Of all the nine cities then about the lake we should like to recover
especially the sites of Capernaum and Bethsaida. Before the Exploration
we had to be content with the vague statement that Capernaum was
somewhere north of Tiberias. We are now able to point to two sites,
and say that Capernaum was one or other of these, while these two
places are but 2½ miles apart. One of these places is _Tell Hum_, at
the head of the lake, about 2 miles west of the point where the Jordan
enters the lake. Here we have ruins indicating the former existence of
a town hardly smaller than Tiberias; we find a regular cemetery, and
within an enclosure we have the remains of a synagogue. Besides the
synagogue ruins the argument in favour of this site is found in its
name: _Tell_ means a heap, such as the place has become, and _Hum_ is
the abraded form of the name Nahum. Tradition said that the prophet
Nahum lived and died here, and indeed his grave was pointed out as
late as the fourteenth century. The village of Nahum would be _Kefr
Nahum_ in Hebrew; Khafarnaum, as Josephus has it; Capernaum as we are
familiar with it. Sir Charles Wilson is in favour of this site. On
the other hand, Major Conder is in favour of _Khan Minyeh_, 2½ miles
from _Tell Hum_, along the shore southward, and right in the corner
of the Plain of Gennesaret. Here, again, we have evidences of the
former existence of a town, although we have no synagogue ruins. The
name of the place, in this case also, supplies a strong argument. It
appears that the Jews, who looked upon Capernaum as the home of Christ
and the headquarters of his followers, called the disciples “Sons of
Capernaum;” they also nicknamed them Diviners or Sorcerers--in their
language, _Minai_, a name often appearing in the Talmud. Khan Minyeh,
then, would seem to be the town of the Minai or Sorcerers, the early
Jewish converts to Christianity; and their mother town was Capernaum.
An objection might seem to lie against Khan Minyeh because of its
situation in the plain, while it is said of Capernaum, “And thou,
Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? thou shalt go down unto
Hades” (Matt. xi. 23). Such an expression might be interpreted morally;
but if it is to be understood literally, then there is the suggestion
that the town was not entirely in the plain, but spread over the rocky
promontory to the north-east. Rev. Henry Brass explored this promontory
in the spring of 1890, and on the highest part, about 242 feet above
the lake, found “the remains of a fortification--possibly the station
of the Roman Centurion (Matt. viii. 5)--and here and there traces
of buildings, but everywhere broken pottery, showing that there was
formerly a large population. The ruins of the Khan at the junction of
the roads from Cæsarea, Jerusalem, and Perea with the great Roman road
leading north to Damascus, probably mark the very spot where Matthew
sat at the receipt of custom; and the outlying rocks at the foot of
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