The Myth of Nazareth: The Invented Town of Jesus (63 page)

1517
                     The
Turks
conquer Nazareth.

1551–64
              The
Franciscan Custodian
of the Holy Land,
Boniface of Ragusa
, writes
Liber de perenni cultu Terrae Sanctae
. He reports the tranferral of the House of St. Joseph by angels to Loreto (in Italy), in order to prevent its falling into the hands of infidels.

1559
                     The pilgrim
G. Cootowick
writes that the ruins of the house of St. Joseph (
Church of the Nutrition
) “are at a stone’s throw north of the Church of the Annunciation.”

1620
                    Present area of venerated sites acquired by the
Franciscans
through the favor of the Druse emir
Fakr ed-Din
(1620–1634), and the initiative of the Custodian of the Holy Land, Fr. Tommaso Obicini.

1626
                    
Quaresmius
writes of Nazareth, including the Church of the Forty Martyrs. (Viaud 14–15; Kopp 1938:113; Finegan:33.)

1637, Nov. 19
    According to the
Franciscan Chronicle
,
all the friars are imprisoned by Fakr ed-Din’s successor, and then freed after payment of a large sum of money.

1644
                    
Père Eugène Roger
writes
La Terre-Sainte
and complains that a “Moor” still lives on the putative site of the house of St. Joseph and place of the Nutrition (Baldi-Bagatti 1937:240 n.1).

1674
                     The Jesuit priest
P. Nau
writes
Voyage nouveau de la Terre-Sainte
.

1697–1770
        In return for the payment of an annual sum to the Pasha of Sidon, the
Franciscans
acquire juridical
authority over Nazareth
.

1730
                     The
third Church of the Annunciation,
a modest edifice, is quickly built in seven months over the Venerated Grotto.

1741
                     Construction of the
Church of the United Greeks.

1754
                    
Franciscans
take possession of the area above the putative
house of St. Joseph
, build a chapel there. Many Christians settle in Nazareth.

1767
                     Construction of the present
Church of St. Gabriel
over old ruins.

1775–1814
        Rule of
Pasha Ahmed ed-Djezzar
(based in Acco) causes difficulties for the Christians of Nazareth.

1838–39
             
Earthquake
destroys the
Chapel of St. Joseph
, which is rebuilt. In the ensuing decades the entire area between and around the venerated sites is acquired by the Franciscans.

1877
                     The
Fourth Church of the Annunciation
is built. It is an enlargement of the 1730 church.

1884–89
             
G. Schumacher
excavates the tombs under the present convent of the Sisters of Nazareth. (
Cf
. Baldi-Bagatti 1937:253.)

1892
                     The (medieval)
Church of St. Joseph
is excavated. (Finegan 1992:57.)

1892, 1895
        
Brother B. Vlaminck
excavates the Byzantine stratum around the sacred grotto, as well as the plan of the Crusader basilica that lay under the present Church of the Annunciation.

1889, 1907–09 Père P. Viaud
excavates within the precincts of the Churches of St. Joseph and of the Annunciation. Publication of
Nazareth et ses Deux Églises
(Paris, 1910).

1911
                    
Fifth Church of the Annunciation
constructed on older plan. (Baldi-Bagatti 1937:240.)

1914
                     Construction of the
Church of St. Joseph
.

1925–28              Excavation
of cisterns and caves on Franciscan property under
J. Schoppen OFM
(
LTK
[1935] col. 465).

1930
                     Other
excavations
during construction of the
Franciscan convent.

1954
                    
Demolition
of the 1730/1877 church begins.

1955,
17 January
:
Permission received from Dr. Yeivin of the
Israel Antiquities Dept.
to conduct excavations on the site of the Church of the Annunciation.
March
: demolition of older structure complete.
April–August
:
Fr. Bagatti’s
principal
excavations
employ over 100 laborers.

1956
                     Beginning of construction of a large
Church of the Annunciation
, the
sixth structure
at the site. Secondary excavations continue.

1959
                     Removal of the
mosaic floor
of the
Byzantine Church of the Annunciation
. Excavation down to bedrock.

1960
                     Removal of the
Byzantine “convent.”
Discovery of two
Bronze Period tombs
.

1966
                     The
Church of the Annunciation
completed
.

1967/69     
Publication of
Excavations in Nazareth
(Italian/English). Termination of excavations in the venerated area.

1969
             Formal dedication of the modern
Church of the Annunciation

Bibliography

Bibliography

Abbreviations and multi-volume Reference Works

ABD
        1992. Freedman, D., editor in chief.
The Anchor Bible Dictionary
New York: Doubleday.

AEHL
     
2001.
The Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land.
A. Negev and S. Gibson, eds. New York: Continuum.

AJA
         American Journal of Archaeology.

APHL
    Amiran, R. Ancient Pottery of the Holy Land: From its Beginnings in the Neolithic Period to the End of the Iron                       Age. Rutgers Univ. Press, 1970.

Arch
.     1992. Ben-Tor, A., ed. The Archaeology of Ancient Israel. New Haven: Yale University Press.

