CAPERNAUM
- A city of Galilee (Lk. 4:23; Καφαρναούμ, Lat. Capharnaum) mentioned sixteen times in the Gospels (4 in Mt., 3 in Mk., 4 in Lk., 5 in Jn.). It is called "by the sea" (θαλάσσης) 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 exorcism of a demoniac, the healing of the centurion’s servant, the son of the *basilikós*, the paralytic, the woman with a hemorrhage, and 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 delivered. The people of Nazareth were envious of the miracles performed in C. (Lk. 4:23), but Jesus pronounced a severe judgment of condemnation upon C. for its unbelief (Mt. 11:23; Lk. 10:15).
The ancient C. corresponds to the modern village of Tell Hūm. This is confirmed by the tax office of Matthew located there; at that point customs duties were paid by those crossing the Jordan and entering the tetrarchy of Philip and its capital, Bethsaida Iulias. Flavius Josephus confirms this, recounting (Vita, 72) that while fighting near the Jordan he fell to the ground and injured his hand, and was then transported εἰς τὴν Κεφαρναοῦν λεγομένην (other readings: -νύμμην or -νουμνόν). Indeed, C. is the first inhabited village encountered by those coming from the Jordan; there are no ruins between Tell Hūm and the Jordan (H. Kohl–C. Watzinger, p. 5; G. Dalman, *Orte und Wege Jesu*, p. 158).
Flavius Josephus mentions an important spring (πηγὴ τῶν ὑδάτων), which the inhabitants call Capharnaum (Bell. Iud., III, 10, 8), and states that in it is found that fish peculiar to the Nile called *korakinos*, and that the spring irrigates the plain of Gennesar. These two facts correspond to the spring composed of seven smaller sources called Ἑπτάπηγον, today et-Tābighah. The surviving canal carries the waters for about a kilometer and a half to the foot of the hill of Tell el-‘Orejmeh in the plain of Gennesar. It is true that Heptapegon is about 2 km and 300 m from Tell Hūm, but the name of this locality is due to the fact that there is no larger settlement in the area. Added to this are the testimonies of pilgrims: C. lacked walls (Adamnanus and Bede: CSEL, XXXIX, pp. 273 and 319), as is indeed evident from the present ruins; the distance from C. to Magdala is “two miles” (ibid., p. 138).
Other authors prefer the site of Hirbet Minjeh, which lies on the “way of the sea”; in 1932 a square Roman fort of 70 m on each side was found there. But what J. von Kasteren wrote in *Revue biblique*, 3 (1894), p. 65 ff., still holds true today: “I now consider the question of the site of C. settled.”
At the beginning of this century a large tract of land at Tell Hūm was purchased by the Custody of the Holy Land. Impressive ruins of a synagogue were found there, examined by H. Kohl and C. Watzinger, who graphically reconstructed the synagogue building (24 × 18 m). The ruins were re-examined by G. Orfali, under whose care the synagogue was restored to its original form from 1920 onward. Some identified this synagogue with the one built by the centurion of the city of C. (Lk. 7:5), in which Christ promised (Jn. 6:26–39) the Most Holy Eucharist (thus G. Orfali and B. Meistermann). Yet in the building now extant there were from the beginning images of animals and centaurs, which at the time of Jesus were considered by the Jews to be prohibited. Therefore this synagogue belongs to the same period as the others found and explored in Galilee, namely the time of the emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla (193–217); thus Kohl and Watzinger rightly determine the age of the synagogue.