The Jesus movement and social network analysis (part I: the spatial network).

Abstract

This study is Part I of a "thought experiment" that reconfigures Theissen's "itinerant charismatics" and "community sympathizers" in terms of social network analysis. It briefly describes social network analysis and then, building on Graph Theory, Central Place Theory, and Urbanology about population centers, it summarizes literary and settlement archeological information about Galilean towns mentioned in the Gospels, emphasizing the central places around the Sea of Galilee. The study also briefly describes nearby harbors and roads and constructs imaginative lake lanes and road routes that connect these places. It proposes that villages around the Dead Sea found in the Babatha archive offer an analogy for those around the Sea of Galilee. Without abandoning the inland villages, it shifts attention to Capernaum-based lake towns as a major spatial context for Jesus' social network (Part II).

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   If it can be shown how environment influences network structure, and how
   this structure influences behavior, then it should be possible to trace
   systematically the connection between environment and social behavior
   [Boissevain 1973: 125].

Itinerant Radicals and Community Sympathizers

Gerd Theissen is well known for his view that the "Jesus movement" was a "renewal movement" that sought to "overcome and reduce" political, economic, and social tensions in Roman-Herodian Palestine (Theissen 1978:31-95; 1983: 25-30). His views have generated theoretical, source, and social-scientific critiques (Stegemann 1984; Schussler Fiorenza 1983: 145; Mack 1988; Horsley 1988; 1989: 30-42; 1994a; Crossan 1991; see now 1998) and he has responded (Theissen and Merz 1998 passim). Meanwhile, his thesis of socially uprooted, wandering charismatics who left their villages, homes, families, relatives, wealth, and safety to pursue a radical life-style of voluntary poverty, and who were supported from time to time by local community sympathizers in the Galilean villages, has persisted in his work and been highly influential. Examples are studies of Q (e.g., Sato 1987; Kloppenborg 1987; Mack 1988; Vaage 1994), the Gospel of Thomas (Patterson 1993), the Didache- (Milavec 1995), the Cynics (Crossan 1991; Seeley 1997; discussion in Betz 1994), and Jesus in general (Crossan 1991; cp. Duling and Perrin 1994). Indeed, three recent studies by Dominic Crossan have "itinerants" and "(local) householders" in their titles (1996; 1997a; 1997b; also 1998: ch. 20: "Controlling the Itinerants"), though Crossan has made a few modifications.

In this two-stage article I propose to engage in a thought experiment, that is, to offer a kind of a postulational model. Carney defines such an approach as a search "for some kind of pattern amongst a mass of data, especially if pattern and/or data are complicated and confusing" (Carney 1975:21). I want to look at Theissen's model of itinerant charismatics and community sympathizers from the perspective of social network analysis, which has occasionally surfaced in Second Testament study (Atkins 1991; Hock 1991; White 1991; Chau 1992; Clark 1992; Hendrix 1992; Stark 1992; 1996; Hanson 1996a; Remus 1996). Because of the complexities of gospel work and the paucity of data, it is difficult to advance beyond the metaphorical. Nonetheless, I think the proposal worth the effort. I shall concentrate on two important dimensions of social networks, spatial connections and personal connections. My thesis is that network analysis will help to better imagine and conceptualize Theissen's itinerant radicals and local sympathizers in two dimensions: what Theissen calls a) Jesus' geographical and social framework or context and b) Jesus' social relationships (Theissen and Merz 1998: Chapters 7-8 [Theissen's chapters]; cp. Duling 1999b). Influenced in part by K. C. Hanson, I shall affirm that Jesus' primary spatial environment was the Lake of Galilee (Hanson 1996a; 1996b), a position I shall attempt to reinforce with settlement archeology and a Dead Sea analogy (Part I). With this context, and building on Malina's suggestions about Mediterranean faction coalitions as analyzed by Boissevain (Malina 1988a; 1988b; Boissevain 1974), I shall develop the view in a subsequent article that Jesus' personal network was an "Ego-centered network" and illustrate it (Part II).

This approach will not solve important questions about the influence of urban, Hellenistic cultural, or Cynic influence (or lack thereof) on the village, peasant-artisan Jesus. However, its visualization will offer a focus for the imagination and its conceptuality, I think, will shed light on these debates.

Social Network Analysis

There were antecedents to social network analysis (Durkheim 1893; Simmel 1923; Radcliffe-Brown 1940; Moreno 1934; Firth 1951; Blau 1956; see Cook and Whitmeyer 1992: 115; Duling 1995). However, it is generally recognized that the field came into its own in the post-World War II period with J. A. Barnes' seminal study of the Norwegian island of Bremnes (1954). Barnes used the traditional social anthropological concepts "geographical proximity" and "the workplace," but he conceived them as "social fields." He then developed a third social field that overlapped and cut across the other two.

   The third social field has no units or boundaries; it has no coordinating
   organization. It is made up of the ties of friendship and acquaintance,
   which everyone growing up in Bremnes society partly inherits and largely
   builds up for himself.... Each person is, as it were, in touch with a
   number of people, some of whom are directly in touch with each other and
   some of whom are not.... I find it convenient to talk of a social field of
   this kind as a network. The image I have is of a set of points some of
   which are joined by lines. The points of the image are people, or sometimes
   groups, and the lines indicate which people interact with each other
   [Barnes 1954: 42-43].

Network analysts credit Barnes with developing what had been a useful metaphor into an actual method for analyzing social relationships. Some commentators claim that Barnes' work could have been carried out within traditional social anthropology (Mitchell 1969: 41; 1973: 20, 33; 1974: 284; Whitten and Wolfe 1973), even within Structuralist categories (Wellman and Berkovitz 1988: 4). Others, however, rightly observe that Barnes, Elizabeth Bott whose work on London families built on his analytical tools (1957), and others who followed in their footsteps--notably Jeremy Boissevain (Boissevain 1968; 1974; 1979; 1985; 1996)--challenged the dominant Structural Functionalist paradigm in British social anthropology. Berkovitz went so far as to say that Barnes had created a "paradigm shift" in the social sciences (1982; see Kuhn 1970 and also Barnes' responses in 1972). However one evaluates his contribution, it is clear that Barnes pushed the analysis of social networks forward with specific concepts (see also Barnes 1969a; 1969b; 1972). (I shall discuss such concepts in more detail in Part II). It should be added that Structural Functionalists were especially adept at analyzing social relations in more or less static, simple societies where a single individual knows all other individuals in their various social fields. Barnes and Bott developed network analysis for modern Euro-American complex, urban contexts where people often know other people in only one or two social fields. Nonetheless, network analysis has also been applied to Mediterranean, rural, and third world contexts (Befu 1962; Pospisil 1964; Boissevain ibid.).

Barnes' most basic concept, as the above quotation shows, was the notion of dots connected by lines. This visualization was not new. It had been used in "graph theory," which was developed in the field of mathematics by Leonhard Euler in the eighteenth century (Ore 1990). Barnes, of course, had in mind social networks, in which the dots or "nodes" were persons. Nonetheless, Barnes stressed geographical proximity as a social field and it has become common in network analysis to begin with a sketch of the social cultural context (&g., Boissevain 1973). In Part I of this study, then, I shall focus on the social cultural context of Jesus, particularly one feature, namely, the spatial network, a sort of expanded geographical proximity. I shall return to the social network in Part II.

