Capernaum

Capernaum.

Fishing port, crossroads of routes and Roman garrison.

Inhabitants or Natives

Matthew (Levi) the tax collector turned apostle, Jairus, the synagogue leader, his wife and Miryam their daughter resurrected, the Pharisees Eli and his grandson Elisha healed by Jesus, Simon, Joachim, Uriah, Samuel, The Roman Centurion with such firm faith. Aggaeus the possessed healed, Thomas and his wife, hosts of Jesus, Alphaeus the child beaten and rejected by his mother Meroba, Peter’s mother-in-law, Benjamin the boy, Benjamin the elder, Levi the centenarian believer and his great-grandson, Johanna the young child and her brother Toby, Mary of Benjamin, Rebecca of Micah, Joanna, Saltida, Adina, poor but courageous mothers, Levi who forgets the Good Deeds received, Micah the young and Micah the elder, favorable to Jesus, Sarah of Aphek.

Description

The village closest to the Jordan on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, near a spring that watered the Gennesaret Plain. Today a mound known as Tell Hum.

Significant Events

One of Jesus’ major places of residence. Many deeds and miracles were performed here including:

View of the archaeological site of Capernaum

• The healing of Aggaeus, the first of the possessed
• The healing of Peter’s mother-in-law
• The healing of the paralytic
• The calling of Matthew
• The healing of the centurion’s servant
• The resurrection of Jairus, the synagogue leader’s daughter
• The Bread of Heaven, the breaking discourse-
• Be wise as serpents

Name

Capernaum, םכפר נחו. Capernaum, Kefar Nahum, Kafarnaum, Kefar Tanhum. Today Tell Hum.

Capernaum means “Village of Nahum”. In the Middle Ages there was a pilgrimage to the supposed tombWater of the prophet.

Where is it mentioned in the work?

GRM 58 GRM 59 GRM 60 GRM 61 GRM 62 GRM 64 GRM 94 GRM 95 GRM 96 GRM 97 GRM 98
GRM 123 GRM 124 GRM 161 GRM 162 GRM 163 GRM 177 GRM 178
GRM 230 GRM 231 GRM 233 GRM 235 GRM 236 GRM 237 GRM 239 GRM 240 GRM 263 GRM 265 GRM 266 GRM 268 GRM 269 GRM 270 GRM 271
GRM 348 GRM 351 GRM 354 GRM 355
GRM 446 GRM 447 GRM 449 GRM 458 GRM 459 GRM 460
GRM 562 GRM 577

Learn More About This Place

Octagonal stone house church, Capernaum, in 2022.

Street, Capernaum, in 2022.

View of the lake, Capernaum, in 2022.

Located near a political border, it had a customs post and a military detachment. It was a prosperous Jewish city. During excavations, a synagogue was found consisting of a large hall with columns connected to a courtyard. A 4th-century sanctuary was found there, using older plastered walls decorated with bright colors. Among the graffiti discovered on detached pieces of plaster from the walls were the words: Amen, Lord, and Jesus. It was certainly the traditional house of Peter visited by pilgrims. The excavated houses in this area revealed a village measuring 800x250 m. A block of houses could accommodate 15 Families (130-150 people) and consisted of small rooms opening onto several inner courtyards. The remaining steps probably led to earth and straw flat roofs, as basalt and mud walls could not have supported an upper floor. This corresponds to the incident concerning the paralytic in Mark 2:4. The block in question was continuously occupied from the 1st century BC and the original walls survived until the 7th century AD.

Excerpt from the Geographical Dictionary of the Gospel According to Maria Valtorta, by Jean-François Lavère:

Jesus stayed many times in this lakeside village. He performed many miracles here, some of which are mentioned in the Gospels: the healing of a possessed man; the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law; the healing of the paralytic; the healing of the centurion’s servant; the resurrection of Jairus’ daughter; the healing of the woman with the hemorrhage, etc.

Not all the inhabitants of Capernaum knew how to appreciate the gift of God, which earned them a sharp rebuke from Jesus. “And you, Capernaum, do you think that only for having given me hospitality you will be exalted to Heaven? You will descend to hell. For if the miracles I gave you had been done in Sodom, it would still be flourishing, because it would have believed in Me and repented”.

Maria Valtorta’s text contains very many rigorous details about this village. While the location of the synagogue was already identified during the mystic’s lifetime, it was quite otherwise with the house of Peter’s mother-in-law, which she perfectly located more than twenty years before its rediscovery! She also mentioned repeatedly the Fig Tree Well, whose existence is confirmed by archaeology.

Capernaum is located on the northeast edge of the Sea of Galilee, 16 km north of Tiberias, and 5 km from the mouth of the Jordan River. Mentioned sixteen times in the Gospels, it is the place mentioned the most after Jerusalem. The city was active from the 2^nd century BC until the 7^th century AD. It had up to 1500 inhabitants. From the Middle Ages, the exact location of Capernaum was completely forgotten. Partially identified during the 19th century, the site was subject to more systematic excavations from 1968 to 1984, leading to the discovery of the “House of Peter” and the remains of the 1^st-century synagogue under the ruins of a later synagogue.

Explore

• 32°53’ N / 35° 34’ 30’’ E

• -210m

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Notes and references

Note: Quotations from the work of Maria Valtorta on this page currently use machine-translated text and will gradually be replaced by the official English translation. Until then, the official translation may be consulted through the reference link provided with each quotation.

Kilometres. 1 km = 0.621 miles. 1 mile = 1.609 km.