Nazareth << NAZ uhr uhth >> (pop. 77,925) is a town in northern Israel. It was the home of Jesus Christ during his early youth. The town was in the Roman province of Galilee (see Galilee).
The Old Testament does not mention Nazareth. Nathanael in the New Testament expressed the attitude of the times about the village when he said, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46).
Nazareth remained insignificant for many years after the time of Christ. But pilgrims visited the town about A.D. 600, and a large basilica was built. The Arabs captured the city in the 600’s. The crusaders built several churches there, but the Ottomans, who were Muslims, forced Christians to leave in 1517.
A new town of Nazareth stands on the site of the old town. The population of Nazareth today is far more than its population in Biblical times. The Latin Church of the Annunciation, completed in 1730, now rises where some people think the home of Mary, the mother of Jesus, stood. Since the 1700’s, several religious denominations have constructed churches and monasteries in Nazareth. An ancient well, called Mary’s Well, still flows, and people still take water from it.
