other cooperation 14 See also 15 References 15 1 Citations 15 2 Sources 16 External linksEtymologyHebrew Netzer One view holds that Nazareth is derived from one of the Hebrew words for branch namely ne ṣer נ צ ר 9 and alludes to the prophetic messianic words in Book of Isaiah 11 1 from Jesse s roots a Branch netzer will bear fruit One view suggests this toponym 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 verb na ṣar נ צ ר 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 the Gospel of John suggest that ancient Jews did not connect the town s name to prophecy 13 Greek Nazara Another theory holds that the Greek form Nazara Nazara used in Matthew and Luke may derive from an earlier Aramaic form of the name or from another Semitic language form 14 If there were a tsade צ in the original Semitic form as in the later Hebrew forms it would normally have been transcribed in Greek with a sigma s instead of a zeta z 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 Lower Galilee 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 Arabic an Naṣira The Arabic name for Nazareth is an Naṣira and Jesus Arabic ي س وع Yasu is also called an Naṣiri reflecting the Arab tradition of according people an attribution a name denoting whence a person comes in either geographical or tribal terms In the Qur an Christians are referred to as naṣara meaning followers of an Naṣiri or those who follow Jesus of Nazareth 17 New Testament referencesIn Luke s Gospel Nazareth is first described as a town of Galilee and home of Mary 18 Following the birth and early epiphanial events of chapter 2 of Luke s Gospel 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 the Nazarenos or Jesus the Nazōraios 20 One plausible view is that Nazōraean Nazwraῖos is a normal Greek adaptation of a reconstructed hypothetical term in Jewish Aramaic for the word later used in Rabbinical sources to refer to Jesus 21 Nazareth is named twelve times in surviving Greek manuscript versions of the New Testament 10 times as Nazareth or Nazaret 22 and twice as Nazara 15 The former two may retain the feminine endings common in Galilean toponyms 15 The minor variants Nazarat and Nazarath are also attested 23 Nazara Nazara might be the earliest form of the name in Greek going back to the putative Q document It is found in Matthew 4 13 24 and Luke 4 16 25 15 dubious discuss However the Textus Receptus clearly translates all passages as Nazara 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 of Galilean Aramaic 28 Extrabiblical references nbsp Nazareth as depicted on a Byzantine mosaic Chora Church Constantinople The form Nazara is also found in the earliest non scriptural reference to the town a citation by Sextus Julius Africanus dated about AD 221 29 see Middle Roman to Byzantine Periods below The Church Father Origen c AD 185 to 254 knows the forms Nazara and Nazaret 30 Later Eusebius in his Onomasticon translated by St Jerome also refers to the settlement as Nazara 31 The nașirutha of the scriptures of the Mandeans refers to priestly craft not to Nazareth which they identified with Qom 32 The first non Christian reference to Nazareth is an inscription on a marble fragment from a synagogue found in Caesarea 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 the Bar 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 Nazarenes Nasranis Notzrim Christians Main article Nazarene title 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 by Paul in Romans and Nazarenes once by Tertullus 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 the Nazarenes Nazoraioi men of Nazareth in Acts Against this some medieval Jewish polemical texts connect notzrim with the netsarim watchmen of Ephraim in Jeremiah 31 6 In Syriac Aramaic Nasrath ܢܨܪܬ is used for Nazareth while Nazarenes Acts 24 5 and of Nazareth are both Nasrani or Nasraya ܕܢܨܪܝܐ an adjectival form 36 37 38 Nasrani is used in the Quran for Christians and in Modern Standard Arabic may refer more widely to Western people 39 Saint Thomas Christians an ancient community of Jewish Christians in India who trace their origins to evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century are sometimes known by the name Nasrani even today 40 41 HistoryStone Age Archaeological researchers who have revealed that a funerary and cult center at Kfar HaHoresh about two miles 3 2 km from current Nazareth dates back roughly 9 000 years to the Pre 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 priest Bellarmino Bagatti Director of Christian Archaeology carried out extensive excavation of this Venerated Area from 1955 to 1965 Fr Bagatti uncovered pottery dating from the Middle Bronze Age 2200 to 1500 BC and ceramics silos and grinding mills from the Iron Age 1500 to 586 BC which indicated substantial settlement in the Nazareth basin at that time Roman period nbsp Historic photo of Mary s WellArchaeological evidence shows the Nazareth was occupied during the late Hellenistic period through the Roman period and into the Byzantine period 44 45 According to the Gospel of Luke Nazareth was the home village of Mary as well as the site of the Annunciation when the angel Gabriel informed Mary that she would give birth to Jesus According to the Gospel of Matthew Joseph and Mary resettled in Nazareth after returning from the flight 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 A Hebrew inscription found in Caesarea dating to the late 3rd or early 4th century mentions Nazareth as the home of the priestly Hapizzez Hafizaz family after the Bar 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 