The Spatial Network

Galilee as a Region

Curiously, the very term "Galilee" means "region" (Hebrew and Aramaic galil, "circle"). Galilee is a specific region in the First Testament (Josh 13:2; Joel 4:4; see Bosen 1985: 13-17). Likewise, in the Second Testament gospels fifty-three of fifty-eight references to Galilee (mostly redactional) view it as a region, specifically a geopolitical region (Mark 10x; Matt: 14x; Luke 13x; John 16x). The same is true in the Apocrypha (Tob 1:2; Jud 1:7.8; see also 1 Macc 11: 63), the Mishnah (M.Seb. 9:2), and Josephus (Jos. Ant. 14.15.1 [section] 395; 14.15.4 [section] 417; Vita 7 [section] 28; 27 [section] 132; 206; War 2.21.1 [section] 589). Josephus divides the region into Upper Galilee and Lower Galilee (Jos. Ant. 5.1.18 [section] 63; 5.1.22 [section] 86; 5.1.24 [section] 91; Jos. War 3.3.1 [subsection] 35-40; 4.1.1 [section] 2; see Avi-Yonah 1977). The Mishnah adds a third sub-region:

   Three countries are to be distinguished in what concerns the law of
   Removal: Judaea, beyond the Jordan, and Galilee, and each of them is
   divided into three lands. (Galilee is divided into) upper Galilee, lower
   Galilee, and the valley: from Kefar Hanania upwards, wheresoever sycamores
   do not grow (highlands), is upper Galilee, from Kefar Hanania downwards,
   wheresoever sycamores grow (lowlands), is lower Galilee, the region of
   Tiberias is the valley. [M. Seb. 9:2; see Meyers 1979: 694; Meyers &
   Strange 1981: 39; Horsley 1996: 90].

In what follows I shall call the third region the Valley-Lake Region for convenience.

The boundaries for these regions lacked precision (Freyne 1992: 895-99). Josephus, for example, did not usually include areas NE and E of the Sea of Galilee--Gaulanitis and the areas around Hippos--in Galilee. Yet, he calls one person from Gamla in Gaulinitis "Judas the Galilean" (Jos. Ant. 18.1.1 [section] 4; cp. War 2.8.1 [section] 118) and he said that he commanded Gaulanitis as commander of Galilee (Jos. War 4.1.2. [section] 9). Thus, he was not always consistent (Groh 1995: 55; Urman 1985: 22-24).

In modern archeology "Regionalism" or "settlement archeology" can be defined as an archaeological/anthropological method that excavates a number of sites, alternating with field surveys, in a larger geographical region, its aim being to shed light on surviving literary evidence about that region, and thus its history (Meyers 1979: 694; 1976; 1985; 1997; Meyers & Strange 1981: 39; see also Adan-Bayewitz 1987; 1993). Modern "Regionalists" (my designation) agree with the ancients about the three divisions of Galilee, observing especially geographical-topographical factors. Upper Galilee is more remote, and relatively isolated, "a range of valleys, gorges, basins, ridges, and isolated peaks" (Freyne 1980: 12; Aharoni, Avi-Yonah, Rainey, and Safrai 1993: 165-66). Separated from Lower Galilee by the southern slopes of Mount Meiron (Jos. War 3.3.1 [subsection] 35-40), it is about 180 square miles. Lower Galilee, more than twice as large (about 470 square miles) is less isolated. It has five main hill ranges (Nazareth, Tur'an, Lubiyeh, the Shagur Plateau, the western Hill Country) with three main valleys into the interior (the Tur'an Plain, the Battof Plain, and the Rame Plain). Its topography, climate, vegetation, and agriculture are different from Upper Galilee. The third region, the Valley-Lake Region, is dominated by the lake. The Jordan River, formed by the snows of Mt. Herman, flows south through 125 miles of the Great Rift Valley. It feeds Lake Huleh, then the Sea of Galilee, and finally the Dead Sea. The major economic activity in the first two regions is farming; the major economic activity in the Valley-Lake Region is fishing, though there also is agriculture in some adjacent areas around the lake.

Central Places and Population Centers

I now draw on Graph Theory, Central Place Theory, and Urbanology. Graph Theorists argue that there are physical, natural points where one location emerges that has the ability to control the flow of goods, services, and information in exchange networks. For example, Peregrine has analyzed the evolution of the pre-historical Cahokia people in relation to the confluence of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois rivers, with all their tributaries (Peregrine 1991: 67-69). He does it mathematically with "point centrality," that is, that central point where, because of the flow of the rivers, goods and services are most effectively exchanged. He offers three definitions of "point centrality" from graph theoretical literature: "(1) as that point in the graph with the highest degree (i.e., the highest number of lines adjacent to it); (2) as that point that falls on the most paths between other points; and (3) as that point that is maximally close to all other points" (Peregrine 1991: 67). Peregrine offers graphs of the Mississippi River system to demonstrate the point centrality of the Cahokia site. Central Place Theorists hold that regions have major centers specializing in goods and services and are encircled by a hierarchy of smaller towns and villages giving the Central Place a minimum market necessary to operate ("threshold") within a certain radius that people are willing to travel ("range") (Christaller 1966; Hopkins 1980; Edwards 1992a: 56; see Vogeler 1996; http://uwec.edu/Academic/Geography/Ivogeler/w111/urban.htm). Finally, some Urbanol- ogists maintain that villages and city form an "urban system" with goods and services flowing from the periphery to the center and with corresponding social-structural stratification (urban elites and village non-elites) and its attendant unequal distribution of goods and services (used, e.g., by Oakman 1986 passim; Rohrbaugh 1991: 130-33). These three distinct but overlapping perspectives are illustrated in Figure 1 (above).

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

It is well known that rural places mentioned in the gospels are vague ("mountains," "hill(s)" "wilderness," "countryside," "everywhere," "grain fields"). Equally vague--and more to the point--are general references to population centers: "all the cities/towns" (Mark 1:45; 6:33; cp. GTh 32), "villages" (Mark 6:6b-7), and "marketplaces" in "villages" or "country places" (Mark 6:56). Yet, Regionalists agree with the ancients that Upper Galilee, or what Josephus calls Tetracomia or "Four Villages" (Jos. War 2.21 [subsection] 585-90), contained networks of "village clusters" (Meyers 1979: 695-96; Meyers & Strange 1981: 42-46), that is, specific population centers. They posit the same for the Valley-Lake Region:

   A similar clustering of villages also appears along the Rift Valley and the
   Sea of Galilee: in the north Chorazin, Capernaum, Migdala (Tarichea), Wadi
   Hamam (Arbel, two sites), Tiberias (Hammath and others), Beth Shean, Rehov,
   Kochav ha-Yarden, to the south. This clustering of Jewish villages
   continues on the eastern side of the Lake of Gaulanitis to an approximate
   inland distance of 10 km ... [Meyers 1979: 696].

I concentrate here on the more specific population centers mentioned in the gospels, namely, towns, omitting Tyre and Caesarea Philippi, which are outside Galilee, and Bethany "beyond the Jordan" which some scholars hold to be Botanea (Appendix I).

Gospel Population Centers in Lower Galilee (Away from the Lake).

Nazareth. (Avi-Yonah 1962; Meyers & Strange 1981: 56-57; Goranson 1992: 1049-1050; Strange 1992d; Rousseau and Arav 1995: 214-16). The multiple attestation of Mark and John, as well as the Johannine writer's embarrassment about Nazareth (John 1:45-46; 7:41), confirm the gospel view that it was Jesus' hometown. Mentioned twenty-one times in the canonical gospels (though spelled in different ways), it was an agricultural village on a hillside in southern Lower Galilee about fifteen miles west of the Lake. Population estimates range from 480 (Strange 1992d: 1050) to 2,000 (Meyers & Strange 1981: 56; Meyers 1997:59, 65 n. 11 [1700 based on Reed 1992). Yafia, a walled village fortified by Josephus (Jos. War 2.20.6 [section] 573; Life 52 [section] 270), was about two miles SW; Kesaoth was about the same distance to the SE; and Sepphoris on the Via Maris (Jos. Ant. 17.10.9 [section] 289; Life 67 [subsection] 373-380) was about four miles North. Caves (perhaps used for domestic purposes) and a second-century ritual bath have been discovered at Nazareth (Meyers & Strange 1981: 56-57, 113, Fig. 3). The village was remembered by some ancients as priestly (Mishmaroth 18; MidrQoh. 2.8; an inscription of priestly courses from Caesarea [Strange 1992d]). The eminent Semitic language scholar Gustav Dalman thought that Nazareth was "a radiating point of important roads and a thoroughfare for extensive traffic" (Dalman 1935: 63). This is an overstatement in the light of today's knowledge of nearby Sepphoris, which was more central. In any case, Jesus did not make Nazareth the center of his activity, though he seems to have had kin there (Mark 6:1-6a).

