Nazareth Village, a living history attraction in modern Nazareth city does their best to show village life during the era of Jesus Christ. Nazareth Village tries very hard to show all tools, common occupations, and buildings as they would appear during the Roman period in history. It has managed quite well to recreate a first century poor village. Nazareth is known as the home village of Mary and Joseph, and the childhood village of Jesus Christ.
During the time of Christ, Nazareth was a small, poor, obscure village. It was situated in a protective bowl with a view of the Jezreel Valley (Valley of Armageddon). While no main highways went through the village, it was only a five to ten mile backroad connection to international highways. In fact, Nazareth was only about five miles from Galilee’s capital city, Zippori. Consequently, the village may have been backwater, but it was close enough to get all news of the day.
In the above photo, all of the tools are as they would have been in Joseph’s workshop. The below synagogue is the type found in a poor village of the time period.
Below is a kitchen with a round cooking stove, a large bowl for use in assembling the meal ingredients, and a table with food and clay pots.
Besides cooking, women often prepared the yarn and made clothes and textiles for the family.
Families grew their own vegetables. Below is the common method used in Israel during the first century.
Every city needed clay products such as lamps, pots, and bowls. Often they were made in villages and transported into the cities for sale.
Besides grain fields, vineyards and orchards, another common occupation was shepherding sheep and goats.
If you plan to visit Nazareth Village, it is accessed through the Nazareth YMCA. It is staffed and run by international volunteers. It is worth the visit.
To see the historical sites and cathedrals of modern day Nazareth see my post at the following link: Nazareth, The Lord’s Childhood Village
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