Jebel Qafsa; Har Qedumim - Hermitage

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Monastery name, type, category

Site Name:

Jebel Qafsa; Har Qedumim

Identification:

The site is identified with the precipice from which the people of Nazareth tried to hurl Jesus (Luke 4: 29). The Arabic name "Jebel Qafsa", meaning the Mt. of the Jumping, retains the tradition.

Monastery name:

Hermitage

Monastery type:

Hermitage/hermitages

Monastery category:

Isolated in the countryside

Source of sacredness:

New Testament site

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

227,956.00

731,723.00

Coordinates, ICS system:

177,982.00

231,728.00

Geographical region:

Lower Galilee

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina II

Bishopric:

Gaba Hippeum

Topographical location:

The site is located on a steep south-facing slope south of Nazareth.

Soils:

Limestone and terra rosa.

Distance from nearest bishop-seat:

ca. 25 km (Gaba, Gaba Hippeum)

Distance from nearest settlement:

ca. 3 km (Nazareth)

Distance from Roman roads:

ca. 8 km east of the road that led north through the Jezreel valley

Source of knowledge

Archaeological remains

Surveyed site

Surveyors:

Name	Date
Conder and Kitchener	1871-1877
Bagatti	1966

Bibliograpy:

Conder, C. R. and Kitchener, H. H., 1881	308
Bagatti, B., 1967	241-45
Bagatti, B., 1971	252-53
Schiller, E., 1982	86-7
Tsafrir, Y., Di Segni, L. and Green, J., 1994	156
Schick, R., 1995	315
Bagatti, B., 2001

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

State of certainty:

Archaeologicaly definitive

General description

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Figures

Jebel Qafsa, area of chapel (Schiller1982: 87)

Jebel Qafsa, plan of chapel (Schiller1982: 87)

General description

Paths:

A path and a flight of constructed stairs lead up to the cave.

Cave/s:

The site consists of a natural, shallow cave, in front of which is what appears to be a constructed platform supported by a retaining wall.

Water installations:

Two cisterns are located on either side of the cave.

Small finds

Small finds:

Category	Description
Other	Large grey tesserae were found scattered.

Detailed description

Dimensions:

Size class
Small

Structure

Materials applied (walls):

Limestone

Components

Monastery church:

Church type	Diakonikon	Link to church section	Church location
unknown

Dwelling type:

caves

Built paths

Retaining walls

Water installations:

Cisterns

Architectural evolution

Phase 1
Abandonment

Dating material:

Dated by pottery shards imbedded in the plaster.

Phase date

Century:

Early Christian / Byzantine

General outline:

The site was still active at the beginning of the ninth century. The precise date of its abandonment is not known.

Dating material:

Literary (Commentarium de Casis Dei)

Phase date

Century:

9th c.

Post Arab conquest history:

Still in use