Luke 7:1-5
1 Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum.
2 And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die.
3 And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.
4 And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this:
5 For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.
The white limestone synagogue which is seen today in Capernaum is dated well after the time of Christ, but the present synagogue is located over the foundation of the first-century synagogue where Jesus would have taught. The fact is there was a Roman garrison in Capernaum. There was a need for a garrison of soldiers in Capernaum to insure the collection of the taxes for Caesar and the Roman government as a very important crossing/stop along the Via Maris... and for the collection of taxes on the fishing industry.
In Biblical Archaeology Review, Sep/Oct 1993, John Laughlin writes concerning the excavation on the Greek Orthodox side of Capernaum, page 57
"The Gospels record an incident in the life of Jesus that took place at Capernaum involving a Roman centurion and his sick slave (Luke 7:1-10....
"New evidence indicates that Romans indeed lived in Capernaum in the first century A.D. Moreover, far from being a poor, isolated village, Capernaum, the center of Jesus' Galilean ministry, was quite prosperous and was apparently home to Gentiles as well as Jews. ..."
"Beneath the bathhouse at Capernaum were earlier remains belonging to the first century A.D. (our stratum IX). Since we did not want to destroy the later building on top, the full plan of this earlier structure is still unknown. In general, however, the outline of the lower building is similar to the bathhouse above it."
and, a more interesting note...
"...Immediately beneath the first-century floor were the remains of an Early Bronze Age wall (third millennium B.C.)! Such walls were also found in other areas of our site--but nothing in between that and the first century A.D."
Thus, evidence that Capernaum was known as some other site in the Old Testament times.
~serapha~
posted by ~serapha~ at 11:02 PM
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