[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]

Cana. (Strange 1992a; Rousseau & Arav 1995: 38-39). Cana is mentioned only in the Fourth Gospel and thus is not multiply attested. Yet, specific locations in this gospel are often accurate (Hunter 1968). Cana is mentioned as the hometown of Nathaniel (John 21:2), though Nathaniel seems also to have been associated with Bethsaida (1:43-44). Cana is best known as the place where Jesus is said to have attended a wedding feast (2:1-11). In addition, the Fourth Gospel says that he healed the Capernaum royal official's son at a distance at Cana (4:46-54), though in Q the miracle takes place at Capernaum (Q 7:1-10). The site of Cana is probably Khirbet Qana, currently being excavated. It is about nine miles north of Nazareth, twelve miles west of lakeside Magdala/Taricheae, on a road to Capernaum (cp. Dalman 1935: 201). The story about the son of the royal official, if the Johannine location is accurate, suggests that a royal representative of Antipas may have administered Cana. It was later recalled as a priestly village (Strange 1992a: 827). One might think that according to the wedding feast story Jesus had friends in Cana, as well.

Nain. (Strange 1992c). Nain is not multiply attested, either. The Lukan writer wrote that it was the site of a resuscitation by Jesus (Luke 7:11-17) and in the story the town is said to have had a city gate (Luke 7:12), implying a wall, which is now confirmed by archeology. Roman sarcophagi have also been discovered there (Strange 1992c: 1001).

Summary. Relatively little has been learned about Jesus from these three agrarian villages, though much as been written about Sepphoris near Nazareth (e.g., Strange 1992e; Netzer & Weiss 1994; Nagy, C. Meyers, E. Meyers, and Weiss 1996). The fact that Sepphoris is not mentioned in the gospels has led some scholars to conclude that Jesus avoided the city (e.g., Freyne 1997b: 55; Meyers 1997: 64). Other scholars hypothesize just the opposite (e.g., Batey 1984a; 1984b; Fiensy 1994). More needs to be said about this subject.

Gospel Population Centers in the Valley-Lake Region (Galilee)

The most frequent Galilean location associated with Jesus is the Sea of Galilee. Contrary to usual English usage, the Greek term "sea" (thalassa) can refer to any body of water in contrast to the sky above and the surrounding land, thus anything from a salt-water ocean to a fresh water pool. In contrast, the Greek term "lake" (limne) usually means a fresh-water lake (Louw & Nida 1989: 1.69-1.78). The Sea of Galilee is really a fresh-water lake and the Lukan author expresses this fact by conforming to usual Greek usage. In other words, he reserves thalassa for the sea in general (Luke 17:2; 17:6; 21:25) and refers to the "Sea of Galilee" as the "Lake of Gennesaret" (5:1) or simply "the lake" (5:2; 8:22, 23, 33). Similarly, Josephus says that the natives called it the "Lake of Gennesar" (Jos. War 3.10.1 [section] 463). He follows suit (Jos. War 2.20.6 [section] 573; 3.10.1 [section] 463; 3.10.7 [section] 506; 3.10.8 [subsection] 15-16; Ant. 5.1.22 [section] 84; 18.2.1 [section] 28; 18.2.2 [section] 36; Life 65 [section] 349), though occasionally he also calls it the "Lake of Tiberias" (Jos. War 3.3.5 [section] 57; 4.8.2 [section] 456). Pliny notes that the Lake of Gennesaret was called by some the "Lake of Taricheae" (Nat. Hist. 5.15.71). Both Tiberias and Taricheae are derived from western lakeside towns (see Malbon 1984: 364; Strange 1992).

The writers of Matthew, Mark, and John prefer to call the Lake of Galilee the "Sea of Galilee," which the Gospel of John explains is also known as the "(`Sea') of Tiberias" (John 6:1; cf. 21:1). The usual literary theory about this preference for the term "sea" is that the authors of these three gospels are aware of the language potential of First Testament Hebrew yam, that is, "sea" allows for a greater range of symbolic interpretation. Thus, Jesus, like God, has power over the chaotic "deep." Admitting this symbolism, it should be remembered that almost all the miracle stories are located by or on the sea (Kelber 1974: 45-65). At least some of these stories must have been very early. For example, two of them, the feeding of the 5,000 story and the walking on the sea story, are attested by both Mark and John. Indeed, these stories have the same sequence in Mark and John (Mark 6:34-44; 45-52; John 6:1-15; 6:16-21) and share many of the same "sea" terms (see also Matt 14:14-32; John 21; Mark 1:16-20 and 4:1 = Luke 5:1-11; see Malbon 1984). All this points to a connection between pre-Markan and pre-Johannine miracle collections (Duling and Perrin 1994: 161-62). Brown argues that the stories in John 6 are earlier in form than their counterparts in Mark 6 (Brown 1966: 254). Theissen hypothesizes that three of the sea/seaside stories--the stilling of the storm (Mark 4:35-41), the healing of the Gerasene demoniac (Mark 5:1-20), and the walking on the sea (Mark 6:45-52)--were told or transmitted in the Valley-Lake Region (Theissen 1991: 105). He correspondingly offers a suggestion about the term "sea" that is not simply symbolic, namely, it might have been used by peasants and fisherfolk in the Valley Lake Region because of their limited perception of the world (Theissen 1991: 107, 108).

In short, admitting the important generative potential for sea symbolism, it is plausible that sea stories were told in the Valley-Lake Region by early Christians who remembered Jesus' activity there and perhaps thought of the lake as a sea. What were some of the central places in the Valley-Lake Region?

Capernaum (Capharnaum). (Dalman 1935: 56-78; Corbo 1962; 1992; Meyers & Strange 1981: 58-60; Tzaferis 1983; Laughlin 1993; Rousseau & Arav 1995: 39-47; Loffreda 1997). Capernaum or Capharnaum (Kefar Nahum, "Village of Nahum") is mentioned in the Gospels sixteen times (Mark 3x; Matt 4x; Luke 4x; John 5x), more often than any other Galilean town except Nazareth. It is multiply attested (Mark 3x; John 5x; Q 2x), and it is the only town in Q mentioned more than once (10:15; 7:1). It is mentioned as the town where Jesus was most frequently active.

In the Gospel of Mark Capernaum and its environs are associated with the following: the call of two sets of fishermen-brothers (1:16-20; Duling 1999a); the toll collector Levi (2:13-15); "the house of Simon and Andrew" (1:29-30); Jesus' own house (2:15 ["his house"]; ambiguous references are 2:1 ["at home"?], 3:20 ["went home"?], 9:33 ["in his house"?]); Peter's mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-30; 1:33; 2:2; cp. 1 Cor 9:5 ["sister-wife"?]); Jesus' mother and brothers (3:31-35); and many of Jesus' teachings, healings, and exorcisms, some related to a synagogue (1:21, 23; 2:1-12;; 3:1; 5:21b-22). Jesus is constantly said to travel from Capernaum (17x) and return to Capernaum (8x). In Mark Capernaum is Jesus' center until he leaves Galilee (8:27), and he stops by on the way to Jerusalem (9:33).

The Matthean and Lukan writers do some rearranging and modifying of Capernaum accounts (e.g., Matt 9:1; Luke 4:16-30; 5:1) and they reduce Jesus' Galilean journeys. That Jesus had a house in Capernaum is less certain (Matt 9:10; Luke 5:29) and the Matthean writer omits the exorcism story in the synagogue at Capernaum (Mark 1:23-28; cf. Matt 4:23-25). However, he reinforces the Markan picture that Jesus left Nazareth to dwell in "Capernaum by the Sea" by a Scriptural reference (Matt 4:13-16 [Isa 8:23-9:1]). He renames Levi the Capernaum toll collector, calling him "Matthew," and considers him to be one of the Twelve (9:9; 10:3). He also adds a sea story (14:28-33) and a fish story (17:24-27). The Gospels of Luke and John add realistic topography: Jesus "goes down" from Nazareth (in the hills) to Capernaum (by the lake) (Luke 4:31; John 2:12). The Lukan writer adds to Q by claiming that the centurion was a patron who built the Capernaum synagogue (7:2-5).

