
Used for ritual-purity immersion, they were found at virtually every Jewish site in Galilee, the Golan, and Judea. Ritual bathing pools or mikveh were also found at Nazareth. When the flesh had decayed, the remaining bones were gathered together and usually placed in an ossuary or bone box. The body was first buried in a body-length shaft cut at right angles into the walls of the tomb chamber, sealed with a large stone rolled into place. The tombs surrounding Nazareth were also very modest. The village of Nazareth in the 19th century The Jewish queen Salome Alexandra had made reading and writing compulsory for all Jewish boys – for study of the Torah. Young Jewish men were expected to be literate.

Being able to talk well was a valued skill.

It was a nondescript dot on the map with not much to offer, overshadowed by nearby Sepphoris, the luxurious Greek-style capital of Herod Antipas. The village seems to have been held in some contempt in 1st century Palestine. It was here that Jesus spent his boyhood, living with his mother and father, and here that he faced the sceptical townsfolk of Nazareth. Nazareth is famous for one thing, and one thing only: it is the home town of Jesus. What was the large town nearby? How might it have affected Nazareth?.What is the strange way you can tell the size of ancient Nazareth?.
