CAPHARNAUM. - A city "of Galilee" (Luke 4:23; Καφαρναούμ, Latin Capharnaum) mentioned sixteen times in the Gospels (4 in Mt., 3 in Mk., 4 in Lk., 5 in Jn.). It is called "maritime" (παραβελάσσιος) in Mt. 4:13. Jesus chose it as the stable seat of his preaching (Mt. 4:13; Lk. 4:31; Jn. 2:12) and performed many miracles there (the casting out of a demoniac, the healing of the centurion's servant, of the basilikos's son, of the paralytic, of the woman with the issue of blood, the raising of Jairus's daughter). At C. Levi-Matthew was called to follow Jesus, the tribute money was paid, and the memorable discourse on the Eucharist was delivered. Not far from C. the Sermon on the Mount was pronounced. The Nazarenes are envious of the miracles of which C. had been the fortunate seat (Lk. 4:23); but Jesus threatens the severest punishment upon C. for its unbelief (Mt. 11:23; Lk. 10:15).
The ancient C. corresponds to the present-day village of Tell Hüm. This follows from the tax-collector's post of Matthew located there; at that point the customs duties had to be paid by those who, crossing the Jordan, entered the tetrarchy of Philip and its capital Bethsaida Iulias. Flavius Josephus confirms this, narrating (Vita, 72) that, while fighting near the Jordan, he fell to the ground and wounded one hand and was therefore carried εἰς κώμην Κεφαρνακον λεγομένην (other readings: -νώμην or -νωκόν). Indeed C. is the first inhabited village encountered by one coming from the Jordan; there are no traces of ruins between Tell Hüm and the Jordan (H. Kohl-C. Watzinger, p. 5; G. Dalman, Orte und Wege Jesu, p. 158).
Flavius Josephus mentions an important spring (πηγὴ γονιματάτη), which the inhabitants call Καφαρναούμ (Bell. Jud., III, 10, 8), and states that in it is found that fish peculiar to the Nile called κοράκινος, and that the spring irrigates the plain of Gennesaret. These two facts hold true for the spring composed of seven smaller sources called Ἑπτά-πηγον, today et-Tābigah. The canal that survives today conducts the waters for a kilometer and a half to the foot of the hill Tell el-'Orejmeh in the plain of Gennesaret. It is true that Heptapegon is about 2 km. and 300 m. from Tell Hüm, but the name of this locality is due to the fact that there is no other major settlement in the area. Add to this the testimonies of the pilgrims: C. lacked walls (Adamnan and Bede: CSEL, XXXIX, pp. 273 and 319), as indeed results from the present ruins; the distance of C. from Magdala is "two miles" (ibid., p. 138).
Other authors prefer the locality Hirbet Minjeh, which is on the "way of the sea"; there in 1932 a square Roman castle 70 m. on each side was found. But what J. van Kasteren wrote in Revue biblique, 3 (1894), p. 65 f., still holds today: "I consider the question of the site of C. to be settled by now."
At the beginning of this century a large plot of land at Tell Hüm was bought by the Custody of the Holy Land. There impressive ruins of the synagogue were found, examined by H. Kohl and C. Watzinger, who graphically reconstructed the synagogue building (24 x 18 m.). The ruins were re-examined by G. Orfali, through whose efforts the synagogue was from 1920 onward reconstructed in its original form. Some identified this synagogue with the one that the centurion of the city of C. had built (Lk. 7:5), in which Christ promised
(Jn. 6:26-59) the Most Holy Eucharist (thus G. Orfali and B. Meistermann). But in the building that we have today there existed from the beginning images of animals and of centaurs, which in Jesus's time were considered forbidden among the Jews. Therefore this synagogue belongs to the same period as the others found and explored in Galilee, that is, to the time of the emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla (193-217); thus Kohl and Watzinger rightly determine the age of the synagogue.