in Galilee where it settled Nazareth is not spelled with the z sound but with the Hebrew tsade 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 18th Kohen family Happitzetz הפצץ for at least several centuries after the Bar 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 when Sextus Julius Africanus cited by Eusebius Church History 1 7 14 speaks of Nazara as a village in Judea and locates it near Cochaba modern day Kaukab 51 In the same passage Africanus writes of desposunoi relatives of Jesus who he claims kept 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 nbsp The Basilica of the AnnunciationJames 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 a mikva 58 nbsp Crusader era carving in NazarethA tablet at the Bibliotheque 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 possibly Sepphoris 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 the Bronze and Iron Ages and states that Nazareth was a strongly Jewish settlement in the Roman period 61 Byzantine period Epiphanius in his Panarion c AD 375 numbers Nazareth among the cities devoid of a non Jewish population 62 Epiphanius writing of Joseph of Tiberias a wealthy Roman Jew who converted to Christianity in the time of Constantine says he claimed to have received an imperial rescript to build Christian churches in Jewish towns and villages where no gentiles or Samaritans dwell naming Tiberias Diocaesarea Sepphoris Nazareth and Capernaum 63 From this scarce notice it has been concluded that a small church which encompassed a cave complex might have been located in Nazareth in the early 4th century 64 although the town was Jewish until the 7th century 65 The Christian monk and Bible translator Jerome writing at the beginning of the 5th century says Nazareth was a viculus or mere village 66 In the 6th century religious narrations from local Christians about the Virgin Mary began to spark interest in the site among pilgrims who founded the first church at the location of the current Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation at the site of a freshwater spring today known as Mary s Well Around 570 the Anonymous of Piacenza reports travelling from Sepphoris 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 67 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 68 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 69 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 the Persians invaded Palestine 66 The Christian Byzantine author Eutychius claimed that Jewish people of Nazareth helped the Persians carry out their slaughter of the Christians 66 When the Byzantine or Eastern Roman emperor Heraclius ejected the Persians in AD 629 630 he expelled the Jews from the village turning it all Christian 69 Early Muslim period The Arab Muslim invasion of AD 638 had no immediate impact on the Christians of Nazareth and their churches since Bishop Arculf 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 69 The 721 iconoclastic edict of Caliph Yazid 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 70 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 an Arab geographer in 943 71 Crusader period nbsp Makam al Nabi Sain Mosque of NazarethIn 1099 the Crusader Tancred captured Galilee and established his capital in Nazareth He was the ruler of the Principality of Galilee which was established at least in name in 1099 as a vassal of the Kingdom of Jerusalem Later in 1115 Nazareth was created as a seigneury within the principality A Martin of Nazareth who probably acted as viscount of Nazareth is documented in 1115 and in 1130 1131 72 Nazareth was the original site of the Latin Patriarch also established by Tancred The ancient diocese of Scythopolis was relocated under the Archbishop 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 of Saladin in the Battle of Hattin the remaining Crusaders and European clergy were forced to leave town 73 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 73 Mamluk period In 1263 Baybars the Mamluk 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 73 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 the grotto 73 In the 14th century Franciscan friars were permitted to return and live within the ruins of the basilica 73 Ottoman period nbsp Titus Tobler s 1868 map of Nazareth nbsp Nazareth in 1657 by Jan Janssonius nbsp Nazareth in 1839 published in The Holy Land Syria Idumea Arabia Egypt and Nubia nbsp Well of St Mary Nazareth by Felix Bonfils ca 1880In 1584 the Franciscan friars were evicted again from the site of the ruined basilica 73 In 1620 Fakhr al Din II a Druze emir who controlled this part of Ottoman Syria permitted them to build a small church at the Grotto of the Annunciation Pilgrimage tours to surrounding sacred sites were organised by the Franciscans but the monks suffered harassment from surrounding Bedouin tribes who often kidnapped them for ransom 73 Stability returned with the rule of Zahir al Umar a powerful Arab sheikh who ruled the Galilee and later much of the Levantine 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 s sheikhdom because it allowed him to wield control over the agricultural areas of central Galilee 74 He ensured Nazareth s security for other reasons as well among them strengthening ties with France by protecting the Christian community and protecting one of his wives who resided in Nazareth 75 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 73 He also permitted the Franciscans to purchase the Synagogue Church in 1741 and authorized the Greek Orthodox community to build St