Entry to Church House of St. Peter

On the south side of Capernaum stands the large modern church of  The House of St. Peter. It hovers over the ruins of the 5th century octagonal church, also known by the same name. This church had been built over the remains of even earlier buildings.

To begin with the earliest from the first century. Remains of the insula can still be seen beneath the later buildings. According to some archaeologists one room or courtyard within this insula received special status in the latter parts of the first century, becoming a place of assembly. The floor was covered with plaster, and the wall reworked, some even say with inscriptions. This is contested by other archeologists. No household ceramics were found in this room, only a very large amount of oil lamps.

This late 1st century structure may have been used as a domus-ecclesia or house church by the early Christians of Capernaum.

Across insula to House of St. Peter

In the 4th century this structure underwent a major transformation. Walls were added as well as archways  to support the roof and new entrances. It is possible that the remainder of the insula continued in its original function, as living quarters.

In the 5th century the whole insula was dismantled as well as the early house of prayer. On top was built a large octagonal church, to become known as the Church of the House of St. Peter. The Byzantines took great care to locate this church directly above the early house. Mosaics covered the floors of plants and animals. The mosaic in the central octagon in addition had schools of fish and in the center a circle with a peacock, an early Christian symbol for immortality.

Although there are only ruins to be seen today, the place may hold special significance for the Christian visitor.

Is this really the House of St. Peter?

There is no doubt about the identification of Capernaum. There is however debate on whether the House of St. Peter really is that.

Jesus chose Capernaum as the place of his ministry. (Mtt. 4: 13) Many of his disciples were from Capernaum. Simon, later known as Peter, lived in Capernaum with his family, worked as a fisherman (Matt. 4:18) and was one of the first to be  chosen by Jesus.

Peter and his house is mentioned a number of times in the gospels. In fact one of the first healings is of Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1:30). This means that Peter was married, as was the norm of those days. There is no information on Peter’s family, except that he also had a brother, Andrew, who most likely lived in the same insula as Peter.

Whenever considering if a 5th century church was really built over Peter’s house, a number of things should be taken into consideration.

1. The insula at the time would house extended families
2. Oral tradition

Is it possible that the family of Peter would remember where he lived? Is it possible even that he had descendants, children? Quite likely, as he was married. Would they have followed in his footsteps and followed Jesus, and became the foundation for the Christian community in Capernaum.

There is an additional question to consider. Where did Jesus stay while in Capernaum? He would not have slept outside in the open. If we take the stand that he was not married, he most likely did not have his own household. Is it possible that he would stay with Simon Peter, his best friend?
At least some of the time?

Sculpture of St. Peter

After the death of Jesus, Peter, together with the disciples, returned to the Galilee, to their homes in Capernaum. They would have come back and told all that had happened in Jerusalem. They would have continued to stay there, especially Peter, until he fully began his apostolic work.

Taking all of the above into consideration there is a very high likelihood that the church is truly built over the house of Peter.

I have told you the way I see it. It is up to you now to consider this. But maybe when you visit Capernaum you will actually walk where Jesus and the disciples lived, worked and walked.

In ancient times olives and olive oil had a much greater use. It was used in food. One of the greatest uses of the oil was for lighting in the oil lamps. It was used for offerings in the Temple in Jerusalem, as anointing oil of kings and priests, in cosmetics and in medicine. What was left over after extraction of the oil was used as fuel and as fertilizer. No wonder that the olive became one of the prestigious ‘Seven Species’ of Deuteronomy (8:8).

The Olive Tree

There are still many wild olives in Israel, but it is the domesticated varieties that are seen throughout the country from the southernmost parts of the Hills of Judea to the high mountains of the Galilee.

The tree flowers in May, small inconspicuous flowers. The fruit ripens in late fall, and harvest goes on from late October through November, sometimes into December. The traditional way of harvesting is to shake the branches and allow the fruit to fall unto burlap spread underneath.

Even at this stage when the fruit is ripe, don’t do what I once did – eat the fruit straight from the tree. As I said at the time: I ate the fruit three times – the first, the last and never again. The fruit is so bitter as to be inedible.

But take the time to crush the olive, or place it in a lime solution for a couple of days, and then marinate it in water with garlic, lemon or other spices, and you get the wonderful fruit that many of us like to eat.

Olive Oil Press and Production

Harvesting the olive and producing olive oil is extremely labor intensive. Once the fruit has been harvested the farmer now brings it to the press. In some occasions the biblical farmer had his own press, but usually a privately owned or community press would serve a large area. We are fortunate that many of these presses have survived till today and been found in archaeological excavations. In a few places they have been restored to show the visitor the full process.