BASOR
  Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research.

BDB
       1906/2003. Brown, F., S. Driver, and C. Briggs. The Brown-    Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon. Peabody: Hendrickson.

CAH
        1970–. The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.

CCSL
       1953–. Corpus Christianorum Series Latina. Ed. P. Geyer. Turnhout-Leipzig: G. Freytag.

CE
           1911. Herberman, C., ed. The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Rbt. Appleton. (1967 edition. Washington D.C. The 2003 article “Nazareth” is a reprint of the 1967 edition).

CHJ
        1984. Davies, W. and L. Finkelstein, eds. The Cambridge History of Judaism. 3 vols. Cambridge: University Press.

DACL
     1935.  Cabrol, F. and H. Leclercq, eds. Dictionnaire D’Archaeologie Chretienne et de Liturgie. Paris: Letouzey et Ané. Pt. CXXX, cols. 1021–1054.

DB
          1960. Bagatti, B. Dictionnaire de la Bible. Supplément VI. “Nazareth,” cols. 318–329.

DJBP
      1996. Dictionary of Judaism in the Biblical Period: 450 B.C.E. to 600 C.E. 2 vols. J. Neusner, ed. in chief. New York: Macmillan Library Reference.

EAEHL
  1977. Avi-Yonah, M. and E. Stern, editors, English edition. Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. Jerusalem and Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Oxford University Press.

EB
         1899–1903. Cheyne, T. and J. Black, eds. Encyclopaedia Biblica: a critical dictionary of the literary political and religious history, the archaeology, geography, and natural history of the Bible. London: Adam and Charles Black.

EJ
            1972. Encyclopaedia Judaica. Jerusalem, New York: Macmillan.

ESI
         Excavations and Surveys in Israel. (Hadashot archeologiyot.) Jerusalem: Israel Dept. of Antiquities and Museums, 1984–

Exc
.        1969. Bagatti, B. Excavations in Nazareth, vol. 1. See below, “Primary Reports.”

IAA
        Israel Antiquities Authority.

IDB, IDBS
            1962/1973. Buttrick, G. et al. (eds.) The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. 4 vols. + Supplement. Nashville: Abingdon Press.

IEJ
          Israel Exploration Journal.

LA          
Liber Annuus. Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press.

LTK
        1998. Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, Band 7, “Nazaret.” Herder: Freiburg.

NEAEHL
               1993. Stern, E., ed. The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. New York: Simon and                Schuster.

NGP
        1985. New Gospel Parallels. R. Funk, ed. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

NHL
        1977. The Nag Hammadi Library in English. New York: Harper & Row, 1977.

NIDBA
  
1983.
The New International Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology
. E. Blaiklock
et al
(eds.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House.

NSH       
1910. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. New York: Funk and Wagnalls.

NTA      
1991. New Testament Apocrypha. W.Schneemelcher, ed. 2 vols. Louisville: John Knox Press.

OEANE 
1997. Meyers, E., ed. in chief. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. New York: Oxford Univ. Pr.

OTP       
1985. Charlesworth, J. (ed.) The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. 2 vols. New York: Doubleday.

PEFQS  
Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement.

PEQ       
Palestine Exploration Quarterly.

QDAP   
The Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine. Jerusalem and London: Oxford Univ. Press.

RB         
1915–. Revue Biblique. Paris : Librairie V. Lecoffre.

RPTK    
1903. Hauck, D., ed. Realencyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs.

TDNT    
1964. Kittel, G. and G. Friedrich. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Tr. by G. Bromiley. 9 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publ. Co.

Primary reports on Nazareth archaeology

Bagatti, B.

1955. “Ritrovamenti nella Nazaret evangelica.”
Liber Annuus
5:5–44.

1969.
Excavations in Nazareth. Vol I: From the Beginning till the XII Century
. (Publications of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum 17). Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing House, xi + 320 pp., 240 figures, 11 plates, index. Translation from Italian of the 1967 work.

1971a. “Scavo Presso la Chiesa di S. Giuseppe a Nazaret (Agosto 1970).”
Liber Annuus
21:5–32.

1971b. “Communication du P. B. Bagatti: Nazareth: Église S. Joseph.”
Revue Biblique
78:587 (resumé of 1971a).

Baldi, D. and B. Bagatti. 1937. “Il Santuario della Nutrizione a Nazaret.”
Studi Francescani
, IX, No. 4:225–264.

Fernandez, F. 1983.
Ceramica Comun Romana de la Galilea
. Madrid: Ed. Biblia Y Fe, Escuela Biblica.

Köppel, R. 1935. “Das Alter der neuentdeckten Schädel von Nazareth.”
Biblica
16:58–73.

Loffreda, S. 1977. “Ceramica del Ferro I trovata a Nazaret.”
Liber Annuus
27:135–144, figs. 13–18.

Mansur, A. 1924.
Tarikh al-Nasirah min aqdam azmaniha ilá ayyamina al-hadirah
(“History of Nazareth: From its Remotest Times to the Present Days
”
). Cairo: Al Hillal, 1924 (Arabic).