In Q Jesus condemns Capernaum along with Chorazin and Bethsaida (Q 10:13-15). Some scholars argue that these sayings are in a later apocalyptic-judgment stage of Q (Q2; so Kloppenborg 1987 passim; Jacobson 1992: 145; Mack 1993: 88, 132, 135; Vaage 1994: 107). Others say that these sayings contain a suspicious Gentile mission not likely for Jesus (Sanders 1985:110, 114, 117; Funk, Hoover, and the Jesus Seminar 1993: 320). In their present form they do not go back to Jesus himself. However, none of these scholars denies that Jesus was active there. Moreover, some miracle stories and teachings located at the Capernaum synagogue are multiply attested (e.g., Q 7:1-10 = John 4:46-54, a Cana miracle perhaps originally at Capernaum [Brown 1966: 192; cf. 193]) and are certainly pre-gospel. For Theissen it was "the center of Jesus' teaching and activity" (Theissen 1997: 166). Even Bultmann, who believed that place names were usually added to the gospel accounts, conceded that Capernaum was an accurate historical reminiscence for Jesus' activity (Bultmann 1968 [1921]: 65, n. 3)!

Capernaum is now identified with Tell Hum (Bedouin Talhum) on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. Size and population estimates have varied significantly. Meyers and Strange once estimated a population from 12,000 to 15,000 on the basis of possibility that some of the town now lies under the lake (Meyers & Strange 1981: 58). This would make it much larger than Nazareth. Recent estimates, however, have been more modest: "no more than 1,000 people" (Laughlin 1993:57), or less precisely, "only a small settlement" in Jesus' day (Rousseau & Arav 1995: 43); "1,500 during the town's maximum expansion in the Byzantine period" (Loffreda 1997: 418). Excavations have uncovered basalt houses of both the courtyard or "clan" type and the individual type (Corbo 1992: 867; cp. Osiek & Balch 1997: 14). Also found was a large Roman bathhouse from the second or third century, under which may lie one from the first century (Laughlin 1993: 57; Rousseau & Arav 1995: 43), which is interesting in light of the Q version of the story about a Roman centurion (Q 7:1-10). Under the ruins of the present fourth/fifth-century (second/third?) synagogue is possibly a first-century C.E. synagogue or a "house synagogue" (Corbo 1992: 868; see Meyers & Strange 1981: 141; Rousseau & Arav 1995: 41-42). The centurion story says that the centurion was a patron of the Capernaum synagogue (the "centurion's synagogue").

Under the fifth century octagonal church is a fourth century "house-church" (domus ecclesia), a room that had been plastered three times. On the plaster were some 131 Christian graffiti written by pilgrims in Aramaic, Greek, and Syriac, including some prayers to Jesus and mention of Peter's name (Meyers & Strange 1981: 60). The pilgrim Egeria wrote in 384 C.E., "The house of the Prince of the Apostles was changed into a church. The walls, however, are still standing as they were" (Loffreda 1997:418 [ELS 297, n. 436]). Fishhooks have also been found there. Finally, the earliest part of the room a contained early Roman coins and pottery that suggest that the house dates from the first century C.E. (Loffreda 1997: 419). The original excavators thus concluded that the site was "St. Peter's house" (Corbo 1992: 867; see also Meyers & Strange 1981: 59-60, 114-16, Figs 4-6; Rousseau &Arav 1995: 40; Ward 1987: 230-31). Horsley rejects this identification (Horsley 1996: 113). Arav doubts it (Arav 1999: 77, n. 7). Strickert, in discussing the Johannine tradition that Peter was from Bethsaida (see below), also offers other alternatives for the house, including the possibility that, because the original complex was relatively large, it might have belonged to the wealthy Jairus (Mark 5:21-24a, 35-43; Strickert 1998: 22-28).

[FIGURE 4-6 OMITTED]

From a later time the rabbis tell the tale that at Capernaum minim ("heretics") bewitched Chananya and made him ride a donkey on the Sabbath. Thus, his uncle, Rabbi Joshua, said that "the ass of that `godless one' has risen in thee," apparently referring to Jesus who also rode on a donkey (Eccl Rab 1.8 [70b]). While the term minim sometimes includes "Jewish Christians," Dalman and Horsley both reject the view that Capernaum became inhabited by Jewish Christians (Dalman 1935: 149-50; Horsley 1996: 112-13). However one views the tale, the ass of the "godless one" suggests some connection with Jesus' and his entry to Jerusalem. Josephus also implies that in 66-70 CE Capernaum opposed the Romans; when as a commander of Galilean forces he was accidentally injured, he found a safe haven there (Life 72 [section] 403; cf. Rousseau & Arav 1995: 39).

Despite the above disagreements about the size of Capernaum and dating of some of its structures, no one doubts that Capernaum was primarily a fishing town. Indications are the following discoveries: the remains of an ancient harbor complex extending about 700-800 meters long, consisting of a wall, perhaps from the first century; a number of piers, some in pairs forming little coves, others in triangles, each about thirty meters long, extending out from a the wall (Nun 1988: 24-26; Rousseau & Arav 1995: 45); a building with pools, probably a fish market (Tzaferis 1983: 201), which might fit Josephus' comment about a fertile fountain that produces Coracin fish (Jos. War 3.10.8 [subsection] 519-20); and fishhooks in "Peter's house" (Meyers & Strange 1981: 60). Hanson has suggested that perhaps Levi's toll booth (Mark 2:14)--toll booths were common in frontier areas--was related to the fishing trade (Hanson 1997: 103). The population of Capernaum may have been mixed; in addition to the above-mentioned Roman bathhouse, archeologists refer to one section as "the Hellenistic city." If Capernaum was not exactly "a teeming Jewish commercial and agricultural center," as Meyers and Strange once thought (Meyers & Strange 1981: 26; contrast Horsley 1996: 114), it was nonetheless larger and apparently more cosmopolitan than the inland hamlet of Nazareth. Certainly it was strategically located near Philip's territory--only three miles from Bethsaida--in case someone needed to escape from Antipas. Thus, it was "a natural selection for Jesus' headquarters" (Meyers & Strange 1981: 26).

Chorazin. (Yeivin 1987; 1993; Rousseau & Arav 1995: 52-55). In Q Chorazin is also condemned along with Capernaum and Bethsaida (Q 10:13). If the usual identification with Khirbet Karaze is correct, it is not directly on the lake, but lies on a plateau overlooking the lake about two and a half miles NW of Capernaum. Much has been unearthed there: a centrally located synagogue with a raised platform (bema) and a famous "Moses' Seat," domestic complexes, a large public building, an olive press (second century B.C.E.), a mikveh, a cobblestone courtyard, and a couple of walls (Yeivin 1987). The synagogue type is from the third to the sixth centuries C.E. and nothing of value from the first century C.E. has been found at Khirbet Karaze. Across the modern road, however, there were first-century potsherds found; perhaps a first-century small village was located there (Yeivin 1987: 36; Rousseau & Arav 1995: 53). From a later time, Tosefta Makkot 3:8 calls Chorazin a "medium-sized town" and says that it was not close enough to Jerusalem to require its inhabitants to bring the first harvest offering (b. Menahot 85a, Yeivin 1987: 22). Eusebius says that it was a "destroyed village" (so Rousseau & Arav 1995: 52b).

Gennesaret (Gennesar; Kinnrot Anchorage). (Nun 1988; Edwards 1992b). Gennesaret, a place where Jesus is said to have performed healings, is not multiply attested (Mark 6:53 = Matt 14:34; Luke 5:1). Luke transformed the Markan call of the first disciples (closer to Capernaum?) into a miraculous catch of fish near Gennesaret (Luke 5:1, 3, 1:16-20). Josephus said that the Plain of Gennesar(et) nearby was one of the most fertile areas in Galilee (Jos. War 3.10.8 [subsection] 516-21), thus it was a potential source for agricultural images. The village was located on the hill above an anchorage which had at least two breakwaters about four to five meters wide extending into the lake about seventy meters.

