Heptapegon - The Miracle of the Multiplying of Loaves and Fishes,1- Chapel.

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Church Name, type, function

Site Name:

Heptapegon

Identification:

Heptapegon (Gr.), Et-Tabgha (Arab.), 'En Shev'a (Heb.); all derive from the seven ‎springs in the area. Built at the traditional site of the miracle of the Multiplying of ‎Loaves and Fishes mentioned in the New Testament (Matt. 14: 13 and ‎parallels).‎

Church name:

The Miracle of the Multiplying of Loaves and Fishes,1- Chapel.

Dedication:

Miracle of the Multiplying of Loaves and Fishes

Functional Type:

Memorial

Church type:

Chapel - Free standing

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

251.72

753.23

Coordinates, ICS system:

201.72

1,253.20

Location:

Rural

Geographical region:

Sea of Galilee

Distance from nearest settlement:

2 miles south-west of Capernaum.

Distance from Roman roads:

The church was built next to the road (mentioned by Egeria apud Petrus Diaconus V, 3) leading to Capernaum, adjacent to the Kinnereth seashore.

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina II

Source of knowledge

Archaeological remains

Excavated site

Excavators:

Name	Date
Scheneider, A. M.	1936

Bibliograpy:

Mader, A. E. and Schneider, A. M., 1933

Schneider, A. M., 1934

Mader, A. E., 1934

Schneider, A. M., 1937

Crowfoot, J. W., 1941

Schapiro, M. and Avi-Yonah, M., 1960

Loffreda, S., 1970

Ovadiah, A., 1970

Loffreda, S., 1981

Ovadiah, A. and de Silva, C. G., 1982

Avi-Yonah, M. and Negev, A., 1993

Schick, R., 1995

Barkay, G. and Shiler, E., 1999

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

The foundations of the chapel were discovered under the later basilica. Its dimensions are: (15.5 m. hall+2.6 m. apse=18.1)X9.5 m. according to Schneider, 17.3X8 m. according to Ovadiah. A stone found in the bema seems to be the mensa Domini mentioned by Egeria, apud Petrus Diaconus V, 3 in the church at Heptapegon, by the public road.

Description

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Figures

Lateral walls:

Three attached piers were built , 3-4 m. apart, against the north and south wall, supporting three arches that retained ‎the roof. The walls are about 1 m. thick.

Small finds

Small finds:

Category	Description
Oil lamps	A lamp with a round handle dated to the 1st half of the 4th century, found in the rubbish of the chapel.
Pottery	Grooved ceramics, and a piece of a grooved terrasigillata bowl dated later than the 1st half of the 4th century.
Coins	A coin of the reign of the Emperor Honorius (395-408), was found in the cracks of the foundations.

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation:

The chapel is facing east with a slant of 28 degrees to the south relative to the main axis of the later basilica, that had replaced it.

Materials applied (walls):

Basalt

East end:

External apse, round

Central Apse Category:

apsidal

Cult of relics

Cult of relics loci:

elsewhere

Reliquiaries: shapes and contents:

In the middle of the bema was found a piece of limestone, different from the basalt building material. The stone did not belong on that spot, but was brought there and placed on the bare ground. It appears to have been a fragment of the the sacred stone mentioned by Petrus Diaconus, LS V 3‎, on which, according to tradition, Jesus placed the loaves and fishes. When the chapel went out of use and the basilica was built, part of the stone was removed and placed under the altar of the new structure.

Architectural Evolution

Phase 1
Abandonment

General outline:

A single aisle chapel

Dating material:

Dated by coins, a lamp fragment, literary sources and compression to the architecture of the Syrian churches.

Phase date

Century:

4th c.

Within century:

Mid

General outline:

Demolished to the level of its foundations.

Dating material:

The chapel went out of use and on top of it was built the bailica of the Miracle of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes.

Phase date

Century:

5th c.

Within century:

Mid