From time to time (and twice in the past couple of weeks) I am asked about the idea that Jesus may have been part of a casual workforce from Nazareth employed on the rebuilding of Sepphoris prior to commencing his public activity as a prophet of the basileia tou theou (the empire of God).
This is often linked with the idea that Jesus would have been exposed to Hellenistic cultural influence through this connection to Sepphoris, and specifically may have had some contact with Stoic ideas.
The underlying historical realities behind this question include:
proximity (ca 6km by foot)
prominence (Sepphoris was the capital for Herod Antipas)
opportunity (the city was rebuilt by Antipas after being destroyed by Roman forces in response to a rebellion by th city after the death of Herod)
cultural diversity (Sepphoris was a diverse city, with evidence of Greek theatre and Jewish synagogues)
parallels (some aspects of Jesus’ teaching and practice are similar to those of the Stoics)
What follow here is a recent response I made by email to one such query.
Attempting to identify any particular influences on Jesus during his formative years is a very difficult task.
We have no direct evidence, and can only work from more general models (eg, Jewish kinship systems and domestic religious practices), informed—if we are fortunate—by archaeological insights.
The information we have about Nazareth around the turn of the eras, does not support the suggestion—proposed, or at least made popular, by Jerome Murphy-O’Connor—that Jesus may have been engaged in the workforce at Sepphoris.
It is true that Sepphoris was not far from Nazareth and was the dominant city in that area. It was destroyed by the Romans after an uprising that followed the death of Herod, and Antipas did engage in a rebuilding project. However, his rebuild was pretty modest, and short-lived. It would have ended by 18 CE (if not sooner) once he began the new city project at Tiberius and switched all his funds across to that project.
The short-lived rebuilding project at Sepphsois was between, say, 6 BCE and 16 CE.
The interpretation of tekton in Mark 6:3 is problematic. A single reference is not sufficient to establish the occupation of Jesus’ father, and in any case “carpenter” is not a good translation. “Construction worker” would be a better way to translate that term, and it could mean little more than handyman.
Jospeh may have been the local maker and fixer of agricultural tools, but we cannot tell from this one passing reference and we certainly cannot speculate about any details of Joseph’s life. Tekton is more likely to have been a generic indicator of Jesus’ social status, than a formal classification of his father’s skills.
More than that, Dennis R. Macdonald has suggested that the reference to tekton/carpenter may be a deliberate Homeric allusion by Mark and have no historical value.
However, the crunch factor is that the most recent archaeological work done in the area between Sepphoris and Nazareth has demonstrated that the Torah-observant Jews in the small village of Nazareth would have been most unlikely ever to have any contact with the non-observant population at Sepphoris and at the villages that lay within its orbit.
In summary, Nazareth was a kosher community while Sepphoris was not. The key research here is by Ken Dark:
Dark, Ken. Roman-Period and Byzantine Nazareth and Its Hinterland. The Palestine Exploration Fund Annual XV, edited by Chiara Fiaccavento, XV. Routledge, 2020.
For a brief summary of what we know about Nazareth in the Roman and Byzantine periods, see Nazareth Then and Now.
All things considered—and allowing for all the things we do not know, such as when Jesus was born—there is not much likelihood that he would ever have visited Sepphoris, let alone been influenced by any hypothetical Stoics based there. Of course, we have no evidence for Stoics (or Pharisees for that matter) being in the rather modest and only partly-rebuilt city of Sepphoris during the first two decades of the first century.
Finally, most of the impressive Hellenistic features of Sepphoris are from the second century CE or later. As such, they are irrelevant to the question of any cultural influences on Jesus.
It may be significant that Sepphoris is never mentioned in the Gospels.
It seems more likely that his formative experience was grounded in village Judaism with a strong attachment to Jerusalem and its temple.
Ancient Nazareth lacked the critical advantages for its development as a significant settlement: abundant water supply, an elevated site for defensive purposes, and strategic location adjacent to a major highway. The most comprehensive recent study of the archeology of ancient Nazareth and its local region was completed by Ken Dark over several seasons between 2004 and 2008.[2]
The earliest permanent settlement at Nazareth seems to have been established as an agricultural village populated byJews who had relocated from Judea during the Hasmonean and Herodian period.[3] The village occupied an area around half of one square kilometer and was located about 500m southwest of a perennial spring, traditionally known as Mary’s Well. That spring was sufficient to sustain a population of up to 1,000 people, which was the maximum size of the village until the 1850s when it increased to around 5,000 people,[4] before rising to 7,424 at the time of the first census undertaken during the British Mandate government in 1922.[5]
British archeologist Ken Dark proposes that Nazareth was a small town serving a “distinctive Roman-period settlement system” in the Nahal Zippori area and extending to nearby Yafia.[6] Dark suggests an economy that included agricultural and quarrying activities. The most plausible explanation for the extensive quarrying activity is to provide materials for substantial buildings within Nazareth itself, and that suggests a transition from the earliest phase of settlement when caves provided the nucleus of the housing structures to a more established settlement with solid houses.
