Updates from El-Araj
The recent discovery of the Church of the Apostles at Khirbet el-Araj has fascinated archaeologists and historians, sparking debates regarding its identification with the church over the apostle Peter's house in Bethsaida, as noted by the eighth-century bishop Willibald in his journey to the Holy Land. Initial skepticism surrounding this claim was dispelled with the discovery of a dedicatory inscription referencing “the chief of the apostles,” believed to be Peter.
Subsequent excavations raised questions about earlier structures beneath the basilica. Notably, the apse was excavated, revealing a first-century wall. In addition, an adjacent second-century wall was preserved, enclosed with a plastered wall, and venerated, indicating an earlier Christian presence predating the basilica's construction. Additional excavations, conducted during wartime in Israel, uncovered a large fourth-century building next to the basilica, with evidence suggesting it served as an ecclesiastical monument preserving the memory of Peter and Andrew's house.
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Historical writings from the fourth century by Epiphanius indicate that Joseph of Tiberias sought permission from Emperor Constantine to construct churches in various locations in the Galilee. This aligns with archaeological findings at sites such as Tabgha and Capernaum, where fourth-century Christian structures were eventually replaced by larger buildings in the fifth century. The evidence at Bethsaida, alongside these other sites, suggests a coordinated early Christian initiative to commemorate significant locations associated with Jesus’s ministry in Galilee. This finding enhances our understanding of the region’s historical and religious landscape during the early Christian period.
Come hear from the chief excavators at el-Araj, Dr. R. Steven Notley and Dr. Mordechai Aviam, as they present this season’s latest discoveries.
Speakers
Dr. R. Steven Notley
Dr. R. Steven Notley is Professor and Dean of Religious Studies at Pillar College, Newark, NJ. He is also a Senior Leon Charney Fellow at the Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies. Since 2016, he has served as the academic director of the el-Araj Excavation Project in its search for first-century Bethsaida-Julias, the lost city of the apostles. He received his PhD from the Hebrew University, where he studied with David Flusser. Dr. Notley lived for 16 years in Jerusalem with his wife and four children, during which time he was the founding chair of the New Testament Studies program at the Jerusalem University College. He has been directing groups of students and laypeople to Israel and the eastern Mediterranean region for 30 years. He is the author of many books and articles and continues collaborative research and publication with Israeli scholars in the fields of historical geography, ancient Judaism, and Christian origins. Among his list of publications, he collaborated with Flusser on the historical biography, The Sage from Galilee: Rediscovering Jesus’ Genius; with Anson Rainey on the monumental biblical atlas, The Sacred Bridge: Carta’s Atlas of the Biblical World; and with Ze’ev Safrai on an annotated translation of Eusebius’s important description of Roman Palestine, Eusebius, Onomasticon: A Triglott Edition with Notes and Commentary. He rejoined Safrai for their second work, a pioneering collection and translation of the earliest rabbinic parables that provide the literary and religious context for the parables of Jesus, The Parables of the Sages.
Dr. Mordechai Aviam
Professor Dr. Mordechai Aviam is a professor of archaeology in the Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee in the Land of Israel Studies Department, as well as the founder and director of the Kinneret Institute for Galilean Archaeology. He specialized in classical archaeology and has focused his research on Galilee since 1977. From 1990 to 2001, he was the district archaeologist of Western Galilee for the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Professor Aviam has many years of experience accomplishing field surveys. He has excavated many salvage excavations. His central excavations have been: seven seasons at ancient Yodefat (Jotapata); two ancient synagogues at Baram; a Hellenistic-Roman fortress at Keren Naftali; 10 Byzantine churches and monasteries; for the last two years, together with Samford University, Alabama, at the ancient Jewish village at Shikhin; and co-director of the excavations of the Roman period farmstead at Tel Rekhesh, at which a first- to second-century synagogue was discovered working together with Japanese universities. He is currently director of the excavations at el-Araj (Bethsaida) on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee.