Nazareth
Nazareth (/ˈnæzərəθ/ NAZ-ər-əth; Arabic: النَّاصِرَة, romanized: an-Nāṣira; Hebrew: נָצְרַת, romanized: Nāṣəraṯ; Syriac: ܢܨܪܬ, romanized: Naṣrath) is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. In 2022 its population was 78,007.[1] Known as "the Arab capital of Israel",[2] Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and commercial center for the Arab citizens of Israel,[3] as well as a center of Arab and Palestinian nationalism.[3] The inhabitants are predominantly Arab citizens of Israel, of whom 69% are Muslim and 30.9% Christian.[2][4][5][6] The city also commands immense religious significance, deriving from its status as the hometown of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity and a prophet in Islam.
For other uses, see Nazareth (disambiguation).
Nazareth
النَّاصِرَة, an-Nāṣiraנָצְרַת, Nāṣrat
- 2200 BC (Early settlement)
- AD 300 (Major city)
Est. 1885
Municipality of Nazareth
Ali Sallam
14.123 km2 (5.453 sq mi)
347 m (1,138 ft)
78,007
Nazarene
99.8%
0.2%
+972 (Israel)
Findings unearthed in the neighboring Qafzeh Cave show that the area around Nazareth was populated in the prehistoric period. Nazareth was a Jewish village during the Roman and Byzantine periods and is described in the New Testament as the childhood home of Jesus.[7] It became an important city during the Crusades after Tancred established it as the capital of the Principality of Galilee. The city declined under Mamluk rule, and following the Ottoman conquest, the city's Christian residents were expelled, only to return once Fakhr ad-Dīn II granted them permission to do so.[8] In the 18th century, Zahir al-Umar transformed Nazareth into a large town by encouraging immigration to it. The city grew steadily during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when European powers invested in the construction of churches, monasteries, educational and health facilities.
Since late antiquity, Nazareth has been a center of Christian pilgrimage, with many shrines commemorating biblical events. The Church of the Annunciation is considered one of the largest Christian sites of worship in the Middle East. It contains the Grotto of the Annunciation, where, according to Catholic tradition, angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she would conceive and bear Jesus. According to Greek Orthodox belief, the same event took place at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation, also known as Church of Saint Gabriel. Other important churches in Nazareth include the Synagogue Church, St. Joseph's Church, the Mensa Christi Church, and the Basilica of Jesus the Adolescent.[8]
Etymology
Hebrew Netzer
One view holds that the name 'Nazareth' is derived from one of the Hebrew words for 'branch', namely ne·ṣer, נֵ֫צֶר,[a] and alludes to the prophetic, messianic words in Book of Isaiah 11:1: "from (Jesse's) roots a Branch [netzer] will bear fruit".[9] One view suggests this toponym might be an example of a tribal name used by resettling groups on their return from exile.[10] Alternatively, the name may derive from the verb na·ṣar, נָצַר, 'watch, guard, keep",[11] and understood either in the sense of 'watchtower' or 'guard place', implying the early town was perched on or near the brow of the hill, or, in the passive sense as 'preserved, protected' in reference to its secluded position.[12] The negative references to Nazareth in the Gospel of John suggest that ancient Jews did not connect the town's name to prophecy.[13]
Greek Nazara
Another theory holds that the Greek form Ναζαρά (Nazará), used in the Gospel of Matthew and Gospel of Luke, may derive from an earlier Aramaic form of the name, or from another Semitic language form.[14] If there were a tsade (צ) in the original Semitic form, as in the later Hebrew forms, it would normally have been transcribed in Greek with a sigma (σ) instead of a zeta (ζ).[15] This has led some scholars to question whether "Nazareth" and its cognates in the New Testament actually refer to the settlement known traditionally as Nazareth in Lower Galilee.[16] Such linguistic discrepancies may be explained, however, by "a peculiarity of the 'Palestinian' Aramaic dialect wherein a sade (ṣ) between two voiced (sonant) consonants tended to be partially assimilated by taking on a zayin (z) sound".[15]
Arabic an-Nāṣira
The Arabic name for Nazareth is an-Nāṣira, and Jesus (Arabic: يَسُوع, romanized: Yasū') is also called an-Nāṣirī, reflecting the Arab tradition of according people an attribution, a name denoting whence a person comes in either geographical or tribal terms. In the Qur'an, Christians are referred to as naṣārā, meaning "followers of an-Nāṣirī", or "those who follow Jesus of Nazareth".[17]
New Testament references
In the Gospel of Luke, Nazareth is first described as "a town of Galilee" and home of Mary.[18] Following the birth and early epiphanial events of chapter 2 of Luke, Mary, Joseph and Jesus "returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth".[19]