Byzantine Nazareth
Subsequent to his comprehensive study of Nazareth and its hinterland from the Roman period through until the Byzantine period, Ken Dark has published a second volume on the evidence for Byzantine Nazareth from the excavations at the Sisters of Nazareth Convent, which lies between Christ Church and the Basilica.[7] During the Byzantine period, Dark describes Nazareth with an emerging set of monumental sacred architecture, including at least the Church of the Nutrition (on the site of the Sisters of Nazareth Convent), the Church of the Annunciation (the present Franciscan site with its modern basilica), a third church understood by pilgrims as the synagogue from the time of Jesus, and another church where the current Greek Orthodox Church of St. Gabriel stands at Mary’s Well.
This complex of Christian pilgrimage structures, located above venerated caves, seems to have continued after the Muslim conquest in the seventh century, although they may have gradually fallen into disuse as the number of pilgrims diminished.[8] There is some evidence to suggest these Christian sites were abandoned prior to the Crusader period. Dark notes this may have happened in 1010 CE when the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ordered the destruction ofthe Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, following his order for the destruction of the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem the previous year.[9]
Crusader Nazareth
There was brief revival of Christian presence in Nazareth during the Crusader period (1099–1187 CE). Dark suggests that the rebuilding process was intentionally rapid and indicative of the priorities of Tancred and his successors. We know from textual sources that the rebuilt Nazareth included churches and monasteries, a hospital for pilgrims and a library.[10] Dark notes that Nazareth was also an administrative center of the principality, implying a palace or fortress, and the settlement was walled.
Islamic Nazareth
During the thirteenth century control of Nazareth fluctuated between the Ayyubid dynasty and the Frankish Crusaders, culminating in the capture of Nazareth by Sultan Baybars and his emir, Ala al-Din Taybars in April 1263. At that time the Church of the Annunciation was razed and the site remained a ruin for the next 400 years.[11] The occasional pilgrim reaching Nazareth was only able to visit the Annunciation Cave below the ruins of the Crusader church and needed to pay a fee to the local Muslims.[12]
Following the defeat of the Mamluks by the Ottoman empire in 1516, Christian pilgrims were banned from the key holy sites in the ancient village center. A sixteenth-century Ottoman financial record lists 253 Muslim households and 17 Christian households.[13]
In 1620 the Franciscans were given permission by Fakr al-Din II, the Druze emir of Sidon, to repair the church above the Annunciation Cave. Friar Francisco Quaresmius described the initial repairs but also noted that they were again expelled from Nazareth in 1630 after the Bedouin emir, Tarabei, sacked the village and forced the Franciscans to leave.[14] Only in 1730 were the Franciscans given permission by Daher al-‘Umar, the Bedouin ruler of Galilee, to reestablish themselves in Nazareth and rebuild the Church of the Annunciation. Twenty years later in 1750, the Greek Orthodox were able to build a new church above the ancient Crusader crypt at Mary’s Well.[15]
This re-establishment of a permanent Christian presence in Nazareth was only one hundred years before a major transformation would occur as Nazareth transitioned from a remote village into a major town of interest to the European powers. Those foreign powers included the British who established an Anglican mission there in 1851.
Nazareth Today
The current population of Nazareth is estimated to be around 80,000 people, according to data from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).[16] The population is evenly divided by gender and is almost 100% Arab. The age distribution is skewed towards a youthful profile, with almost half of the population aged below 30 years of age and only 9% aged over 65 years.
The population increased from 5,000 in the late 1800s, to 7,500 in 1922, 14,200 in 1945, and 20,300 in 1951 (reflecting an influx of internally displaced persons after 1948). The 1922 British census indicated 60% of the population were Christians. With the influx of displaced persons after 1948—partly offset by an exodus of around 20% of the nativeNazareth population during the war—there was a significant change in the religious profile of the city.
