40 Collections

Galilee

The Sea of Galilee, located in northern Israel, is dotted with sites that are traditionally associated with the early life and ministry of Jesus Christ. These holy places were venerated throughout Late Antiquity and many were enshrined with richly decorated chapels and churches. This collection of photographs was taken during fieldwork in Israel over July - August 2013. The aim of this resource is to document, in photographs, the early churches and pilgrimage sites from the area of Galilee.

Creator: Lucy O'Connor
Date of Visit: 1st July to 8th August 2013
Contributor: Lucy O'Connor
Rights: Metadata and all media released under Creative Commons Creative Commons BY-NC-SA unless otherwise indicated
Type: Architecture

Baalbek

The extant complex of temples at Baalbek dates from the late first century BCE until the second century CE. The site seems to have been initially dedicated to the Phoenician Triad of Baal-Shamash, Anta and Alyn. This was later Romanised and the local deities were then venerated in the guise of their Roman counterparts Jupiter, Venus and Mercury. The site was considered a provocation to Christians and both Constantine and Theodosius were said to have built basilicas within the temples, but no evidence of Christianity is extant today.

Creator: Emma Loosley
Date of Visit: March 1997
Contributor: Emma Loosley
Rights: Metadata and all media released under Creative Commons Creative Commons BY-NC-SA unless otherwise indicated
Type: Architecture

Tyre

Tyre in Lebanon lies at the south of the country not far from the contemporary border with Israel. Its Christian history can be traced back to the New Testament where the Gospels report that Christ himself visited the city. This link with the new religion was reinforced by St. Paul staying one week to preach there as he travelled between Asia Minor and Jerusalem. Whilst a great deal of the ancient city is still extant, a large proportion of the ruins lie beneath the modern city making it difficult to reconstruct the geography of Tyre in Late Antiquity.

Homs and its hinterland

Homs is the modern name for the ancient Syrian city of Emesa. In the late second century CE a local woman named Julia Domna married Septimus Severus, the future Roman Emperor, and so in the third century several Severan Emperors were born and raised in the city. They were followers of the local cult to the god Elagabal and the most scandalous Emperor of this line was popularly known as Elagabalus.
To the east of the city, south of the road to Palmyra (Tadmor) are a cluster of Christian villages and towns that terminate with Qaryatayn as the most south-easterly settlement in the group to have a Christian presence. The percentages involved in the mix of religions varies from Qaryatayn (about 20% Christian) up until villages like Sadad (almost 100% Christian).

Creator: Emma Loosley
Contributor: Emma Loosley
Rights: Metadata and all media released under Creative Commons Creative Commons BY-NC-SA unless otherwise indicated
Type: Architecture

Antioch and its hinterland

Antioch played a central role in the formation of Christianity and was actually the first city where the epithet "Christian" was used for the followers of the new faith. It was associated with various apostles and other early church leaders and teachers, but much of our knowledge of centrally located monuments rests on textual sources as it is difficult to excavate in the centre of the modern city. On the other hand, a great deal has been learned about the suburbs and satellite towns around the ancient metropolis, such as its port, Seleucia Pieria. The hills around the city supported a number of monasteries and a number of Georgian monks seem to have been particularly drawn the the region from the sixth century onwards.

Creator: Emma Loosley
Date of Visit: 29th January 1997
Contributor: Emma Loosley
Rights: Metadata and all media released under Creative Commons Creative Commons BY-NC-SA unless otherwise indicated
Type: Architecture

Bethlehem

Bethlehem in the West Bank is situated roughly 8km to the south of Jerusalem. It is described in the Old Testament as the burial place of Rachel, the wife of Jacob and mother to two of his sons, who died a short distance from the town. It is believed to be the birthplace of King David, who was also anointed as the King of Israel by the Prophet Samuel there. Since the second century, a cave within the town has been venerated as the site of Christ’s birth. This site was enshrined by a church in the fourth century and has undergone numerous remodelling programmes throughout its history. Unfortunately the modern town has been extensively built upon and so very little evidence from the Late Antique period remains.

Nazareth

Nazareth is situated in northern Israel, between the Jordan Valley and the Jezreel plain and to the west of the Sea of Galilee. It has long been venerated by Christians as the place of the Annunciation where the angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary to announce that she will bear the Son of God who should be named Jesus. It is also thought to contain the site of Joseph’s home and workshop. This collection of photographs was taken during fieldwork in July - August 2013.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

At the time of Christ’s Crucifixion on Golgotha, the site was originally located outside the city walls of Jerusalem. However, new walls enclosed the holy site in the year 44 AD. In the second century, the written sources reveal that pilgrims venerated the site even though a temple dedicated to Aphrodite covered it. Legend states that the Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine I, rediscovered Golgotha, the True Cross and the Lord’s Tomb in 326 AD and the church of the Holy Sepulchre was soon built to commemorate it.

Creator: Lucy O'Connor
Date of Visit: 1st July to 8th August 2013, 10th October to 6th November 2014
Contributor: Lucy O'Connor
Rights: Metadata and all media released under Creative Commons Creative Commons BY-NC-SA unless otherwise indicated
Type: Architecture

Bosra

Bosra lies to the south of Syria near the Jordanian border. The city is built from the local black basalt giving it a stronger and more brooding appearance than the northern limestone constructions, not least because the hard stone does not lend itself to extensive decorative elements. The city served as an important trading centre that linked Damascus with the cities of the Decapolis, Palestine and Arabia. It figures in the life of the Prophet Mohammad, as he is said to have had discussions with a monk named Bahira, who was a member of the Church of the East, in the city when he led caravans for his first wife, Khadija.

Creator: Emma Loosley
Date of Visit: May 1998
Contributor: Emma Loosley
Rights: Metadata and all media released under Creative Commons Creative Commons BY-NC-SA unless otherwise indicated
Type: Architecture

Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi

Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi, or the monastery of St. Moses the Ethiopian or St. Moses the Abyssinian, is located approximately 18km east of Nabk in central Syria. The monastery is first mentioned in a manuscript in the British Library in 558/9 and appears to have had a scriptorium at this early date. It was a Lavra with the monks living in caves in the mountains and gathering in the central monastery to worship together. The chapel has the only complete fresco cycle still extant in the Levant and it appears that this was repainted at least three times between 1058 and 1208/09.

The monastery was abandoned in the C19th, but refounded by Fr. Paolo Dall'Oglio, an Italian Jesuit, in 1982 and is now a dual house for male and female monastics. The spelling 'Deir' is used for monastery rather than the more usual English transliteration of 'Dayr' as this is how the modern Community spell the word.

Creator: Emma Loosley
Contributor: Emma Loosley
Rights: Metadata and all media released under Creative Commons Creative Commons BY-NC-SA unless otherwise indicated