The phrase "Jesus of Nazareth" appears seventeen times in English translations of the New Testament, whereas the Greek original contains the form "Jesus the Nazarēnos" or "Jesus the Nazōraios."[b] One plausible view is that Nazōraean (Ναζωραῖος) is a normal Greek adaptation of a reconstructed, hypothetical term in Jewish Aramaic for the word later used in Rabbinical sources to refer to Jesus.[c] "Nazaréth" is named twelve times in surviving Greek manuscript versions of the New Testament, 10 times as Nazaréth or Nazarét,[22] and twice as Nazará.[15] The former two may retain the 'feminine' endings common in Galilean toponyms.[15] The minor variants, Nazarat and Nazarath are also attested.[d] Nazara (Ναζαρά) might be the earliest form of the name in Greek, going back to the putative Q document. It is found in Matthew 4:13[24] and Luke 4:16.[25][15] However, the Textus Receptus clearly translates all passages as Nazara, leaving little room for debate there.[26]
Many scholars have questioned a link between "Nazareth" and the terms "Nazarene" and "Nazoraean" on linguistic grounds,[27] while some affirm the possibility of etymological relation "given the idiosyncrasies of Galilean Aramaic."[28]
History
Stone Age
Archaeological researchers have revealed that a funerary and cult center at Kfar HaHoresh, about two miles (3.2 km) from current Nazareth, dates back roughly 9,000 years to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B era.[42] The remains of some 65 individuals were found, buried under huge horizontal headstone structures, some of which consisted of up to 3 tons of locally produced white plaster. Decorated human skulls uncovered there have led archaeologists to identify Kfar HaHoresh as a major cult centre in that era.[43]
Bronze and Iron Age
The Franciscan priest Bellarmino Bagatti, "Director of Christian Archaeology", carried out extensive excavation of this "Venerated Area" from 1955 to 1965. Fr. Bagatti uncovered pottery dating from the Middle Bronze Age (2200 to 1500 BC) and ceramics, silos and grinding mills from the Iron Age (1500 to 586 BC) which indicated substantial settlement in the Nazareth basin at that time.
Archaeology
"Venerated area" near the Basilica of the Annunciation
While excavations conducted prior to 1931 in the Franciscan "venerated area" (the side of the hill known as Jabal Nebi Sa'in, stretching north of the Basilica of the Annunciation) revealed no trace of a Greek or Roman settlement there,[144] later digs under Fr. Bagatti, who acted as the principal archaeologist for the venerated sites in Nazareth, unearthed quantities of later Roman and Byzantine artifacts,[145] attesting to unambiguous human presence there from the 2nd century AD onward. John Dominic Crossan, a noted New Testament scholar, remarked that Bagatti's archaeological drawings indicate just how small the village actually was, suggesting that it was little more than an insignificant hamlet.[146]
Early Roman house
Remains of a residential house dating to the Early Roman period were discovered in 2009 next to the Basilica of the Annunciation and are on display in the "International Marian Center of Nazareth". According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, "The artifacts recovered from inside the building were few and mostly included fragments of pottery vessels from the Early Roman period (the first and second centuries AD)... Another hewn pit, whose entrance was apparently camouflaged, was excavated and a few pottery sherds from the Early Roman period were found inside it." Archaeologist Yardenna Alexandre adds that "based on other excavations that I conducted in other villages in the region, this pit was probably hewn as part of the preparations by the Jews to protect themselves during the Great Revolt against the Romans in 67 AD".[147]
Kokh tombs
Noteworthy is that all the post-Iron Age tombs in the Nazareth basin (approximately two dozen) are of the kokh (plural kokhim) or later types; this type probably first appeared in Galilee in the middle of the 1st century AD.[148] Kokh tombs in the Nazareth area have been excavated by B. Bagatti, N. Feig, Z. Yavor, and noted by Z. Gal.[149]
Ancient bathhouse at Mary's Well
In the mid-1990s, a shopkeeper discovered tunnels under his shop near Mary's Well in Nazareth. The tunnels were identified as the hypocaust of a bathhouse.[150] Excavations in 1997–98 revealed remains dating from the Roman, Crusader, Mamluk and Ottoman periods.[151][152][153][154][155]
Sports
The city's main football club, Ahi Nazareth, currently plays in Liga Leumit, the second tier of Israeli football. The club spent two seasons in the top division, in 2003–04 and again in 2009–10. They are based at the Ilut Stadium in nearby Ilut. Other local clubs are Al-Nahda Nazareth, currently plays in Liga Bet, Beitar al-Amal Nazareth, Hapoel Bnei Nazareth and Hapoel al-Ittihad Nazareth all play in Liga Gimel.
The city has three hospitals, run by the Christian community of Nazareth,[122] and serving its districts:
Loreto, Italy (the Sanctuary of the Annunciation in Nazareth and the Sanctuary of the Incarnation in Loreto are twinned)[167]