Gabriel s Church in 1767 75 Zahir commissioned the construction of a government house known as the Seraya 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 76 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 77 Nazareth was temporarily captured by the troops of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799 during his Syrian campaign Napoleon visited the holy sites and considered appointing his general Jean Andoche Junot as the duke of Nazareth 73 During the rule of Governor Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt 1830 1840 over much of Ottoman 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 the massacres of 1860 by Aqil Agha the Bedouin leader who exercised control over the Galilee between 1845 and 1870 73 Kaloost Vartan an Armenian from Istanbul arrived in 1864 and established the first medical mission in Nazareth the Scottish hospital on the hill or the Nazareth Hospital as it is known today with sponsorship from the Edinburgh 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 73 In 1871 Christ Church the city s only Anglican church was completed under the leadership of the Rev John Zeller and consecrated by Bishop Samuel Gobat 78 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 many souks open air markets which included separate souks for agricultural produce metalwork jewelry and leathers 79 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 eight souks 80 The Ottomans lost control of Palestine including Nazareth to the Allied Powers during World War I By then Nazareth s importance declined significantly as most of the Arab villages in the Jezreel Valley had been replaced by newly established Jewish communities 79 British Mandate period nbsp Nazareth postcard by Karimeh Abbud ca 1925 nbsp Nazareth postcard by de Fadil Saba ca 1925 nbsp Nazareth 1937The United Kingdom gained control of Palestine in 1917 the same year of the Balfour 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 the Zionist movement sending a delegation to the 1919 First Palestine Arab Congress and issuing a letter of protest in 1920 that condemned the movement while also proclaiming solidarity with the Jews of Palestine Politically Nazareth was becoming further involved in the growing Palestinian 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 the Supreme Muslim Council s Organization of Muslim Youth and the National Muslim Association were established in Nazareth later in the 1920s 81 in 1922 there had been a small population of 58 Jews and Jewish families living in Nazareth 82 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 83 This included adding two reservoirs at the northwestern hills and several new cisterns 81 By 1930 a church for the Baptist denomination a municipal garden at Mary s Well and a police station based in Zahir al Umar s Seraya had been established and the Muslim Sharqiya Quarter had expanded 79 In the 1936 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 Christian Fu ad Nassar and Nazareth resident and Indur native Tawfiq al Ibrahim The nearby villages of Saffuriya and al 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 the British proposal to include the Galilee 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 84 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 79 A new police station was built on Nazareth s southernmost hill 79 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 81 Nazareth was in the territory allotted to the Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan In the months leading up to the 1948 Arab Israeli War the town became a refuge for Arab Palestinians fleeing the urban centers of Tiberias Haifa and Baysan before and during the Haganah s capture of those cities on 18 April 22 April and 12 May 1948 respectively 85 Israeli period 1948 War nbsp Amin Salim Jarjora left Mayor of Nazareth with Israeli prime minister Moshe Sharett 1955Nazareth 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 the Arab 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 86 Most of the fighting around Nazareth occurred in its satellite villages particularly in Saffuriya whose residents put up resistance until largely dispersing following Israeli air raids on 15 July 87 During the ten days of fighting which occurred between the first and second truce Nazareth capitulated to Israeli troops during Operation 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 The Muslim mayor of Nazareth Yusef Fahum requested a halt to all resistance put up by Nazarenes to prevent the town s destruction 86 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 commander Ben 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 General Chaim 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 his judgement up fearing that expelling Christian Arabs might provoke an outcry throughout the Christian world 88 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 84 1950s 1960s nbsp View of modern NazarethIn 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 89 As the largest Arab town in Israel Nazareth became a center of Arab and Palestinian nationalism and because the Communist Party was the sole legal political group that took up many of the local Arab causes it gained popularity in Nazareth 90 Arab political organization within Nazareth and Israel was largely stymied by the state until recent decades 91 Arab and Palestinian nationalist sentiment continue to influence Nazareth s political life 92 In 1954 1 200 dunams 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 of Nazareth Illit The latter was built as