CAPERNAUM, on the northern shore of the sea of Galilee, Jesus' second home, a garrison town (Matt. viii. 5), a centre of administration (John iv. 46), and a customs station (Matt. ix. 9). Out of it Jesus called Peter, Andrew and Matthew (or Levi). It was the witness of many of his miracles and in its synagogue he delivered many of his discourses. It is of special interest that its name disappeared and its very site became a matter of debate (cf. Matt. xi. 23). Two possible identifications have long divided the interest and allegiance of investigators—Tell Hum about 21 m. W. of the Jordan's entry into the lake and Khirbet el-Minyeh, 2 m. W. of Tell Hum. Excavations began at Tell Hum in 1905 and conducted by the Franciscans have cleared the site of debris and made its identification with Capernaum certain.
The remains of a synagogue have been disclosed and its plan established. It was a rectangular building (75 f t.X 5 7 ft.) and was apparently oriented north at the first. It was entered by three doors from a platform on its south side. Built of coarse marble, its walls were ornamented externally with pilasters. An open court with covered porticoes on three sides and extending the entire length of the east side, had been added at a later date (prob. 4th century A.D.). In the interior a stylobate, a yard broad, raised 21 in. from the floor and based on the south wall ran parallel to the walls and divided the synagogue into a nave, two aisles and a transept. It supported seven columns (Corinthian capitals) on each of its long sides with two additional between nave and transept, 16 in all. Above the aisles and transept was added at a later date (2nd or 3rd century A.D.) a gallery with Doric columns. Above each set of columns was a richly ornamented entablature. The lintels of the doors had been surmounted by a frieze from which the figures forming part of the design had been obliterated—probably through Pharisaic zeal about 66 A.D. The Tebah (chest) in which were kept the Books of the Law, was erected originally at the north end of the nave but later, to meet the injunction to congregations to pray facing Jerusalem (2nd century A.D.) it was removed to the other end, close to the main door and across it. The platform fronting the façade was approached on its western side by three, and on its eastern by fourteen, steps. Their discovery has proved vital for identification. In the year 385 A.D., when Capernaum still bore its name, it was visited by Sylvia of Aquitania who mentions as a matter of interest that its synagogue is reached by many steps (per grades multos ascenditur cf. Migne, Patrol. Lat. 173 p. 1,128). As this is the only synagogue discovered in Galilee of which that could be said, the existence of the steps proves indis putably that the synagogue of Tell Him was indeed that built by the Roman centurion who loved the Jewish nation (Luke vii. 5). As the synagogue was evidently destroyed by an earthquake and the stones lie mostly where they fell, its re-erection, which is purposed, should not be difficult.
Sylvia and Antoninus Martyr (57o) amongst others make mention of a church built on the site of Peter's house at Capernaum. Between the synagogue and the lake the ruins of an octagonal building covering a tesselated pave ment have been exposed. By some this has been taken to be a f ore court of the synagogue, but it is much more likely that we have here the church built by Joseph of Tiberias in 33o A.D. (Epiphan ius, Adv. Haeres. xxx. 4).
W. G. Masterman, "The Site of Capernaum," Bibliography.-E. W. G. Masterman, "The Site of Capernaum," Quart. Stat. Pal. Expl. Fund (19o7) 220 ff.; W. M. Christie, "Tell Hum the Site of Capernaum" in Glasgow Univ. Orient. Soc. Studia Semitica et Orientalia (1920) ; B. Meistermann, Capernaum et Bethsaid et Page de la synagogue de Tell Houm (1921) ; G. Orfali, Capharnaum et ses ruines d'apres les fouilles accomplies a Tell-Houm par la Custodie Franciscaine de Terre Sainte, 1905-1921 (1922).