The adjacent city of Nof HaGalil (founded in 1959 as Nazrat Illit, or Upper Nazareth) occupies an elevated site overlooking the Arab city of Nazareth. It is built on land expropriated from Nazareth and surrounding villages by the Israeli government. Although designed as a Jewish city, it has attracted a significant number of Arabs from Nazareth. In 2021 its official population estimate was 42,657,[17] of which 32% were Arabs. Significantly, almost one quarter of its total population are Arab Christians.
The 2009 Israeli census data reported religious demographics of 69% Muslim and 31% Christian in Nazareth, but the 2025 annual Christmas media release on Christians in Israel indicates a Christian population of 18,900 in Nazareth as well as another 10,800 Christians in Nof HaGalil.[18] This suggests Nazareth is now 77% Muslim and just 23% Christian. Anglicans comprise 2% of the Nazareth Christian population (378 people).
Development of the Nazareth municipality has been restricted by the failure of any Israeli administration to approve changes to the city’s town plan since the previous approvals by the British Mandate authorities in 1942. The city infrastructure is notably inferior to the facilities available in Nof HaGalil, and the basic operations of the municipality are problematic. There are major problems with garbage collection, road maintenance, and general civic services. Violent crime is a serious issue in Nazareth as it is in many Arab communities across Israel due to systemic discrimination against Palestinian citizens. In mid-2025, the Council was dismissed and an Israeli administrator appointed.[19]
Alexandré, Yardenna. Mary’s Well, Nazareth: The Late Hellenistic to the Ottoman Periods. IAA Reports, 49. Israel Antiquities Authority, 2012.
Bagatti, Bellarmino. Excavations in Nazareth. I: From the Beginning till the XII Century. II: From the XII Century until Today. Translated by E. Hoade. 2 vols. Franciscan Printing Press, 1969.
Dark, Ken. Roman-Period and Byzantine Nazareth and Its Hinterland. The Palestine Exploration Fund Annual XV, edited by Chiara Fiaccavento, XV. Routledge, 2020.
Dark, Ken. The Sisters of Nazareth Convent: A Roman-Period, Byzantine, and Crusader Site in Central Nazareth. The Palestine Exploration Fund Annual XVI, edited by Chiara Fiaccavento. Routledge, 2021.
Fiensy, David A., and James Riley Strange. Galilee in the Late Second Temple and Mishnaic Periods: 2. The Archaeological Record from Cities, Towns and Villages. Fortress Press, 2015.
Jenks, Gregory C. “The Quest for the Historical Nazareth.” In Bethsaida in Archaeology, History and Ancient Culture. A Festschrift in Honor of John T. Greene, edited by J. Harold Ellens. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014.
Mansur, Asaad Al She’aeri. The History of Nazareth from its Earliest Times to our Present Days (Arabic). Al Hilal Press, 1924.
Strange, James F. “Nazareth.” In Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman, vol. 4. Doubleday, 1992.
[1] This material was initially prepared for a chapter on Nazareth Anglicans in the book, The Anglican Church and Palestine, edited by Kwok Pui Lan (Church Publishing, 2026). As it could not be included in the final edited form of that chapter, it is published here for anyone who may be interested in a brief summary of current research on Nazareth prior to the Late Ottoman period.
[2] Ken Dark, Roman-Period and Byzantine Nazareth and Its Hinterland, The Palestine Exploration Fund Annual XV, ed. Chiara Fiaccavento, XV (Routledge, 2020). For other significant recent studies see Yardenna Alexandré, Mary’s Well, Nazareth: The Late Hellenistic to the Ottoman Periods, IAA Reports, 49 (Israel Antiquities Authority, 2012); Bellarmino Bagatti, Excavations in Nazareth. I: From the Beginning till the XII Century. II: From the XII Century until Today, trans. E. Hoade, 2 vols. (Franciscan Printing Press, 1969); and Gregory C. Jenks, “The Quest for the Historical Nazareth,” in Bethsaida in Archaeology, History and Ancient Culture. A Festschrift in Honor of John T. Greene, ed. J. Harold Ellens (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014), 252–67.
[3] David A. Fiensy and James Riley Strange, Galilee in the Late Second Temple and Mishnaic Periods: 2. The Archaeological Record from Cities, Towns and Villages (Fortress Press, 2015), 5–6.
[5] James F. Strange, “Nazareth,” in Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman, vol. 4 (Doubleday, 1992) 1050–51) suggests a population of 480 in the time of Jesus. My own estimate suggests a figure closer to 250 people in the early decades of the first century.
[6] Dark, Roman-Period and Byzantine Nazareth, 87.