Magdala. (Migdal; Taricheae; Dalmanutha/Magadan?). (Nun 1988; Collins 1992; Strange 1992b; Thompson 1995; Wachsmann 1995; Aviam 1997; Sawicki 1999). Magdala is mentioned in the Gospels only in connection with Mary Magdalene (Mark 15:40, 47; 16:1, 9; Matt 27:56, 61; 28:1; Luke 8:2; 24:10; John 19:25; 20:1, 18), unless Magadan in Matthew 15:39 (Mark 8:10: Dalmanutha) is Magdala. It lies three miles south of Capernaum and about a mile north of Tiberias. Josephus calls Magdala "Taricheae," Greek for "salted fish," which can refer also to factories for processing salted fish (Jos. Ant 20.8.4 [section] 159). Thus, a modern translation would be something like "Processed Fishville" (Hanson 1997: 106). The Talmud calls it Migdal Nunya or Nunayah (Aramaic for "tower of fish") (b. Pes. 46). Josephus says that the town had many wood stores, ships, and shipyard workers, that during the First Revolt against Rome Titus attacked it from the sea, and that Josephus himself reinforced Tiberias with ships from Tarichaeae (War 3.10.1-9 [subsection] 462-542; Nun 1988: 20). Archeological discoveries from Magdala include: open-docks; a small building at the beginning of the docks; a sheltered harbor basin to protect ships from both the west winds of the Arbel gorge and winter winds off the Golan Heights; a pier; a mooring stone; lead weights for nets; a net needle; a first-century mosaic of a five-person boat ("the Migdal boat"); boat parts similar to those of the famous Sea of Galilee boat (which had wood from trees near Magdala). Josephus indicated that the town had an abundance of artisans (Jos. War 3.10.1 [subsection] 462-70). All this suggests that Magdala was a boat building and fish processing center (Rousseau & Arav 1995: 27). Finally, Josephus says that Magdala-Taricheae was a center of Jewish nationalistic resistance and associated with city of Tiberias (Jos. War 2.21.3-4 [subsection] 595-609), where there was a powerful fishing cartel, the head of which was a fisherman (Jos.Life 12 [section] 66). Coins from the time of Nero (54-68 C.E.) have also been found.

Gospel Population Centers in the Valley-Lake Region (not in Galilee)

Bethsaida. (Dalman 1935: 161-83; Arav 1988; 1989; 1991; 1992; 1995; 1999; Kuhn and Arav 1991; Arav and Rousseau 1991; Arav and Freund 1995; Rousseau 1995a; 1995b; Shroder and Inbar 1995; Rousseau & Arav 1995: 19-24; Strickert 1998). According to the gospels, of towns where Jesus was active, Bethsaida ranks second only to Capernaum (Rousseau 1995b: 188). In Q Bethsaida is cursed for not repenting, along with Capernaum and Chorazin (Q 10:13-15). Because Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Capernaum are condemned together in Q, the three towns have garnered the designation "the evangelical triangle" (Strickert 1998: 131).

The Gospel of Mark has the following sequence: Jesus feeds the 5,000 (6:31-44, but where?), then sends the disciples to Bethsaida (Mark 6:45), and then walks on the "sea" (6:46-52); finally, after "crossing over," Jesus and his disciples arrive at Gennesaret (6:53). In Luke, however, the feeding seems to be at Bethsaida (9:10). It may be impossible to locate these stories in real geography. In any case, the feeding and the walking on sea miracles are connected with Bethsaida and both are linked in the Gospel of John (John 6:1-21), though that gospel connects the walking on the sea with Capernaum (6:17).

In Mark Bethsaida is also the place where Jesus is said to heal a blind man (8:22-26; Rousseau 1995a; Strickert 1998: 125-30). In an early "Signs Source" of the Gospel of John Bethsaida is "the city of Andrew and Peter" (1:44; Strickert 1998: 20); it is also said to be the city of Philip (12:21). John 1:43, though it mentions Galilee, sems to imply that Jesus recruited Philip near Bethsaida. The pilgrim, Theodosius (ca. 530 C.E.), says that not only Peter, Andrew, and Philip came from Bethsaida, but also Zebedee and his two sons, James and John. However, he gives no source (Rousseau & Arav 1995: 22b; Strickert 1998: 28--30). In short, disciples and miracles are closely associated with Bethsaida.

According to Josephus, Antipas' half-brother Herod Philip received Gaulanitis, the region beyond the Jordan east and northeast of the Sea of Galilee (Jos. Ant. 17.8.1 [section] 189; 17.2.1 [section] 23). Bethsaida lay in this region. Josephus notes that in 30 C.E. Philip transformed (expanded?) the village of Bethsaida into a polis and renamed it "Julias" in honor of Tiberias' daughter who was also Augustus' wife (Jos. Ant. 18.2.1 [section] 28; Jos. War 2.9.1 [section] 168), though in fact she was Tiberias' mother (numismatic evidence; Arav 1997: 303). Though Philip's capital was twenty-four miles north at Caesarea Philippi, Josephus says that Philip died and was buried with great pomp in Bethsaida (Jos. Ant. 18.4.6 [section] 108). Josephus also notes that there were Jews and Syrians living in Julias (Jos. War 3.3.5 [section] 57) and that he himself fought a battle there (Jos. Life 72-73 [section] 399-406).

Because the Romans ultimately destroyed Bethsaida in the Jewish wars (Arav 1997: 303), its precise location often has been disputed. The Gospel of Mark locates it vaguely on the Sea of Galilee (Mark 6:45). The Fourth Gospel calls it "Bethsaida in Galilee" (John 12:21), the territory of Antipas. However, as just noted, it was in Gaulanitis, the territory of Philip. Because of this apparent disagreement in the sources, sixteenth-century scholars suggested that there were actually two Bethsaidas where the Jordan empties into the lake, one on the west bank in Galilee (Herod Antipas' tetrarchy), and one on the east bank in Gaulanitis (Herod Philip's tetrarchy). However, by the nineteenth century speculation had narrowed to three sites on the east bank, el-Mesadiyeh, el-Araj, and et-Tell. In 1987 Arav confirmed Dalman's conjecture that et-Tell was the correct spot because it was the largest of the three sites and el-Araj was not a city before the fourth century C.E. (Arav 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1999; Kuhn and Arav 1991; Arav and Rousseau 1991; Rousseau & Arav 1995: 20; Arav and Freund 1995; Rousseau 1995a; Rousseau 1995b; cf. Dalman 1935: 162). Et-Tell, about three miles directly east of Capernaum, presently lies a little more than a half mile north of the lake. However, the marsh between it and the lake was apparently at one time a bay and then an estuary, and thus it once seems to have lain on or near the water's edge (Shroder and Inbar 1995; Rousseau & Arav 1995: 20-21 and Fig. 2; Strickert 1998: 41-44; Arav 1999: 80).

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

If these results are correct, Bethsaida was once a fishing village located on the only natural harbor of the lake. This description fits its Semitic name, Beth-Tzaida, "House of Fishing" (Bethsaida), or "House of the Fisherman" (Bethsaidan) (less likely "House of Hunting" or "House of the Hunter"). Strickert suggests that today it would be called "Fishertown" (Strickert 1998: 47). The fishing village was then incorporated within the city walls of Philip's Julias (Arav 1997: 304). Its estimated population was several hundred people (Arav 1999: 83).

There are more fishing associations. A late Talmudic story says that at Tzaidan (probably Bethsaida, not Sidon) Rabbi Shimon ben Gamaliel was presented a fishbowl containing three hundred species of fish (jShek 6.2,50c). Another statement says that the fish from Tzaidan were of high quality (Sifre Devarim 4.39). Most important, there has been uncovered at Bethsaida "the best selection of equipment from any site around the Sea of Galilee" (Strickert 1998: 49). Several private houses have been excavated, two in the typical courtyard pattern. Discovered in one of them were fishing hooks, lead and basalt net weights, lead and basalt line sinkers, a bronze sail needle (15 cm.), stone anchors, and implements probably used for fish processing (Rousseau 1995b; Rousseau & Arav 1995: 22; Strickert 1998: 52-53). There was also discovered a fisher's trademark seal (3/4" by 3/4") from the late Hellenistic-early Roman period. It depicts a leafy reed marsh and a flat bottom ("hippos") boat on which there appear to be two persons casting a throw-net. On a broken jar handle was etched an iron anchor from the Roman period (Arav 1995; 1997: 304; Rousseau and Arav 1995: 24; Strickert 1998: 56-57). Most probably this house was a fisherman's house, though because the house was relatively large, the fisherman may have been of some substance (Strickert 1998:68-69 [foundation and possible reconstruction of "the Fisherman's House"]; see Hanson 1997).

