istory from biblical times is considered to be the most interesting within this subject due to the tales from the bible. To some the scriptures presented within the bible are tales, but for Christianity, they have been leading the lifestyles of billions for the past 2,000 years. Just as mentioned within the bible, we knew that Jesus was born in Zahareth, but the exact location was not specified.
With time our planet has changed significantly, making it difficult to find places from two millenniums ago. Most of them have crumbled to the test of time, but it seems that some are standing strong, buried in dirt, and waiting to be unveiled. Ken Dark, an archeologist from the University of Reading has recently discovered Jesus’ childhood home in Nazareth.
Dark has published a book entitled “The Sisters of Nazareth Convent: A Roman-period, Byzantine, and Crusader Site in Central Nazareth” in which he explains his findings.
The discovery of the childhood home of Jesus
Interestingly enough, the home was actually discovered many years ago, in 1881 by a group of nuns who, at the time we’re building the Sisters of Nazareth convent. The only problem was that the sisters didn’t know what they stumbled upon when digging a cistern for their convent. Despite not having much archeological knowledge, the nuns did a good job to uncover the site and salvaging what was left behind.
The site hadn’t been touched until the mid of the 20th century when a Jesuit priest went to explore Nazareth in the search for the home of Jesus. The notes that have been made by the priest have been vital to Dark’s discovery. Within the first century, after the death of Jesus, this home had been turned into quite a few different things.
It seems that the dwelling had been changed to some sort of quarry and after into a tomb. During the 4th century, it is believed to have been used as a home to a cave church based on an account written by the pilgrim Egeria in 380 AD during her travels to the Holy Land. Based on the book De Locis Sanctis (Concerning Sacred Places) written by Adomnan, it is believed that within the 5th century a Byzantine church had been built on the ground, above the home. This may actually be the lost Church of the Nutrition which was built to commemorate the place where Jesus was raised.
The architectural detail mentioned in Adomnan’s book seems to match what Dark had discovered on the archeological site:
“The Byzantine church Sisters of Nazareth seems as though it was almost certainly the building described by Adomnán. It was very large, very elaborately decorated, and probably from the 5th century.”
Ken Dark
It overlays a crypt, which is also described in his book. In the crypt, just as he says, there are two Roman-period tombs, and between them, there’s a house — and that house, Adomnán says, is the place where Jesus was brought up. The reason why the church was built exactly on that location is that back in the 4th century, the Byzantines knew this was the house where Jesus grew up, making it very important to Christianity at the time.
There is a strange coincidence how the Sisters of Nazareth convent ended up being built next to the same location despite the sisters having no knowledge of how important that location actually is. Even Dark’s discovery was by accident, as the archeologist went to Nazareth to look for the lost Byzantine church. He never expected to find the home of Jesus.
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