Roman baths at Nazareth

davidmartin · #1 20-08-2020, 09:07 AM

Yes you read that right,
its a little known thing but only relatively recently the ruins of a complete Roman bath house were discovered at Nazareth which complicates the picture of this place at the time of Jesus.

This assumes the correct location of Nazareth has been identified, i believe this place is where the majority think it is though.

What else is known about Nazareth from excavations?
There were Jewish rock built houses in the small town of 50-to maybe a few hundred homes and they seem to have been quite poor and the town a little isolated the nearest larger settlements being a few miles away

There was a Roman garrison in the area, which explains the bath house .. and perhaps the doubtful reputation of the place which was always something of a mystery in the gospels?

For anyone interested
http://www.nazarethbathhouse.org/en/

BigJohn · #2 20-08-2020, 08:45 PM

Interesting article.

But then......
would you not expect Nazareth to have baths back then?

davidmartin · #3 20-08-2020, 10:31 PM

Having Roman baths there and soldiers mixing with certain ladies in attendance could give your town a reputation it didn't deserve is what i was thinking
Why else does it have this reputation, makes sense to me

It also is nice to find archaeology that supports the gospels a bit, this Jesus myth thing is really unsupportable when things like this turn up

BigJohn · #4 21-08-2020, 04:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidmartin

Having Roman baths there and soldiers mixing with certain ladies in attendance could give your town a reputation it didn't deserve is what i was thinking
Why else does it have this reputation, makes sense to me

It also is nice to find archaeology that supports the gospels a bit, this Jesus myth thing is really unsupportable when things like this turn up

Seems like you enjoy finding things that are positive and upbeat.

Thanks for sharing.