Arav also notes other occupations, including animal husbandry, viticulture, horticulture, agriculture, flour milling, and tanning. The house architecture is simple, suggesting that life was modest. Arav also argues that Hellenistic influence was minimal and superimposed (Arav 1999: 84-87).

Thus, Bethsaida-Julias was another Central Place in the Region.

Gerasa/Gadara/Gergesa. (Nun 1988: 6-9; Tzaferis 1989; Holm-Nielsen, Wagner-Lux, and Vriezen 1992; McRay 1992; Rousseau & Arav 1995: 97-99). The best manuscript evidence for the location of the Swine Miracle (Mark 5:1-20) is Gerasa (Mark 5:1 S, B, etc.). The problem is that Gerasa is thirty-seven miles SE of the lake, thus not a very likely place to locate a story in which swine go over a cliff into the lake. Thus, Gerasa has often been an illustration of bad Markan geography. One textual variant reads "Gadara" (modern Umm Qeis), which is only eight miles SE of the lake, and it is not impossible that its territory extended northward to the lake near the harbor called Susita (Nun 1988: 12-14; Rousseau &Arav 1995: 98, 23). A second variant reads "Gergesa," which usually has been identified with modern el-Koursi on the eastern side of the lake at the mouth of the Wadi Samak (samak means "fish" in Ugaritic, Aramaic, and Arabic, and the inlet is still the best area of the lake for sardine fishing; see Nun 1988: 6-9). El Koursi fits the story best because it is right at the lakeside and has a steep cliff. Thus, third-century church fathers located the "swine miracle" here (Tzaferis 1989: 46-48). El Koursi had a harbor with a breakwater, a pier, a fish market, and a hundred lead sinkers were found near a public building with a mosaic floor, which was probably an administrative center for the anchorage and the market. Nun writes as if the anchorage was first century and mentions a branch of the Roman road leading down to the harbor (Nun 1988: 6-9). However, Roussean and Arav say that there is no first-century evidence from this site, though excavations at a tower and chapel about two hundred meters to the south may prove to be fruitful (Rousseau & Arav 1995: 98b).

In any case, Gadara (Gergesa?) provides one more possible instance for the activity of Jesus in Valley-Lake Region.

Physical Links Between Central Places

Roads.

(Avi-Yonah 1936; Aharoni and Avi-Yonah 1979; Bosen 1985; Ilan 1989/1990; Aharoni et al 1993; Safai 1994: 222-321; Dorsey 1991; 1997; Graf, Isaac, and Roll 1992; Tsafrir and Di Segni with Roll 1993; Strange 1997; Whitten 1997). Jesus in the gospels is portrayed as constantly moving from village to village. Ze'ev Safrai develops a network schematic for road networks in valleys. It has dots and links between them as follows (Safrai 1994: 223, 279-84):

Safrai argues that there were two major types of ancient Palestinian "trade networks": (1) one that has a central place (Model A) or, as a variant, two central places and an axis-road between them (Model F); and (2) one that has no central place, which he calls a "net system" (Models B-E; Model C collapses his models B and E). In my version the secondary village roads are broken lines (see Figure 3).

Safrai develops a density formula for roads by dividing the actual number of roads by the optimum number of potential roads between every settlement (similar formulae are developed for personal networks; see Part II). Again caution is required. Safrai concludes that in Roman Palestine the "net system" (B-E) was predominant. Yet, several other statements he makes suggest that his central town model or some mixture of the central town and net system is appropriate (Safrai 1994: 268, 276, 278). This conclusion is more coordinate with Graph Theory, Central Place Theory, and Urban Systems Theory noted above (cp. also Nolan and Lenski 1999: 172). He also distinguishes between "road" and "secondary road." For example, Harish, Samaria, looks like Figure 4.

The standard for roads a generation ago was Avi-Yonah's Map of Roman Palestine (1936), succeeded by The Holy Land from the Persian to the Arab Conquest 536 BC-AD 640 (1977; cp. Aharoni and Avi-Yonah 1979; see also Bosen 1985: 39 and n. 31). Recent study of Roman roads presents a somewhat different picture (Tsafrir & Di Segni with Roll 1993; Strange 1997: 39-42; cp. Aharoni et al 1993; see Map 1).

[MAP 1 OMITTED]

First, a branch of the Via Maris from Caesarea Philippi south came down the east side of the Jordan Rift to Bethsaida (not mentioned by Bosen 1985: 39). From there one could continue south to Hippos a little more than half way down the lake and then to points east (Graf, Isaac, and Roll 1992: 783a, 785a) or still further south to Sennabris near the tip of the lake, then either (a) still further south to Bethshean-Scythopolis and points east (Pella), south (Samaria), or west, or (b) back north to Tiberias, Antipas' capital on the west side of the lake (completed ca. 19 C.E.). Nine milestones have been found between Bethshean-Scythopolis and Tiberias (Strange 1997: 40). However, a branch of the Via Maris also came down the west side of the Jordan Rift near Chroazin and Capernaum by Gennesaret and Magdala/Taricheae to Tiberias. It was similar to a section of the ancient "Great Trunk Road" which generally followed the Fertile Crescent from Babylonia to Egypt. A link was also built between Capernaum and Bethsaida and a milestone has been found near Capernaum (Rousseau & Arav 1995:39 [photo]). This effectively created a road that encircled the lake.

The Romans also built three major east-west roads in the valleys from the Jordan Rift to the Sea, two of them from the Lake Valley Region. First was a road from Bethsaida to Ptolemais-Akko. Second was a road from Tiberias to Sepphoris (seven milestones), from which one could travel either NW to Ptolemais-Akko (two more milestones) or south to Legio-Capercotani, and from Legio to the sea either NW to Ptolemais-Akko again or SW to Caesarea. This second road may have been what the author of Matt 4:15 had in mind when he quoted the "way to the sea" from Isaiah 9:1-2 (whatever the author of Isaiah meant; see Aharoni et al 1993: Maps 146, 230). The third east-west road ran from Bethshean-Scythopolis to Legio-Capercotani, then, again, either NW to Ptolemais-Akko or SW to Caesarea. Again, caution is required. No milestones on these roads have been discovered prior to the reign of Claudius, 41-54 C.E. (Graf, Isaac, & Roll 1992: 785b). Especially the southern east-west route may be later than the time of Jesus (Safrai 1994: 274). Nonetheless, there were also many earlier Iron Age roads (Dorsey 1991; Dalman 1935; see also Safrai 1994: 274). A Regionalist such as Strange agrees with Safrai that there was an extensive road network between the villages, towns, and hamlets of lower Galilee (Strange 1997: 41). Strange offers the map illustrated in Map #1-note that it has no secondary roads.

If we graph this road system like the models of Safrai, it looks like the illustration in Figure 5.

Three facts are crucial: first, the Tiberias-Sepphoris road (3 to 2) was probably the principal east-west "way to the sea" (Matthew 4:15 [Isa 9:1-2] (Horsley 1996: 97; Strange 1997: 40); second, a road circled the lake, partly a new Roman road; and third, not only were Sepphoris (2) and Tiberias (3) central on the "way to the sea"; Capernaum (7) and Bethsaida (8) are situated both at a north-south, east-west crossroads, as well as on the lake, thus at strategic locations. These are only the main Iron Age and Roman roads, not the village roads or secondary village roads that would make the road network look much denser.

Adding the "Lake Networks."

