Magdala
The resort by the Sea of Galilee where Mary of Magdala (Magdalene) lived before her conversion.
Inhabitants or Natives[edit | edit source]
Mary of Magdala (Magdalene), Benjamin.
Description[edit | edit source]
"The main road becomes a paved street with stones the size of a square palm. The houses are increasingly richer and more beautiful among the vegetable gardens and lush, flowering gardens. I have the impression that elegant Magdala was for the Palestinians a kind of pleasure place like some towns by our Lombardy lakes (...). To the wealthy Palestinians are mixed Romans, certainly coming from other places like Tiberias or Caesarea, where around the Governor there were certainly officials and merchants to export to Rome the best products of the Palestinian colony."[1]
"Here is Magdala stretching along the lake, with the rising sun in front and the Mount of Arbel protecting it from the winds behind, and the narrow valley with steep and wild slopes from which a small stream flows into the lake...".[2]
Its Name[edit | edit source]
Magdala, Migdal. Today El Medjdel.
Where is it mentioned in the work?[edit | edit source]
EMV 183
EMV 241
EMV 302
EMV 448
Learn More About This Place[edit | edit source]
Rare Discovery, in Tiberias, of a Synagogue from the Time of Jesus[edit | edit source]
Israeli archaeologists announced on Friday the discovery of the remains of a synagogue from the time of Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias (north of Israel), where the Christ preached according to the Gospels.
These remains consist of a 120 m2 building, supported by columns and decorated with mosaics featuring geometric designs and frescoes. The ruins date back to around the 1st century, between 50 BC and 100 AD.
This is only the seventh synagogue from this era ever discovered in the world.
It was unearthed at Migdal, in Galilee, during emergency excavations on the northwest shore of the Sea of Tiberias, on the site of the ancient city of Magdala (considered to be the geographical origin of the name given to Mary Magdalene of the New Testament).
"'It is not excluded that Jesus preached in this synagogue, Magdala being an important Jewish town at the time,'" declared to AFP the excavation director Dina Abshalom-Gorni.
The building houses a stele on which is engraved a very rare and well-preserved reproduction of the "menorah" (the sacred seven-branched candelabrum) of the Temple of Jerusalem, destroyed by the Romans of Titus in the year 70 during the capture of the city.
"'This is the only reproduction of the candelabrum found in a Jewish place of worship from this era. The artist likely traveled to Jerusalem and saw the sacred candelabrum with his own eyes,'" emphasized Ms. Abshalom-Gorni.
She specified that "'only four reproductions of this menorah have been discovered to date'". The most famous is the one depicted on a bas-relief on the Arch of Titus in Rome, celebrating the crushing of the Jewish Revolt of 70 AD.
According to the archaeologists, the discovery of the Tiberias site could challenge the idea that synagogues were only erected long after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and replaced places of pilgrimage and sacrifice such as the Temple.
The remains at Tiberias, buried under soil like the entire ancient city of Magdala, were discovered by chance on a Christian site during construction work a few weeks ago.[3]
Explore[edit | edit source]