Today we are advised to buy only cold press oil. When heated the olive and the oil looses some of its nutritional value. This was also known in ancient times, though occasionally the farmer would heat the fruit at home, in order to get a larger quantity of oil.

"Crusher" in Capernaum

In the olive press the olive must first be crushed. This was done in large “crushers” consisting of a container and the round upper stone, the crusher. The two were connected with an upright pole and a horizontal beam running through the crusher. This stone would be pulled either by people, or in the lucky cases by donkeys.

After running the crusher over the olives for app. half hour, the crushing was completed. This mass was now scooped up and placed in large baskets to be placed on the press. Before this process began the baskets were soaked in water, so that all the oil could be retrieved.

The baskets were now stacked over the press-bed, either with a basin underneath, or a rim around it, to catch the liquid being pressed out. The liquid would run into the catching basin where it would be left, so that the water and oil would separate, the light oil on the top, which would then be ladled off into storage jars.

Presser in Nazareth Village

The earliest form of presses was through a weight system, with three 600 pound weights hung from the cross beam. These weights could be lowered to apply more pressure as needed. In the first century BCE a screw system came into being, making the pressing somewhat easier.

Pressure would be applied at different stages to get the maximum amount of oil out. The time needed for full pressing was 24 hours, and so there would usually be two presses to one crusher. In this way while one press was pressing, the other would either be emptied or filled up again.

The Olive Oil

This production process gave three separate qualities of oil. The first, the purest and most expensive, was the only one used for tithing to the Temple. All three qualities were used for food, for fuel, in cosmetics and medicine, to allow all to be able to buy it.

Ancient oil lamp

By far the most common use of olive oil was for lighting. It is so easy for us to forget how blessed we are that all we have to do when it gets dark is to flip the switch. Until not that long ago, if you wanted see in the dark you had to have candles, or as in the case of the Middle East and Southern Europe – oil.

The olives and the oil could and was exported long distances. The oil from Israel was considered one of the finest, and was much sought after. For Israel the olive oil was the golden oil of biblical times.

The Left-overs

The ancient world did not waste. Everything could and was used, and so also with the pulp left over from the pressing. The pips still contained a great amount of oil was excellent for burning in cooking or heating ovens.

The pulp could be used as fertilizer around growing trees and vines. It was often also used in the plaster mixture painted on the walls of houses. This helped to keep away insects. It was also poured over grain to protect it from mice and insects. This as well as lower quality oil was also used eventually for making soaps.

The tree needs to be trimmed occasionally. The wood lends itself beautifully for carving with its soft undulating lines in different hues of brown, and was therefore much in demand for furniture and doors. In the First Temple in Jerusalem the doors to the inner sanctuary were made of olive wood.

Some Places to see Oil Presses
One of the easiest places to see an olive press in its original location is within the grounds of Capernaum.
For the slightly more off the beaten track traveler, Tel Maresha in the Beit Guvrin area has a beautiful example of a restored olive press. In the Talmudic town of Katzrin on the Golan Heights there is also a fine restored olive press.

View of Sea of Galilee from Capernaum

On the north shore of the Sea of Galilee lie the ruins of the town of Capernaum. This town has in modern times become known as the Town of Jesus, because this is where he spent the greater part of the three years of his ministry.

Capernaum has been in ruins and forgotten since the 7th century. It was rediscovered in the middle of the 19th century by the American explorer Edward Robinson, mainly the synagogue. His findings were confirmed by later explorers as well as archaeological excavations.

Almost nothing about Capernaum is known from written sources outside the New Testament, which means we can’t say much about the origin of its name. Capernaum is a contraction of two Hebrew words: Kfar = village and Nahum, an ordinary Jewish name then and now. There is most likely no connection to the prophet Nahum.

Excavations show that the town, or maybe rather village, was founded in the early Hashmonean period, around 150 BCE, and that it was and stayed primarily a Jewish village, even through the Roman period. But already in the later parts of the first century CE there seems to be the beginnings of a group of followers of Jesus, an early Christian community in the Holy Land.

Who Lived in Capernaum?
We can’t say how large Capernaum was at the time of Jesus. It would not have been a significant place, as no defensive walls have been discovered. With ample supply of fresh water, either from the springs nearby or from the Sea of Galilee, the town could have been large, but it is estimated that no more than 5000 people lived there at the time.

The main occupations of the people would have been as fishermen, as farmers, or involved in the further production of the agricultural products. This can be seen from the olive press and large industrial wheat grinders that have been found.

