{"id":3727,"date":"2020-11-14T03:00:31","date_gmt":"2020-11-14T10:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drbarrick.org\/?p=3727"},"modified":"2020-11-13T09:36:29","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T16:36:29","slug":"israel-research-trip-post-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drbarrick.org\/?p=3727","title":{"rendered":"Israel Research Trip, Post #8"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Sepphoris<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Excavations at Sepphoris<\/strong><\/a> (4 miles north of Nazareth) have uncovered beautiful mosaics (see picture above of the mosaic in a Roman villa triclinium; photo by Todd Bolen, Nov 1, 2006; Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, vol. 1, 2012). By 100 BC Sepphoris had withstood the attack of Egypt’s Ptolemy VIII because of the city’s fortifications. Of all the cities of Galilee, it alone successfully resisted Ptolemy’s invasion. After the Romans seized control of Palestine, Gabinus made Sepphoris the center of administrative power in Galilee. In 38 BC Herod the Great conquered Sepphoris in a snowstorm. After Herod’s death the Roman legate Varus destroyed and burned the city. When Rome appointed Herod Antipas (Matthew 14:1; Luke 23:5\u20137) as tetrarch in Galilee and Perea at 17 years of age, he rebuilt Sepphoris (starting ca. 3 BC) and made it his first capital. A number of scholars propose that Antipas’ rebuilding of the city may have been what brought Joseph and Mary to Nazareth. Joseph could find work as a stone mason and carpenter at nearby Sepphoris.[1]<\/a> Around AD 22 Antipas built Tiberias as his new capital replacing Sepphoris, in honor of Tiberius the Roman emperor (AD 14\u201337).<\/p>\n

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To the north [of Nazareth]<\/em>, … a relatively gentle walk leads to the Nahal Zippori, the broad valley between Nazareth and the Roman town of Sepphoris (Zippori in Hebrew). This valley is well watered by the stream that flows along its center and by numerous springs and a few rivulets on its slopes. The part of Nahal Zippori closest to Nazareth was probably the agricultural hinterland of the settlement. …<\/p>\n

It may be possible to say something of the cultural identity of those living in the Nahal Zippori at this time. All the sites on the south side of the valley, nearer to Nazareth, featured Kefar Hananya-type pottery. Some also had the type of limestone vessels associated elsewhere with Jewish settlements. However, all of those on the north side of the valley, nearer Sepphoris, had a much wider range of artifacts, including red-slipped imported Eastern Terra Sigillata pottery and imported amphora. Communities closer to Sepphoris apparently embraced the cultural world of the Roman provinces; those closer to Nazareth chose a strictly Jewish material culture, perhaps denoting a more conservative attitude to religious belief and concepts of purity and rejecting \u201cRoman\u201d culture as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ken Dark, \u201cHas Jesus\u2019 Nazareth House Been Found?\u201d Biblical Archaeology Review<\/em> 41, no. 2 (2015): 60.<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Mikveh at Sepphoris (photo by Doug Bookman, March 11, 2007; Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, vol. 1, 2012)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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