a way for the state to counterbalance the Arab majority in the region 93 Knesset member Seif el Din el Zoubi who represented Nazareth actively opposed the Absentees 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 94 Israel offered compensation to these internal refugees but most refused for fear of permanently relinquishing their right of return Tensions between Nazareth s inhabitants and the state came to a head during a 1958 May 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 90 Martial law ended in 1966 On 5 January 1964 Pope Paul VI included Nazareth in the first ever papal visit to the Holy Land 95 1980s 2010s 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 96 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 within Reineh s jurisdiction In 1993 the residents of Bilal became official residents of Reineh 96 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 the Interior Ministry el Zoubi was able to have areas to the northwest of the city annexed to the municipality 97 In the 1980s the government began attempts to merge the nearby village of Ilut with Nazareth although this move was opposed by residents from both localities and the Nazareth Municipality 97 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 separate local council in 1991 96 The Israeli government has designated a Nazareth metropolitan area that includes the local councils of Yafa an Naseriyye to the south Reineh Mashhad and Kafr Kanna to the north Iksal and Nazareth Illit to the east and Migdal HaEmek to the west nbsp Monument to Arab Israeli casualties in the October 2000 events NazarethAs the political center of Israel s Arab citizens Nazareth is the scene of annual rallies held by the community including Land Day since March 1975 and May Day 98 There are also frequent demonstrations in support of the Palestinian cause 99 During the First 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 50 000 participants from Nazareth and other Arab towns 100 On 13 May during a football match in Nahariya 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 98 Preparations for the Pope s visit to Nazareth in 2000 triggered highly publicized tensions related to the Basilica 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 named Shihab 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 the waqf 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 101 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 102 In July 2006 a rocket fired by Hezbollah as part of the 2006 Israel Lebanon conflict killed two children in Nazareth 103 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 the Ministry of Tourism 104 2020s Riots broke out in Nazareth during the 2021 Israel Palestine crisis 105 Geography nbsp Nazareth cityscapeTwo 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 106 Modern day Nazareth is nestled in a natural bowl which reaches from 320 metres above sea level to the crest of the hills about 488 metres 107 Nazareth is about 25 kilometres from the Sea of Galilee and about 9 kilometres west from Mount Tabor The major cities of Jerusalem and Tel 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 Further information Iphtahel Climate Nazareth has a hot summer Mediterranean climate Koppen climate classification Csa Climate data for Nazareth IsraelMonth Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearRecord high C F 22 72 28 82 31 88 37 99 42 108 40 104 40 104 42 108 41 106 38 100 32 90 30 86 42 108 Mean daily maximum C F 15 2 59 4 16 0 60 8 18 3 64 9 22 7 72 9 27 9 82 2 30 1 86 2 31 2 88 2 31 6 88 9 30 0 86 0 28 1 82 6 23 5 74 3 17 5 63 5 24 3 75 8 Daily mean C F 11 2 52 2 12 0 53 6 13 6 56 5 17 1 62 8 21 8 71 2 24 4 75 9 26 0 78 8 26 6 79 9 25 0 77 0 22 8 73 0 18 7 65 7 13 7 56 7 19 4 66 9 Mean daily minimum C F 7 1 44 8 7 9 46 2 8 9 48 0 11 5 52 7 15 7 60 3 18 7 65 7 20 8 69 4 21 5 70 7 19 9 67 8 17 5 63 5 13 8 56 8 9 8 49 6 14 4 58 0 Record low C F 2 4 27 7 3 9 25 0 1 30 2 36 6 43 8 46 17 63 17 63 12 54 7 45 1 34 1 4 29 5 3 9 25 0 Average precipitation mm inches 156 6 1 111 4 4 72 2 8 23 0 9 7 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 15 0 6 72 2 8 123 4 8 580 22 7 Average precipitation days 16 14 11 6 3 1 0 1 1 6 9 15 83Average relative humidity 68 63 61 53 50 50 52 55 56 59 59 70 58Mean daily sunshine hours 6 6 7 8 11 12 12 11 10 9 7 6 9Percent possible sunshine 54 57 59 65 76 85 86 85 81 75 68 55 71Source 1 108 Source 2 109 sunshine percentages Demographics nbsp Old postcard of Nazareth women based on photo by Felix BonfilsNazareth is the largest Arab city in Israel 110 In 2009 the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics reported that Nazareth s Arab population was 69 Muslim and 30 9 Christian 111 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 is Arab 112 The greater Nazareth metropolitan area includes Nof HaGalil Yafa an Naseriyye Reineh Migdal HaEmek Ein Mahil Ilut Kafr Kanna Mashhad and Iksal 113 Nazareth is home to the largest Arab Christian community in Israel 114 the Christian communities of Nazareth are varied and included various denominations the most prominent among them the Greek Orthodox Melkite Greek Catholic Latin Catholics Maronites Armenian Orthodox and Protestants 115 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 116 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 three hospitals and bank managers judges and school principals and faculties 117 The socio economic gap between the Christians wealth and Muslim poverty led sometimes to sectarian crises 118 Many of the descendants of the Zayadina clan in