Aerial View of the Synagogue Excavations at Capernaum.

Overview

Aside from various references to Capernaum in the Gospels, the earliest literary attestation of Capernaum is from Josephus, who refers to the village in connection with a fertile spring. The Jewish historian reports he spent a night there with a fever during the second year of the Jewish War.

For centuries, Capernaum has traditionally been identified as a site located on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, about three miles west of the upper Jordan River. In 1838, Edward Robinson correctly identified there the remains of a synagogue that was partly excavated by Charles Wilson between 1865 and 1866. More extensive excavations took place in the early twentieth century, first by Heinrich Kohl and Carl Watzinger (1905) and then by Wendelin von Menden (19061915). In 1921, the synagogue was partially restored by Gaudenzio Orfali. In more recent times, Virgilio Corbo and Stanislao Loffreda conducted nineteen seasons at Capernaum between 1968 and 1986, excavating not only the synagogue, but also a nearby church that had long been associated with the house of St. Peter.

Most recent excavations have revealed two synagogues, a white limestone synagogue dating from the fourth to fifth centuries CE, and a black basalt synagogue dating from the first half of the first century CE. Only foundation walls, gray marble column fragments and a cobblestone floor remain from the earlier structure, which measured 24.5 by 18.7 meters on the exterior and possessed walls over a meter thick.

View of the IV-V century Limestone synagogue, looking north. This structure was built on top of an earlier synagogue that was founded in the first century CE and constructed out of basalt. Only the foundation walls and cobblestone floor remain from this earlier building (see below). (Column drums made out of gray marble have also been discovered in a lower stratum of fill material.) It is thus the basalt synagogue which is referred to in the four Gospels.

View of the courtyard of the Limestone synagogue. This annex did not exist in the earlier basalt synagogue but was added with the construction of the later building.

Plan of the Limestone synagogue. (Click image for more detail.)

View of trench 25, looking north. A. East stylobate (column foundation wall) of the Limestone synagogue; B. The Basalt Stone wall (MB 5) of the I CE synagogue (a stylobate of the earlier structure); C. The first century CE stone pavement.

View of trench 15, looking south. Visible are the Limestone synagogue, the Basalt wall of the I CE synagogue (MB 2) and the first century stone pavement.

Plan of the I CE synagogue at Capernaum. (Click image for more detail.)