[7] Ken Dark, The Sisters of Nazareth Convent: A Roman-Period, Byzantine, and Crusader Site in Central Nazareth., The Palestine Exploration Fund Annual XVI, ed. Chiara Fiaccavento (Routledge, 2021).
[8] Asaad Al She’aeri Mansur, The History of Nazareth from its Earliest Times to our Present Days (Arabic) (Al Hilal Press, 1924), 44.
[9] Dark, Roman-Period and Byzantine Nazareth, 21.
For those familiar with the geography of Bethlehem there is a powerful theological message hidden in plain sight every time the Christmas story is rehearsed.
As one stands down the street from the Church of the Nativity and looks towards Jerusalem, there is an odd-shaped hill about 5km away from the place where Jesus was born.
That unusual looking hill is in fact an artificial mound created to disguise and protect the personal palace of Herod the Great, ruler of Jerusalem around the time that Jesus was born.
In the centre of the artificial hill was a multi-story fortress which offered Herod and his guests luxurious accommodation and desirable security.
SOURCE: Archaeology Illustrated. Used under licence.
The top of the palace was 758m above sea level, so just a few metres above the highest point in Jerusalem some 12 km to the north.
Herodion could be seen from all directions, and it offered surveillance over everything in its neighbourhood.
At the base of this secure desert palace, Herod created a precinct described by the Jewish historian, Josephus, as a pleasure park with water features in the desert and structures that displayed Herod’s wealth.
Such were the powers that be around the time that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
But the angels were not sent to Herodion.
In the limestone hills around Bethlehem, there were groups of shepherds eking out a living for their families by running goats and sheep in the semi-desert landscape.
They had no grand structures, just a few rows of field stones at the entrance to the natural caves where they kept their flocks of an evening.
There were no aqueducts bringing water from mountain top reservoirs to these simplest of dwellings.
There was no ostentatious display of wealth and power.
Some of the shepherds could see the desert palace of the murderous king, and on a still night the sounds of his parties would drift across the hillsides to their dark caves.
In one of those caves, on the edge of the little village of Bethlehem overlooking an area now called Beit Sahour, a child was born.
A child whose birth we celebrate some 14,000km away and 2,000 years later today.
His mother had retired to the area of the cave where the animals were kept. She was seeking some privacy while she gave birth to her first child.
She and Joseph were not seeking a place to stay, but for some privacy while Mary gave birth.
In a cave with only the animals as witnesses to this most amazing moment.
As Mary laboured to bring Jesus into the world, I wonder if she could hear the sounds of night time celebrations from Herod’s party palace just 5km away?
For sure, Herod was oblivious to the birth of the child who would later hold sway over the hearts of millions of people across time and space, cultures and ethnicities.
As he enjoyed the dancing girls, Herod missed the biggest moment of his entire career.
But the angels did not go the Herodion.
The angels went to motley shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks safely tucked away in the caves behind them.
The good news of Emmanuel, God coming among us to save and to transform our world, was given to the shepherds, not the tyrant in the palace.
The angels came to the shepherds and sent them to another cave on the edge of Bethlehem where they would find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a stone food trough.
Many years later, the adult Jesus would say to the crowds:
What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. [Matthew 11:7-9]
He was speaking of John the Baptist, but the image works for us tonight as well.
Where do we look for Emmanuel?
We shall not find him in the palace, but in those places where powerful people least expect to see God at work among us.
May this church be such a place here in the heart of Ipswich.
And may our homes be such places—ordinary places—where love abounds and the Christ Child is to be found.
Today the focus of the Palestine of Jesus course has been on the events of Holy Week, as we visited several sites associated with Gospel traditions from the final days of Jesus. As I write this blog the events from this morning seem a long time ago, as we are currently experiencing an upsurge in the violence between Israel and Hamas, with air raid sirens sounding across several Israeli towns—including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile, back on the schedule …
We began the day with a visit to the Mosque that celebrates the Ascension of Jesus. This mosque is on the site of an earlier Byzantine Church, and some of the original columns of the open structure (which had no roof) can still be seen:
From the Chapel of the Ascension we continued our exploration of holy sites on Mt Olives by going to the Church of the Pater Noster (that celebrates Jesus as a prophetic teacher, in this case the Lord’s Prayer) and the Palm Sunday Church at Bethpage:
We then walked down the slope of Mt Olives towards the Kidron valley and the Old City:
We spent some time at the iconic Dominus Flevit church with its wonderful views across to the Dome of the Rock:
Finally we went down to the Church of All Nations in Gethsemane that commemorates the agony of Jesus and his arrest:
In the afternoon we visited the traditional site of the Last Supper and Pentecost. This is one of the most hotly contested sites in this city, as a Jewish nationalist organisation has occupied the lower level with its ‘Tomb of David’ and is destroying the material evidence of many centuries of Islamic presence in the building. For our part, the Cenaculum is a large 14C Gothic structure, that has been venerated for centuries but has little claim to authenticity—not least because the events commemorated are themselves most likely fictional. Clearly, such questions do not deter the crowds.