modern day Israel use the surname al Zawahirah 119 or Dhawahri 120 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 before its depopulation in the 1948 Arab Israeli war the village of Damun 121 Dhawahri made up one of the important families in Muslim community of Nazareth beside the Fahoums the Zu bis and the Onallas 122 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 123 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 124 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 125 For much of the British Mandatory period 1922 1948 Nazareth had a Christian majority mostly Orthodox Christians and a Muslim minority 5 In 1918 Nazareth had an estimated population of 8 000 two thirds Christian 126 In the 1922 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 the 1931 census the population grew to 8 756 and the ratio of Muslims increased to 37 The largest Christian community were the Greek Orthodox denomination followed by the Roman Catholics and the Melkites Smaller communities of Anglicans Maronites Syriac Catholics Protestants and Copts also existed 127 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 of Shefa Amr Dabburiya Ilut and Kafr Kanna returned to their homes However those Muslim and Christian internally displaced persons from the nearby destroyed villages of Ma lul al Mujaydil Saffuriya the Haifa area village of Balad al Sheikh and the major cities of Acre Haifa Tiberias Safad and Baysan remained as they were not able to return to their hometowns 128 During the war and in the following months internally displaced persons from Saffuriya established the Safafra Quarter named after their former village 129 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 and Indur 130 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 of internally displaced Palestinian Arabs absorbed into the city from neighboring towns during the 1948 Arab Israeli war 5 Economy nbsp Nazareth Hi Tech ParkIn 2011 Nazareth had over 20 Arab owned high tech companies mostly in the field of software development According to the Haaretz newspaper the city has been called the Silicon Valley of the Arab community in view of its potential in this sphere 131 Religious sitesChristian nbsp Church in Nazareth on the supposed site of Joseph s workshop 1891 nbsp Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation nbsp Christmas Eve In NazarethNazareth is home to dozens of monasteries and churches many of them in the Old City 132 Churches The Church of the Annunciation is the largest Catholic church in the Middle East 133 In Roman Catholic tradition it marks the site where the Archangel Gabriel announced the future birth of Jesus to Mary 134 The Church of St Gabriel is an alternative Greek Orthodox site for the Annunciation The Greek Catholic Church of Nazareth is a Byzantine Rite Catholic church Greek Catholic Melkite Church The Synagogue Church is a Melkite Greek Catholic Church at the traditional site of the synagogue where Jesus preached 135 The St Joseph s Church Roman Catholic marks the traditional location for the workshop of Saint Joseph The Mensa Christi Church run by the Franciscan religious order commemorates the traditional location where Jesus dined with the Apostles The Basilica of Jesus the Adolescent run by the Salesian religious order at the top of the hill overlooking the city from the north The Church of Christ is an Anglican church in Nazareth 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 The Jesus 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 136 containing among other things the only archaeologically excavated house from first century AD NazarethMuslim Muslim holy sites include The Shrine of al Sheikh Amer The Shrine of to the Prophet we go Makam Ela Nabi Sa in Mosque The Shrine of Shihab ad Din Muslim places of worship include The White Mosque Masjid al Abiad the oldest mosque in Nazareth located in Harat Alghama Mosque Quarter in the center of the Old Market 137 138 The Peace Mosque Masjid al Salam Archaeology 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 139 later digs under Fr Bagatti who acted as the principal archaeologist for the venerated sites in Nazareth unearthed quantities of later Roman and Byzantine artifacts 140 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 insignificant hamlet 141 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 the Israel 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 142 Kokh tombs Noteworthy is that all the post Iron Age tombs in the Nazareth basin approximately two dozen are of the kokh plural kokhim or later types this type probably first appeared in Galilee in the middle of the 1st century AD 143 Kokh tombs in the Nazareth area have been excavated by B Bagatti N Feig Z Yavor and noted by Z Gal 144 Ancient bathhouse at Mary s Well In the mid 1990s a shopkeeper discovered tunnels under his shop near Mary s Well in Nazareth The tunnels were identified as the hypocaust of a bathhouse 145 Excavations in 1997 98 revealed remains dating from the Roman Crusader Mamluk and Ottoman periods 146 147 148 149 150 Education nbsp Don Bosco SchoolWith 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 and Rameh became one of a few towns in the newly established state of Israel to emerge as a central space for Arab culture and politics 151 Three prestigious Arab Christian schools in Nazareth are the St Joseph s Eclerical School run by the Melkite Greek Catholic Church the Nuns of St Joseph School a Catholic institution and the Nazareth Baptist High School a Protestant institution 152 About half of students