Very significant recent archaeological discoveries on the soil of Israel have shed new light on the religious and political environment in which Jesus Christ grew up, which seems to have had a great influence on his teachings.
New findings from the latest research suggest that Nazareth, where according to Christian tradition, Jesus Christ grew up, was much more populated than previously assumed, and dominated by religious conservatism and pronounced anti-Roman sentiment, states independent
This research, conducted by British archaeologists, under the direction of Dr. Ken Dark from the University of Reading, states that there was a significant difference in terms of observance of religious rules among the Jews who lived in Nazareth, compared to their compatriots from the neighboring city of Sepphoris.
A detailed analysis of the archaeological remains from Nazareth reveals that they exclusively used ceramic vessels and other materials that are considered "clean" according to Jewish ritual regulations, while, apparently, they paid much less attention to these rules in the neighboring Sephoris.
In addition, the examination of the land between these two cities reveals that the ancient inhabitants of Nazareth, also for religious reasons, strictly observed the ban on using human excrement to fertilize the land, unlike their neighbors, less than ten kilometers away.
It is otherwise known that the inhabitants of Sephoris, including the Jewish population, were strongly influenced by Greek and Roman culture. In contrast to them, new evidence clearly shows that the Nazarenes were much more rigorous in their observance of religious precepts.
It seems that the area was also very actively involved in the fight against the Roman Empire. It is known that a rebellion broke out in this area, sometime in the 4th century BC, and that the insurgents attacked the military warehouse and the government treasury in Sephoris.
Archaeological excavations have shown that in Nazareth itself, sometime in the middle of the 1st century AD, the rebels built a whole network of underground shelters and tunnels under the city - big enough to shelter at least a hundred people.
Orthodox Jews perceived the Roman and Greek influence as a serious threat to their faith, and the latest archaeological findings indicate that Nazareth was inhabited by almost 1.000 inhabitants.
"Our new research has transformed the archaeological knowledge of Nazareth from the Roman era," said the project manager, Ken Dark, who has just published the results of the research in a book Roman period and Byzantine Nazareth and its hinterland.
The newly created image of Nazareth from the Roman period as a place very significant from a religious point of view, however, is not only marked by the appearance of its most famous son - Jesus, but also by the fact that in the middle of the first or second century it was also chosen as the official residence of one of the great priests of the then destroyed Temple in Jerusalem , when all 24 Jewish religious leaders were taken into exile in Galilee.
This archaeological investigation of Nazareth will help historians better understand how the city where Jesus grew up helped shape his religious views. In the Gospels of Mark and Luke, it is mentioned that Jesus' teaching was not well received in Nazareth, which was probably one of the reasons why he left it.
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