As noted above, the term "sea" rather than "lake" allows for a greater range of symbolic interpretation on the part of evangelists. The sea represents the evil and chaotic waters which the powerful Jesus calms and on which he walks. It recalls God's power over the symbolic "deep" in the Hebrew Bible (Malbon 1984). Further, the usual redactional and literary interpretation of Jesus' vague movements across the lake in Mark is that the author is representing Jesus' crossings between "Jewish" territory on the western shore and "Gentile" territory on the eastern shore: Jesus unites "Jews" and "Gentiles" (already Kelber 1974: 45-65). This symbolism, particularly the "sea" language itself, is difficult to deny. Yet, as also noted above, there is every indication that stories about Jesus' miracles were told in Valley-Lake Region (Theissen 1991). Consider further the sheer quantity of references. There are the Markan references to "Sea of Galilee" (2x), "sea" (17x), "embark" (5x), "the other side" (5x), "cross over" (2x), "row" (1x), and "moor" (1x) (Malbon 1984). The Matthean gospel adds stories about Peter and the sea (14:29, 33; 17: 24-27). The Lukan writer reworks the recruitment scene by the lake as a lake miracle (5:1-11). Rousseau and Arav note that there are also some forty-five references to boats and fishing in the gospels (Rousseau & Arav 1995: 25). While the "symbolism" is indisputable, it is also clear that there was a physical network for persons living in the Valley-Lake Region, including Jesus, with his "headquarters" at Capernaum.

Let us engage a little more in our thought experiment. If we map the six lakeside towns and Chorazin, the concentration of towns would look like Map 2.

[MAP 2 OMITTED]

Though a sailor would rarely be able sail directly from one point to another because of prevailing winds (despite rowing), we may graph the sailing lanes or links, along with the major Roman roads, between the towns, as in Map 3.

[MAP 3 OMITTED]

There were other towns around the Lake not mentioned in the gospels that Jesus might have visited, notably, Tiberias, Hippos, and Sennabris. Caution is required. Perhaps Sepphoris is an apt analogy. Sepphoris is never mentioned in the gospels, either. Yet, it was a major city, indeed Antipas' capital, and as rebuilt by him, "the [impregnable, fortified?] ornament of all Galilee" (Jos. Ant. 18.2.1 [section] 27; Meyers & Meyers 1997: 530). It is only four miles from Nazareth. Some scholars argue that as a traveling artisan Jesus probably would have worked there (e.g., Batey 1984a; 1984b; 1991; 1992; Fiensy 1994). Other scholars argue that it is not mentioned because Jesus avoided Sepphoris primarily for social, political, and economic reasons (e.g., Freyne 1997b: 55; Theissen 1998: 166). Meyers has adopted a mediating position; Jesus was "not unfamiliar" with Sepphoris, but maintained "relative avoidance" to avoid "a clash with Antipas, the authorities, or some of the upper class citizens who might have been, uncomfortable with his message" (1997: 64). Not surprisingly, Tiberias is often linked with Sepphoris in such discussions (e.g., Horsley 1996: 43-65; Freyne 1997b: 55; Theissen 1998: 166). It also is not mentioned in the gospels; it also became Antipas' capital, supplanting Sepphoris (ca. 19 C.E.); it also was re-built by Antipas. It is impossible to say whether Jesus had ever been to Tiberias. Indeed, one might easily agree with scholars who say that he avoided both Sepphoris and Tiberias, though its fishermen, along with those of Magdala, were known for nationalism in the First Revolt (Jos. War 2.21.3 [section] 595-607). Even less can be said about Sennabris and Hippos, though either might have been a stopover on the way to or from the Decapolis. Yet, whether Jesus and his followers actually visited these places is not the only point; the ties would have been important for extended networks, gossip, and rumor.

In this light it is important to note that there has been recent examination of numerous anchorages or small fishing harbors to protect fishermen from the weather round the lake, some in connection with the above towns. Fourteen have been noted (Nun 1988; 1993; Rousseau & Arav 1995: 23; Wachsmann 1995:119; Hanson 1996a; Strickert 1998: 34). Beginning at Tiberias and going clockwise, they are: Magdala (Migdal), Gennesaret, Tabgha, Capernaum (several harbors), and Aish on the western side of the lake in Galilee; on the eastern side, Bethsaida-Julias at the northernmost edge of the lake (probable); Kefar Aqavya, Kursi (Gergesa?), Ein Gofra, Susita, the Anchorage of Susita, the Harbor of Hippos, the pier near Haon, and the Harbor of Gadara; and turning north again toward Tiberias, Beith Yerah/Philoteria and Sennabris. Map 4 adds them. Figure 6 adds the potential Roman roads and imagines the lake links.

[FIGURE 6, MAP 4 OMITTED]

Again, caution is required. The lake lanes are not actual routes; one must always take into account prevailing winds. More to the point, it is not certain that every anchor. age or small harbor can be dated from the first century; perhaps some are Byzantine (Arav, personal communication; see Arav 1999: 76-79). Yet, even if we omit some of them, those first-century locations that remain yield a striking result: physical trade and communication routes across and around the Lake of Galilee are rather impressive. Most important, such routes are suggestive for physical networks and travel, not to mention personal networks and communication, including rumor and gossip.

A Close Comparison: Village Networks around the Dead Sea.

The notion of Central Places, village networks, and physical links between them in the Galilean Valley-Lake Region gains indirect support from the early second-century C.E. Babatha archive from the Bar Cochba Letters. This archive offers an impression of rural life in the region of the Dead Sea. "The Jews mentioned in the documents in this area cultivated figs, dates, olives and vines (document 5, ll. 10-11) and were quite affluent...." (Isaac 1992: 71).

Babatha was a moderately wealthy, propertied widow from the Dead Sea port of Maoza (Aramaic Machoza' = "harbor") at the southern end of the Dead Sea in the district of Zoara of the Roman province of Arabia (Isaac 1992: 67-70). Her problems were centered on getting sufficient funds from her son's guardians. She appealed to the governor and the Council. She paid her taxes in the regional financial center, Rabbat-Moab in the district of Zoara, but had to settle her legal problems at more distant Petra.

Among Babatha's witnesses are apparent friends, neighbors, and acquaintances, as well as Roman officials. The documents contain Greek, Latin, Aramaic, and Nabataean and offer evidence of bilingual or multilingual Judean scribes functioning in lower level Roman administration levels. They reveal not only that there were central administrative centers, but networks of cities and villages (Maoza, En-gedi, Mazraa, near Livias), as well as families, around and near the Dead sea (Isaac 1992: 71; Saldarini 1998: 96). This picture is, of course, contrary to the usual Qumran "desert" image of the Dead Sea.

Physical Networks, Capernaum, and Jesus.

The Gospel of Mark calls Jesus a "skilled craftsman" (Mark 6:3: ho tekton) which the Gospel of Matthew alters to "the son of the skilled craftsman" (Matt 13:55). He was probably a woodworker, but could have been also a stone-mason (Dalman 1935: 69-70). Several scholars have made the suggestion that in a period of construction projects and high taxation, he might have moved about (already with his father at a younger age?) to find work. In other words, Jesus was probably an itinerant craftsman, which was not uncommon in first-century Galilee (e.g., Freyne 1988: 241; Batey 1984; Rousseau & Arav 1995: 249-50). Fiensy concludes:

   Therefore we can say with certainty that there were several continuous and
   massive building projects during Jesus' youth and early childhood. Second,
   we can be reasonably confident that these projects would have necessitated
   the services of skilled carpenters, even from distant cities and villages.
   Jesus and his extended family could easily have worked in Sepphoris,
   Tiberias, in other Galilean cities, and even in Jerusalem. Opportunities
   were there for this family to have experienced urban culture and to have
   risen to the same level of economic comfort as the artisan family of Simon
   the Temple Builder. [Fiensy 1994: 60].

This proposal clearly opts for the position that Jesus did not avoid cities such as Sepphoris and Tiberias, at least at a younger age (see the debate above). Whether one should go on to conclude that Jesus was economically well off and influenced by Hellenistic culture, however, is open to question. Thus, one could still hold that Jesus was in tension with urban centers, was familyless, and labeled by others as "a glutton and a drunkard" (Q 7:34), a slogan for a stubborn, rebellious and especially disobedient son" (Deut 21:20; see Neyrey 1995). While the rejection in Nazareth (Mark 6:1-6a = Matt 13:53-58 = Luke 4:16-30) contains folk motifs (PsMatt 10:1; 40), its core saying also has claims to being early (GTh 31:1; Funk, Hoover, and the Jesus Seminar 1993:63 [pink]) and the story is plausible.