in Nazareth attend Christian schools 10 schools that are found in the city 153 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 from Christian schools 154 155 These Arab Christian schools accommodate Christian students Muslims Druze from across the country 156 SportsThe city s main football club Ahi Nazareth currently plays in Liga Leumit the second tier of Israeli football The club spent two seasons in the top division in 2003 04 and again in 2009 10 They are based at the Ilut Stadium in nearby Ilut Other local clubs are Al Nahda Nazareth currently plays in Liga Bet Beitar al Amal Nazareth Hapoel Bnei Nazareth and Hapoel al Ittihad Nazareth all play in Liga Gimel Hospitals nbsp Italian Nazareth HospitalThe city has three hospitals run by the Christian community of Nazareth 117 and serving its districts The Nazareth Hospital also called the English Hospital French Nazareth Hospital Italian Nazareth HospitalTwin towns sister citiesNazareth is twinned with nbsp Baguio Philippines 157 nbsp Czestochowa Poland 158 nbsp Florence Italy 159 nbsp Nablus Palestine 160 nbsp Neubrandenburg Germany 161 Other cooperation nbsp Loreto Italy the Sanctuary of the Annunciation in Nazareth and the Sanctuary of the Incarnation in Loreto are twinned 162 See alsoList of Arab localities in Israel Nazareth Village Nazareth IrisReferencesCitations a b c Regional Statistics Israel Central Bureau of Statistics Retrieved 22 February 2023 a b Laurie King Irani Spring 1996 Review of Beyond the Basilica Christians and Muslims in Nazareth Journal of Palestine Studies 25 3 103 105 doi 10 1525 jps 1996 25 3 00p0131i JSTOR 2538265 Tamir Sorek 10 March 2015 Palestinian Commemoration in Israel Calendars Monuments and Martyrs 2 ed Stanford University Press p 97 ISBN 9780804795203 2005 PDF Cbs gov il Archived from the original PDF on 2012 09 05 Retrieved 2012 11 16 a b c d Dumper Michael Stanley Bruce E Abu Lughod Janet L 2006 Cities of the Middle East and North Africa a historical encyclopedia Illustrated ed ABC CLIO pp 273 274 ISBN 9781576079195 Kanaaneh Rhoda Ann 2002 Birthing the nation strategies of Palestinian women in Israel University of California Press p 117 ISBN 978 0 520 22379 0 archived from the original on 2014 01 11 retrieved 2016 02 27 All Arab cities such as Nazareth the largest Palestinian city in Israel Quigley John 1997 Flight into the maelstrom Soviet immigration to Israel and Middle East peace Garnet amp Ithaca Press p 190 ISBN 978 0 86372 219 6 archived from the original on 2014 01 11 retrieved 2016 02 27 The other major Jewish population centre in Galilee was Upper Nazareth established next to Nazareth the principal Palestinian city in Arab populated Galilee Jeffrey David L 1992 A Dictionary of biblical tradition in English literature Wm B Eerdmans Publishing pp 538 40 ISBN 978 0 85244 224 1 Archived from the original on 2020 10 08 Retrieved 2020 11 01 a b Nazareth Israel Britannica www britannica com Retrieved 2022 08 02 The other is צ מ ח tsemakh Bargil Pixner cited in Paul Barnett Jesus amp the Rise of Early Christianity A History of New Testament Times InterVarsity Press 2002 p 89 n 80 if the word Nazareth is be derived from Hebrew at all it must come from this root i e נ צ ר naṣar 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 See John 1 46 and John 7 41 42 Carruth 1996 p 417 Archived 2021 05 28 at the Wayback Machine a b c d e f Carruth Shawn Robinson James McConkey Heil Christoph 1996 Q 4 1 13 16 the temptations of Jesus Nazara Peeters Publishers p 415 ISBN 90 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 Antoun Richard T Quataert Donald 1991 Richard T Antoun ed Syria society culture and polity SUNY Press ISBN 9780791407134 Archived from the original on 2021 05 28 Retrieved 2020 11 01 Luke 1 26 Luke 2 39 Nazarhnos Nazarene and its permutations are at Mk 1 24 10 47 14 67 16 6 Lk 4 34 and 24 19 Nazwraῖos Nazōraean and its permutations are at Mt 2 23 26 71 Lk 18 37 Jn 18 5 7 19 19 and six times in the Acts of the Apostles G F Moore Nazarene and Nazareth in The Beginnings of Christianity 1 1 1920 pp 426 432 according to which Hebrew Noṣri the gentilic used of Jesus from the Tannaitic period onwards would have corresponded to a hypothetical Jewish Aramaic Nōṣraya which would have in turn produced Neṣōraya A normal adaptation of this in Greek would yield Nazoraios In Carruth p 404 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 Nazarat Nazarath are attested in a few Greek manuscripts while the Syriac versions read Nazarath Q 4 1 13 16 The Temptations of Jesus Nazara p 402 Matthew 4 13 Luke 4 16 Blue Letter Bible Lexicon Archived from the original on 2012 11 24 Retrieved 2013 01 13 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 Eusebius Ecclesiastical 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 called Nazarenes 6 thus he attributes this designation Bruce Manning Metzger The early versions of the New Testament p86 1977 Peshitta Matt and Luke nasraya of Nazareth William Jennings Lexicon to the Syriac New Testament 1926 p143 Robert Payne Smith Compendious Syriac Dictionary 1903 p349 Nasara Mazyan Bizaf Show Archived from the original on 2017 10 13 Retrieved 2017 03 30 Zupanov Ines G 2005 Missionary Tropics The Catholic Frontier in India 16th 17th centuries University of Michigan p 99 and note ISBN 0 472 11490 5 Archived from the original on 2014 06 11 Retrieved 2016 02 27 Bindu Malieckal 2005 Muslims Matriliny and A Midsummer Night s Dream European Encounters with the Mappilas of Malabar India The Muslim World Volume 95 Issue 2 page 