I especially like this detail of a mother pelican feeding her young with her own flesh and blood—a nice Eucharistic touch.
After leaving the Mt Zion area we walked a short distance down the hill to the modern church of St Peter in Gallicantu that commemorates the trial of Jesus and his denial by Peter (‘before the cock crowed’). This is another impressive modern Catholic church, built on the remains of an earlier Byzantine or Crusader church, and offers some unusual angles on the Old City and the nearby Palestinian neighbourhoods.
On the way back to the College I stopped by my friend Ibrahim’s store in Nablus Road, and we went through some of his coins that were for sale. To my single coin from Year Two of the Jewish Revolt (ca 67/68 CE), purchased yesterday, I have now added these three coins:
As the day drew to a close we learned that Israel had called up 40,000 army reserves to supplement its significant standing army in preparation for an invasion of Gaza. IDF planes have been bombing Gaza throughout the day, while rockets continued to be fired from Gaza into southern Israel. By early evening the government had ordered public bomb shelters to be opened, and we were soon given our first taste of an air raid siren. We assume the night will mostly pass without significant incidents, and look forward to our final day of the course tomorrow.
This morning the participants in our Palestine of Jesus course had an extended opportunity to soak up the special places along the NW shore of the Sea of Galilee. We had a late checkout from our rooms at the Pilgerhaus, and people were able to visit the nearby Benedictine monastery or walk along the shore to Capernaum. Apart from the ubiquitous gum trees, this is about as close to ‘walking in the footsteps of Jesus’ as anyone could hope to experience.
After a light lunch at Tabgha, the course went to Mt Tabor for an extended visit to reflect on the Transfiguration traditions. They then returned to Jerusalem by bus, arriving around 5.30pm.
While this was happening, I left early so that I could pick up Clare from Ginosar and drop her to some friends at Tel Aviv University for a few days, before returning my rental car to the Avis service centre in King David Street. On the way we detoured via Ramat Hasharon, so that we could enjoy a coffee with Hanan Shafir, the dig photographer at Bethsaida.
As I walked back to the College via the Mamilla Center and the Old City, everything seemed pretty calm and there were no unusual security measures. On the way I treated myself to an ancient coin, using some funds given to me for that purpose by Clare and Lizzie at Christmas time. My wee treasure is a prutah (small bronze coin) issued by the rebel Jewish government in the second year of the Great War with Rome (66/73 CE).
Since then the security situation seems to have deteriorated somewhat. There are reports of rockets fired from Gaza towards towns in central Israel, and there are helicopters circling over the Old City and the Arab neighbourhoods. It is yet to be seen if this is simply a precautionary measure, or whether we are going to see a repeat of the civil unrest experienced in Arab towns throughout Israel since the murder of a 16 year old Arab by Jewish nationalists last week.
Today was a time to focus on the Galilean context of the ministry of Jesus, exploring the social and political dynamics of the region in his time and reflecting on the implications of that for our own ministries now.
We began the day with a visit to Bethsaida. We reached the site quite early (not long after 8.00am) so that we could avoid the worst of the heat. It was a delight for me to take my new friends around the site, drawing attention to the some of the more interesting aspects of our work. I am sure for them the opportunity to visit the site with one of the people involved in its operations, and a few past volunteers to boot, added greatly to the value of the visit.
Here is a rare angle on Area T (sans tarps), taken from the higher position usually occupied by the sifters from Area A.
We left Bethsaida and headed north to Banias, arriving there around 10.30am. That gave us plenty of time to reflect on the biblical significance of the site, to visit the Pan grotto and also to explore the nearby palace of Agrippa II. We managed all of that in less than 90 minutes, and once again avoided the hottest part of the day.
We made good time back south to Migdal where we enjoyed yet another generous Palestinian meal, before going to Ginosar to visit the Galilee Boat in the Beit Allon Museum and then take a short cruise on the lake.
By 4.00pm we were back at the Pilgerhaus, with time to relax before a lakeside Eucharist and dinner. A gentle day, and a world away from the tensions in Jerusalem, as well as the riots that have now spread to several Palestinian towns in northern Israel.
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