The Gathering Darkness (the Connor series) - Dirk B. (Page 12 of 57)

First and last, though it's all worth hearing.

Wa'tcher beef?

I decided to research Capernaum (Jesus's base) yesterday rather than work on the outline. Allowing time for errands, it may take me until the end of the week to finish with the town (the remains of a synagogue, two churches (one "hovering" atop St. Peter's home), the remains of numerous stone-walled homes, what appear to be restored stone piers, and a modern building whose purpose I'll simply have to guess at). Thank God for tourists with cameras. I also found an online tour/guide for several of the key Christian sites. I hope to finish his video of Capernaum tonight.

Funny thing. Most of the pictures show the surrounding landscape almost completely devoid of green. I figured it was barren like many other desert areas of Israel and didn't consider seasonality. During growing season, the whole landscape is transformed into countless shades of green. I forgot that Galilee is incredibly fertile. Mostly grasses near the town from what I can tell. Virtually no trees until you get to the low hills in the distance. Everything around the town was probably cut down over the 1300 years that the town existed.

I agree. There will be a few occasions where Connor sees Christ in a location that's been reconstructed differently from its original design (e.g. no one knows where Jesus lived in Nazareth, but Connor will be able to see it without regard for modern homes that stand in the way). I'll add flora/fauna changes too. Connor can see it all in his mind's eye.

Thanks.
Dirk

What do you do if the official Israeli government website disagrees repeatedly with multiple Capernaum tour guides/videos and Wikipedia? The Israeli site is incomplete, but it has painfully detailed (albeit useless) archaeological descriptions of the synagogue that I haven't found elsewhere, and it acknowledges the excavations led by specific Franciscan fathers. For example, two of my sources say that the large hall in the synagogue was for scriptural readings and that the smaller east room was for prayer. The Israeli site lists the large hall as the prayer hall. Damned if I do, damned if I don't.

More of a gherkin, actually.

The folks on the Catholic forum, including two priests, were very helpful regarding the languages Jesus spoke. His native tongue was Aramaic, but he also spoke Hebrew and probably Greek. Hebrew was the language of the Scriptures, Temple, and prayer. Greek was the language of commerce and therefore the most common language of the Roman Empire, except in and around Rome, where Latin dominated.

It's also known as Lake Tiberias, among other names.

Anyone have any idea how a single row of columns can divide a room into three aisles along three walls?

I'm inclined to assume that "row" here doesn't necessarily mean a straight line. I'm guessing it's a continuous "row" of columns that runs along three of the walls.

Yes. That's what I meant, but you explained it with one word. Nicely done, Professor.

Ugh. Even after trimming the list of events in Jesus's ministry to only the most spectacular ones, that still leaves fifteen more events to research. So far, I've only done four, which took over three weeks. Fortunately, I have enough to start the outline.