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 2006 05 28 Retrieved 2006 07 02 a b Yardenna Alexandre 2020 The Settlement History of Nazareth in the Iron Age and Early Roman Period Atiqot 98 Archived from the original on 2020 05 26 Retrieved 2020 05 26 Dark Ken 2023 Archaeology of Jesus Nazareth Oxford University Press p 50 ISBN 978 0 19 268899 6 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 a b c Emmett 1995 p 17 The family is thought to have moved to Nazareth after the First 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 Emperor Hadrian forbade Jews to reside in Jerusalem forcing Jewish residents to move elsewhere cf Books of Chronicles 1 Chronicles 24 7 19 and Book of Nehemiah Nehemiah 11 12 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 VII Archived 2019 05 09 at the Wayback Machine 14 Ken Dark Book review of The 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 amp 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 Excavating a Lasting Legacy University of South Florida Article Nazareth in the Anchor Bible Dictionary New York Doubleday 1992 E Meyers amp J Strange Archaeology the Rabbis amp Early Christianity Nashville Abingdon 1981 Article Nazareth in the Anchor Bible Dictionary New York Doubleday 1992 House from Jesus time excavated Archived 2013 07 06 at the Wayback Machine December 23 2009 in Israel 21c Innovation News Service Archived 2012 02 29 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2010 01 05 For the Very First Time A Residential Building from the Time of Jesus was Exposed in the Heart of Nazareth 12 21 09 Israel Antiquities Authority Archived from the original on 2016 12 21 Retrieved 2017 01 07 Korb Scott Life in Year One New York Riverhead books 2010 print 109 ISBN 978 1 59448 899 3 Bagatti B Excavations in Nazareth vol 1 1969 p 249 C Kopp Beitrage zur Geschichte Nazareths Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society vol 18 1938 p 206 n 1 Jack Finnegan The Archaeology of the New Testament Princeton University Press Princeton 1992 pp 44 46 Epiphanius Panarion 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 Taylor 229 266 Kopp 1938 215 a b c C Kopp Beitrage 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 s Patrologia Graeca vol 111 p 1083 Andrew S Jacobs Remains of the Jews p 127 P Geyer Itinera Hierosolymitana saeculi Lipsiae G Freytag 1898 page 161 a b c Emmett 1995 p 18 Emmett 1995 pp 18 19 Emmett 1995 p 19 Murray Alan The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem A Dynastic History 1099 1125 Unit for Prosopographical Research Linacre College Oxford 2000 p 217 a b c d e f g h i j k Dumper p 273 Yazbak Mahmoud 1998 Haifa in the Late Ottoman Period A Muslim Town in Transition 1864 1914 Brill Academic Pub p 15 ISBN 90 04 11051 8 Archived from the original on 2018 12 25 Retrieved 2016 02 27 a b Emmett 1995 p 22 Srouji Elias S 2003 Cyclamens from Galilee Memoirs of a Physician from Nazareth iUniverse Inc p 187 ISBN 9780595303045 Archived from the original on 2021 05 28 Retrieved 2020 11 01 Emmett 1995 p 23 Miller Duane Alexander October 2012 Christ Church Anglican in Nazareth a brief history with photographs PDF St Francis Magazine 8 5 696 703 Archived from the original PDF on 2013 09 08 a b c d e Emmett 1995 p 37 Emmett 1995 p 33 a b c Emmett 1995 p 39 Palestine Census 1922 archive org Shamir Ronen 2013 Current Flow The Electrification of Palestine Stanford Stanford University Press a b Emmett 1995 p 40 Emmett 1995 pp 40 41 a b Emmett 1995 p 44 Emmett 1995 p 43 Derek J Penslar Jews and the Military A History Archived 2020 01 03 at the Wayback Machine Princeton University Press 2013 p 235 Emmett 1995 p 49 a b Emmett 1995 pp 49 50 Emmett 1995 pp 50 51 Emmett 1995 p 48 Emmett 1995 p 52 Emmett 1995 p 51 Sudilovsky Judith 2009 Papal Visits to the Holy Land Official Catholic Directory Archived from the original on December 13 2013 a b c Emmett 1995 p 54 a b Emmett 1995 p 53 a b Emmett 1995 p 55 Emmett 1995 p 56 Emmett 1995 p 59 Final Bar on Controversial Nazareth Mosque Catholic World News March 4 2002 Archived from the original on November 6 2018 Retrieved August 1 2006 Thousands of Israeli Arabs protest attack USA Today March 4 2006 Archived from the original on 2012 06 28 Retrieved 2017 09 05 Rocket attacks kill two Israeli Arab children Reuters July 19 2006 Archived from the original on May 28 2021 Retrieved August 7 2006 Doyle Rachel B 22 December 2011 Nazareth as a Culinary Destination The New York Times Archived from the original on 16 December 2017 Retrieved 27 February 2017 Clashes and arrests as Jerusalem protests spread to Haifa Nazareth ynetnews 2021 05 09 Archived from the original on 2021 05 12 Retrieved 2021 05 12 a The Protevangelium 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 in Bethlehem 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 by Sextus 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 the History of Joseph the Carpenter knows a southern location for Nazareth It locates Nazareth the home of Joseph within walking distance of the Jerusalem Temple Map Survey of Palestine 1946 1 5 000 OCLC 17193107 Also Emmett 1995b p 31 Fig 11 CLIMATE NAZARETH Climate Data Archived from the original on 2014 11 29 Retrieved 2014 11 20 Nazareth Climate Weather2Travel Archived from the original on 2014 10 26 Retrieved 2014 11 20 Yurit Naffe October 2001 Statistilite 15 Population State of Israel Central Bureau of Statistics a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a Missing or empty url help Nazareth Census 2009 PDF Cbs gov il Archived from the original PDF on 2013 10 11 