Capernaum - The Site

At the entrance to the site of Capernaum, between the Franciscan monastery and the gardens, is a kiosk selling tickets, slides and books, including Stanislao Loffreda's excellent guide "A Visit to Capernaum". Beyond this, in a kind of archeological park, are numerous carved architectural fragments and mosaics; to the rear, straight ahead, is the Octagon of Peter, under an unattractive modern concrete roof, and to the left the synagogue, which has been partly rebuilt.

Architectural fragments

Going round in an anti-clockwise direction, we come first, on the south side of the area, to a mosaic pavement from Cana and numerous carved stones from the synagogue, including columns from a window, a relief of vines, grapes and palm-fronds, a cornice carved with a sea- horse and two eagles bearing a garland, a column with an inscription in Aramaic "Alphaeus, son of Zebedee, son of John, made this column as a blessing unto himself", a relief of a wagon, probably the portable Ark of the Covenant, a cornice with grapes and figs, a shell surrounded by a garland (the keystone of an arch on the facade), stones with Greek key patterns and the star of David and another mosaic from Cana.