A number of scholars have analyzed Jesus' knowledge of peasant village life and agriculture in Lower Galilee (Dyson 1975; Oakman 1986; 1992; Freyne 1986: 239-47; Crossan 1991; 1992; Rohrbaugh 1993; Horsley 1987; 1996). Less has been said about Jesus' knowledge of the Valley-Lake Region, fishermen, and fishing. Rousseau and Arav have attempted to correct this tendency. Indeed, they go so far is to state that when Jesus slept through a storm while professional fishers were frightened (Mark 4:37-38; Matt 8:23-24), his "... behavior is certainly not typical of a "peasant" attached to his land and usually afraid of large bodies of water. The psychological traits of peasants and sailors are "quite different" (Rousseau and Arav 1995: 29). This attention to fishing is admirable, but the contrast with "peasant psychology," in my view, takes the inference too far. In first place, this is a miracle story about one who, like God, has power over the sea. Second, it is not unimaginable to think of a peasant craftsman from Nazareth learning the ways of fishermen so that he might work, as Rousseau and Arav also say, "in boat construction or repairs in a harbor of the Sea of Galilee" (ibid.). Fishermen themselves can be considered peasants in the larger sense of a "peasant society" (Oakman 1992). Finally, Hanson has developed a very suggestive model of Galilean fishing economy as a social sub-system. He notes that Magdala/Taricheae is the administrative/tax center for the northern part, and Tiberias for the southern part, of the Galilean Valley-Lake Region and suggests the possibility that Levi's toll office was a fishing toll office (Hanson 1997: 103). He, like Rousseau and Arav, mentions the social network of several persons engaged in fishing around Jesus. Sawicki offers just such a connection in relation to Mary Magdalene (Sawicki 1999). These suggestions deserve further discussion (see Part II).

Conclusion

Knowledge of the networks of roads and of the lake in the Valley-Lake Region is suggestive for the physical environment in which Jesus' social network was formed. If there was a relatively high population in Galilee in this period (e.g., Meyers 1997: 59), we should imagine a great deal of travel over the roads (Strange 1997) and a busy lake of fishing boats. It is important to give the Valley-Lake Region and Tiberias their due along with Lower Galilee and Sepphoris. Capernaum, as a minor Central Place, is strategically located with respect to getting to towns by both roads and the lake. It was Jesus' "own city" (Matt 9:1), thus "the center of Jesus' activity" (Theissen 1998: 166). This observation may have political implications: escape to the territory of Philip (e.g., Rousseau & Arav 1995: 46; Theissen 1998: 167). This is all the more cogent if Jesus knew fishermen around the lake, some of whom were involved in political resistance, as later at Tiberias (Jos. Life 12 [section] 66; War 2.21.3 [section] 599; Nun 1997: 315). Also, Magdala-Taricheae was linked with Tiberias (Jos. War 2.21.3 [section] 599).

Capernaum was a physical center, not more than a day's walk from Galilean villages to the West and South or a boat rides to the NE, East, and South. Nearby were Chorazin and Bethsaida. Whether or not these towns were condemned together by Jesus for not repenting, they are linked in the Q tradition and it is likely that Jesus was active in them. All this suggests that if the "itinerant radicals" shook the dust off their feet and moved on, they could easily have returned to either Peter's or Jesus' house in Capernaum, from whence they could have gone in many directions.

I suggest that this thought experiment helps one to imagine Jesus' physical network, that is, its physical points and physical links. It therefore has potential for imagining Jesus' social network, that is, Jesus' personal points and personal links. I shall turn this part of the model in Part II.

[MAP 5-6 OMITTED]

Appendix I: "Bethany Beyond the Jordan"

According to the Fourth Gospel John the Baptist is said to have baptized at "Bethany beyond the Jordan" (John 1:28; 10:40) and Andrew, Simon Peter, and an unnamed disciple were said to have been recruited in this general region (John 1:37; 1:40; see John 1:28, 35-42; 18:15, 25). If there was such a place "beyond the Jordan," where was it? The problem is that no record of a place or town called "Bethany" on the east side of the Jordan has survived (Riesner 1987; 1992). Yet, it seems unlikely that "Bethany beyond the Jordan" is only a literary fiction. If the site is not lost forever (so Brown 1966: 45) or is not simply identified with Bethany near Jerusalem by a facile translation (so Parker 1955), some other location must be sought.

Though a number of suggestions have been made, the search in recent years has usually settled on the Wadi el-Charrar, located on the east side of the Jordan opposite Jericho, thus in Judea (see Riesner 1987: 37, n. 41). This area has several advantages as a site. It is not only in the wilderness of Judea where John is remembered to have baptized (Mark 1:4); since the fourth century C.E. Christians have venerated the site as the place where Jesus was baptized by John. Close by are the Church of St. John visited by Theodosius about 530 C.E. and the Greek Monastery of St. John (see Riesner 1987: 36). A little over a mile up the wadi, according to the pilgrim of Bordeaux, Jews located the site where Elijah was transported into heaven (2 Ki 2:5-14), and of course, the synoptic gospels associate Elijah with John (e.g., Mark 9:11-13 = Matt 17:10-12; Matt 11:14; Luke 1:17). When third-century Origen could not find a Bethany east of the Jordan, he proposed that John 1:28 should read Bethabara ("house of crossing" in Hebrew, Comm. on John 6.204). This reading is found in less worthy manuscript variants of John 1:28. The Madaba map (ca. 560 C.E.) locates the Site of Jesus' baptism at Bethabara near Jericho, but on the west bank of the Jordan! Moreover, the best manuscripts of John 1:28, including third-century p75, read "Bethany," not "Bethabara." The Wadi el-Charrar is therefore less than satisfactory for some interpreters.

A major alternative, defended by Brownlee (1972) and Riesner (1987, 1992), is that that "Bethany" (Greek Beoavia) actually refers to "Batanea" (Greek Batavaia), the First Testament Bashan. Batanea does lie "beyond the Jordan"; it is east/northeast of the lake. Moreover, it is designated as the region "beyond the Jordan" in both the Septuagint (Num 32:32-33; Deut 3:8; 4:47) and Josephus (Jos. Ant. 8.2.3 [section] 37). Finally, the slight shift from Batanea to Bethania makes philological sense (Brownlee 1972: 169). In short, it is possible that the Johannine reference was to Batanea, the central part of Herod Philip's territory east and northeast of the Sea of Galilee. Perhaps "beyond the Jordan" in the Markan summaries refers to this region (Mark 3:7-8, 6:6b-7).

In short, while one cannot be absolutely certain, "Bethany beyond the Jordan" may be Batanea. An inference is that the location might extend Jesus' physical network further east into Philip's territory, that is, beyond Bethsaida. Would this help to explain the "bad" Markan geography, that is, Jesus' circuitous route in Mark 7:31? An obvious problem is that in the synoptic Gospels Peter and Andrew are recruited along the lake apparently near Capernaum, which does not easily fit this view of "Bethany beyond the Jordan."

Parts I and II of this paper were delivered and discussed at the 4th International Context Group Meeting in Tutzing, Germany, June, 1999.

Acknowledgements: BTB appreciates permissions to republish the following graphics in this article: the map on p. 11 appeared in an article by James F. Strange titled First Century Galilee from Archaeology and from the Texts, pp. 39-48 in ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE GALILEE, edited by Douglas R. Edwards and C. Thomas McCollough, Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press (1997); the diagrams on p. 9-10 are from THE ECONOMY OF ROMAN PALESTINE by Se'ev Safrai, London and New York: Routledge, 1994, pp. 279 (fig. 58, fig. 59).

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Dennis C. Duling, Ph.D. (University of Chicago), is Professor in the Religious Studies Department of Canisius College, Buffalo NY 12408 (e-mail: [e-mail]). He is author of JESUS CHRIST THROUGH HISTORY (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979), THE TESTAMENT OF SOLOMON (Doubleday, 1983); Matthew 18:15-17: Conflict, Confrontation, and Conflict Resolution in a "Fictive Kin" Association, BTB 29/1 [1999]: 4-22, and numerous articles on Matthew.