Retrieved 2012 11 16 Israeli localities with populations 1000 PDF Cbs gov il Archived PDF from the original on 2018 10 09 Retrieved 2012 11 16 Nazareth metropolis area PDF in Hebrew Archived from the original PDF on 3 August 2014 Christmas 2019 Christians in Israel PDF Central Bureau of Statistics Israel 29 December 2019 F Emmett Chad 2012 Beyond the Basilica Christians and Muslims in Nazareth University of Chicago Press p 128 ISBN 9780226922492 F Emmett Chad 2012 Green Crescent Over Nazareth The Displacement of Christians by Muslims in the Holy Land University of Chicago Press p 21 ISBN 9780226922492 a b Israeli Raphael 2014 Narrow Gate Churches The Christian Presence in the Holy Land Under Muslim and Jewish Rule Routledge p 21 ISBN 9781135315146 Mansour Atallah 2004 Narrow Gate Churches The Christian Presence in the Holy Land Under Muslim and Jewish Rule Hope Publishing House p 280 ISBN 9781932717020 Joudah 1987 p 118 Srouji 2003 p 187 Joudah 1987 p 121 S Srouji Elias 2003 Cyclamens from Galilee Memoirs of a Physician from Nazareth BRILL p 187 ISBN 9780595303045 Emmett 1995 p 25 Emmett 1995 pp 26 27 Schumacher 1888 p 182 Israeli Raphael 2002 Green Crescent Over Nazareth Psychology Press ISBN 9780714652580 Archived from the original on 2021 05 28 Retrieved 2020 11 01 Emmett 1995 p 36 Emmett 1995 p 45 Emmett 1995 p 43 Emmett 1995 p 46 Haaretz com Haaretz Retrieved September 22 2011 dead link Trudy Ring Robert M Salkin Sharon La Boda eds 1996 International Dictionary of Historic Places Middle East and Africa Illustrated annotated ed Taylor amp Francis ISBN 9781884964039 Archived from the original on 2021 05 28 Retrieved 2020 11 01 Roman Curia The Spiritual Life 24 October 2020 Retrieved November 20 2020 Luke 1 26 31 Luke 4 International Marian Evangelization Center Mary of Nazareth www mariedenazareth com en homepage Accessed 30 August 2018 Emmett 1995b pp 136 138 Nazareth The Mosque Quarter Discover Israel Archived from the original on 2016 03 03 Retrieved 2007 12 01 R Tonneau Revue Biblique XL 1931 p 556 Reaffirmed by C Kopp op cit 1938 p 188 B Bagatti Excavations in Nazareth vol 1 1969 pp 272 310 John Dominic Crossan The Historical Jesus The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant 1992 p 18 Residential building from the time of Jesus exposed in Nazareth 21 Dec 2009 Mfa gov il 2009 12 21 Archived from the original on 2012 10 13 Retrieved 2012 11 16 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 amp 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 May 1 2006 Cook Jonathon 22 October 2003 Is This Where Jesus Bathed The Guardian Archived from the original on 28 May 2021 Retrieved 15 December 2016 Cook Jonathan 17 December 2002 Under Nazareth Secrets in Stone International Herald Tribune Archived from the original on 16 February 2012 Retrieved 7 October 2016 Shama Sostar Martina 12 August 2008 The Ancient Bath House in Nazareth Archived from the original on 15 September 2017 Retrieved 28 May 2021 Shihade 2014 p 456 Maariv Christian Schools in Nazareth among best in country Comeandsee 17 September 2015 McGahern Una 2011 Palestinian Christians in Israel State Attitudes Towards Non Muslims in a Jewish State Routledge p 51 ISBN 9780415605717 Demonstration of Christian Schools in Jerusalem Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation Hcef org 2015 09 10 Retrieved 5 September 2016 Israel Hundreds protest against discriminatory school funding for Christians i24NEWS 17 September 2015 Israeli Ministry of Education classifies Christian schools among the best in the country Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem Archived from the original on 30 April 2022 Retrieved 5 September 2016 See Dexter A 2014 10 24 Twinning ties for Baguio and Nazareth The Standard Archived from the original on 2016 03 08 Retrieved 2016 03 04 Miasta zaprzyjaznione czestochowa pl in Polish Czestochowa Archived from the original on 2020 02 27 Retrieved 2020 02 27 Gemellaggi Patti di amicizia e di fratellanza in Italian Comune di Firenze Archived from the original on 2017 11 22 Retrieved 2016 03 04 The Twinning Between Dundee and Nablus Dundee Nablus Twinning Association Archived from the original on 2020 01 20 Retrieved 2020 02 27 Partnerstadte neubrandenburg de in German Neubrandenburg Archived from the original on 2019 11 16 Retrieved 2020 02 27 Fraternitas Nazareth and Loreto Twinning Order of Friars Minor Archived from the original on 2016 03 03 Retrieved 2016 03 04 Sources Emmett Chad Fife 1995 Beyond the Basilica Christians and Muslims in Nazareth University of Chicago Press p 22 ISBN 978 0 226 20711 7 Petersen Andrew 2001 A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine British Academy Monographs in Archaeology Vol I Oxford University Press pp 239 244 ISBN 978 0 19 727011 0 Archived from the original on 2021 05 28 Retrieved 2018 12 19 Schumacher G 1888 Population list of the Liwa of Akka Quarterly Statement Palestine Exploration Fund 20 169 191 External links nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nazareth nbsp Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Nazareth Nazareth Official City Website Nazareth entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H Smith Nazareth Jewish Encyclopedia Nazareth Easton s Bible Dictionary Nazareth Village recreation of Nazareth 2000 years ago The Nazareth Jesus Knew Nazareth Travel Guide Archived 2016 04 01 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Nazareth amp oldid 1192990195, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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