Nazareth Village

 

Nazareth Village is an open-air museum featuring actors who live on site. It recreates a village as it would have appeared in the first century AD. It would have been just outside of the center of ancient Nazareth, perhaps a 15-minute walk away.  

Sheep were kept in natural alcoves in the rock.

 

 

A 2000-year-old olive tree on the premises. It is believed that the word Nazareth is derived from the Hebrew netzer, meaning "shoot" or "young branch" (as in "the shoot of Jesse.") 

 

 

Ancient burial cave.

 

 

Archaeological remains at the Village revealed seeds showing that there was once an ancient vineyard there. More recently, a modern vineyard has been planted, as can be seen above. 

There are also rock-hewn remains of a floor that was used for crushing the grapes by treading on them barefoot. Below that is a basin into which the liquid would have flown. 

Jesus used everyday scenes and objects around him to illustrate his parables. Who knows, maybe he was referencing this vineyard in the farmland just outside of his hometown when he related the Parable of the Vineyard? 

A fig tree. They will ripen in the fall. 

 

This is a building containing an olive oil press. The olives were placed inside the cavity, and a donkey was attached to the beam. This was the first pass. 

Then the olives were crushed with heavy weights attached to another set of beams. The first olives to be crushed here were called the "first pressed" and were of highest quality; this oil was used for sacred purposes, as in the temple at Jerusalem. The second press was used for medicinal purposes. The third pressed oil was sold as lamp oil and to make soap. 

This is the home of a potter and his family.

A carpenter.

The carpenter's home.

Spinning and weaving.

Lamb's wool was naturally either off-white or brown. Other colors had to be dyed. This was done with onion, saffron, pomegranate, and other fruits and vegetables. 

Blue and purple dye came from murex sea snails and took vast amounts of labor and time to produce. They were so expensive that only royalty could afford to wear them. 

My favorite building was the full-sized reconstructed ancient synagogue. A synagogue was a community center that may have served as a school, hostel for travelers, and other purposes as well as a meeting place for religious services.

When Jesus began his public ministry, he read from the Torah scroll in the synagogue in Nazareth. I joined a random Christian tour and here the guide is demonstrating. 

Ancient synagogues in this area were mostly built with the same floor plan, featuring stepped seating along three walls, columns supporting the ceiling on the the same three sides, and windows at the top.