Capernaum, on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, was Jesus's ministry headquarters. Its ruins include a gleaming white limestone synagogue of the fourth or fifth century built directly over the black basalt foundations of a first-century synagogue — very likely the one where he taught — and, nearby, an octagonal Byzantine church raised over a modest first-century house that Christians venerated from very early on, its plaster scratched with prayers. The village and its early Christian memory are solid history.
- Where it is
- Kfar Nahum, Sea of Galilee
- Scripture
- Matthew 4:13 · Mark 1:29-31 · Mark 2:1
What the evidence confirmsA first-century Jewish fishing village with a synagogue stood here, and one particular house was singled out for Christian veneration remarkably early.
What it does not proveThe 'House of Peter' identification is traditional: the house is genuinely first-century and early-venerated, but nothing physically proves Peter lived in it.
Sources & further reading