But Capernaum would also have generated income from the route that passed through it, an ancient route connecting the Galilee with Damascus, and part of a large road system.

Although a small place and quite poor, it was built along the traditional lines of towns at the time. This consisted of a main street running north-south, and smaller side streets coming off, creating a grid-like system and different neighborhoods. Each square within this system was known as an insula (Latin) or agora (Greek).

All of the houses were built of rough basalt stones – the most common stone in the area. They were built along the typical lines of houses in the first century, two or three small rooms around a larger central courtyard. In this courtyard was the oven for the preparation of food. Staircases were found, showing that the roofs were used. The roofs were constructed of wooden beams with thatch and mud in between.

Being a small village none of the houses were more than the ground floor. But the roofs were in important part of the house, where the people might have preferred to sleep, especially in the hot summer months.

As was common in those days families lived together, meaning that an insula would house several generations of the same family, each within its own small house, but in close proximity to be of help to each other.

Further history of Capernaum
It seems that Capernaum did not take part in any of the Jewish Rebellions against the Romans, not The First Rebellion (66-70) that resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, nor in the second, the Bar Kochba Rebellion (132-135).

Capernaum continued to thrive in the following centuries. This can be seen from the construction that took place there in late fourth or early fifth century. The central part of the town was torn down to make a town square. On the north side was built a large synagogue, today known as the White Synagogue, on the south side a church, to become known as the House of St. Peter.

Capernaum was partly destroyed during the 7th century with the Persian invasion (614) and the Arab Conquest (636). Remains of an Arab village have been found nearby. It was finally abandoned in the 11the century, probably due to the Crusader conquest (1099) and left forgotten till modern times.

In the late 19th century the Franciscans took over the site, built a protective wall around the remains of the town. They also undertook complete investigation of the site as well as archaeological excavations that have revealed the White Synagogue, the remains of the early churches of the House of St. Peter, the oil press and other agricultural implements, the agora, and more.

This is a definite must for any visitor to Israel traveling in the footsteps of Jesus.

Things of special importance in Capernaum:
The Oil Press
The Synagogue
The Insula
St. Peter’s House
The remains of the panels, with rolling ark and star

® Copyright to Birte Edwards, Your Tour Guide to Israel

If it is not, then nobody knows where the Hebrew name stems from. Not that it really matter to the average Israeli, who on holidays or Saturdays will stream to the shores of the Sea of Galilee to bathe, water jetting or visit one of the water slide sites, nor to the tens of thousand of Christian or Jewish visitors to the area.

And it is not just the Kinneret itself that attracts. The mountains around – to the west the mountains of the Galilee, to the east the Golan Heights – are strewn with historical sites and great hiking trails for all ages.

If you should happen to be hungry, there are no lack of eating places. Some are a little away, maybe up in the mountains on either side offering not only excellent foot but often a stunning night view of the Sea. Others are nearer the shoreline or on the shoreline itself. The majority of eating places are in Tiberias, the only town at the Sea of Galiee.

Certain parts of the population prefer the eating places in Tiberias, whether down on the promenade or in one of the small side streets. One thing is for certain – a lack of restaurants is not the reason for you to go hungry.

But the Sea of Galilee is much more than the fun  place for Israelis. On the north shore are some of the most important places to the Christian visitor.

Capernaum – where Jesus spent the greater part of his ministry
Mt. Beatitudes – the place where tradition says that Jesus gave his longest sermon, The Sermon on the mount.
Tabgha or Church of the Multiplication – just below Mt.Beatitudes, the place where Jesus fed the four thousand
Primacy of St. Peter – where Jesus appears to his disciples for the third and last time

Other places important to the Christian visitor are at some distance from the lake, such as Caesarea Philippi and Nazareth. Also within reach are places like Safed and Beit Shean.

There are many hotels in Tiberias of various levels of comfort. But around the Sea of Galilee are kibbutzim who have established hotels as part of their industries.

There is no lack of anything in this beautiful corner of Israel, and to make a long story short a visit to the area of the Sea of Galilee, the pearl of Israel, is a must for anyone visiting Israel.

Actually, there is a lack of something – water. For the last 10 years or so the area has been in a drought. As The Sea of Galilee is also Israel’s main fresh water reservoir, the results have been that the level of the lakes has dropped substantially. Measures are being taken throughout Israel to minimize damage. The questions hovers all the time … Is it too late? Will next winter bring good rain?

Israel will pray for rain as will many around the world. While waiting for the rain Israelis as well as visitors from all over the world will continue to flock to the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

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