Ephesian Terrace Houses

Ephesus is a key city in the history of Christianity. In our upcoming course on Paul, we'll look at the possibility of Ephesus as the location of Paul's imprisonment as he penned his letter to the Philippians. Ben Witherington has some very impressive pictures of the interior of terrace homes in Ephesus being excavated by Austrian archaeologists.

Nazareth Dwelling Discovered

The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced the discovery in Nazareth of a family dwelling that dates to the time of Jesus.

The Excavation Director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority said: "The discovery is of the utmost importance since it reveals for the very first time a house from the Jewish village of Nazareth and thereby sheds light on the way of life at the time of Jesus. The building that we found is small and modest and it is most likely typical of the dwellings in Nazareth in that period. From the few written sources that there are, we know that in the first century CE Nazareth was a small Jewish village, located inside a valley. Until now a number of tombs from the time of Jesus were found in Nazareth; however, no settlement remains have been discovered that are attributed to this period."