Sepphoris — Zippori in Hebrew — was a major Galilean city just about six kilometers from Nazareth, close enough that a first-century laborer could have walked there and back in a day. Herod Antipas rebuilt it in the early first century as the 'Ornament of the Galilee,' and it became one of the most thoroughly excavated sites in Israel, yielding streets, a theater, and more than sixty richly detailed Roman-era mosaics. Among them is the delicate portrait of a woman nicknamed the 'Mona Lisa of the Galilee.' Because Jesus and Joseph are remembered as a tekton — a craftsman or builder — writers often note that they may have found work at this booming nearby city. That is a reasonable inference from geography and trade, not something any text or artifact records.
- Where it is
- Lower Galilee, Israel (near Nazareth)
- Scripture
- Matthew 13:55 · Mark 6:3