Sepphoris and the Jesus Movement

Abstract

New information coming from the excavations at Sepphoris has redefined the understanding of life in central Galilee during the first century. Beginning in 3 BC, Herod Antipas built Sepphoris into a beautiful and fortified capital city, called by Josephus ‘the ornament of all Galilee’. Jesus grew up in Nazareth which was less than 4 miles south of Sepphoris, an hour's walk away. This paper focuses on the challenges to NT scholarship that arise from this new and exciting evidence.