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Historical Writings

“We came from Kfar Kana to Nazareth, 1500 meters further, where the Christian Jesus lived. I have been told that there existed a bathhouse with hot water where the Mother of Jesus immersed herself." (As translated from Hebrew)

– Rabbi Moshe Bassola of Ancona (The Anonymous Traveler), 1542

From Our Guest Book

“This is one of the most interesting places I’ve seen in Israel”

– Gerard Delanty, University of Liverpool

“All our respects for the work. It must be made sure to continue executing all the works with coordination and approval of the Antiquity Authorities since it has become clear we are talking about an ancient bathhouse from the pre Roman period.”

– Dror Barshad, Archaeologist from the Antiquities Authority

From Emails

“…[I want] to repeat once again how important the bath house is for understanding the history of not only Nazareth, but also of early Christianity and Judaism.”

– Prof. Joshua Schwartz, Director, Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies

Blog Posts

“…we were taken down to the bathhouse remains and spent the best part of an hour crawling through the hypocaust stacks that once conveyed the hot air under the caldarium, peering into the ancient furnace, inspecting ceramic pipes used to move heated water through the facility and being shown copies of academic articles on the site. This was a totally unexpected turn of events, even if I remain skeptical of such an extensive public bathhouse in the small village of Nazareth in the time of Jesus.”

– Nazareth and Haifa from FaithFutures, November 11, 2006

Academic Journals & Reports

“The historically significant Mary’s Well, the site in the Orthodox tradition where Angel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she was to give birth to the baby Jesus, is located west of the Sea of Galilee in the town of Nazareth, Israel. The water in this well is legendary and is said to have extensive healing powers. Although the history of the bath house isn’t completely clear, it is mentioned in several biblical and other subsequent writings (Freund, 2003).”

– Nazareth Excavations Project: A GPR Perspective

“In 1993 the remains of the only public bath house in Nazareth, Israel, were uncovered. The site contains artifacts dating to the Byzantine (seventh and eighth centuries) and perhaps to earlier times as well. Indications are that it is a Roman Bath that was built in the early centuries AD. The Roman Bath was an elaborate structure, with vaulted ceilings, and marble dressed walls, including both the caldarium (hot room) and frigidarium.”

– Characterization of Aerosols from Ancient Roman Bath Hypocaust

“The three samples are quite different in radiocarbon age, indicating that the site was used during the second millennium, in different periods.”

– Nazareth Bath Radiocarbon Samples From 2003 Excavation

Books

“It is located next to 'Mary's Well', a structure with first-century origins which Orthodox Christians regard as their traditional site of the Annunciation, preferring it to the Byzantine and Crusader at today's Church of the Annunciation. Had Mary bathed here, and if so, why not Jesus himself?”

– The Cosmopolitan World of Jesus by Carsten Thiede, pg 13

“The ancient bath house at a coffee shop simply called: ‘Cactus’ at Mary’s Well Square may yet become a new holy site associated with Mary, Mother of Jesus, and her family. It is a place that shows us that new holy sites await discovery”

– Holy Sites/Sights by faculty and students of the Hartford Art School, pg 22

News Stories & Articles

“I was particularly pleased to find a place I have been looking for over the last five years… the remains of a Roman bath-house complete with its hot room and steam bath. Up until the time of this discovery the evidence indicated that Nazareth was just an insignificant village with a few Israelite residents, but this discovery shattered that concept.”

– Church Executives in the Bible Lands by David Down in Archaeological Diggings

“You can actually go down into the ancient bath and see the niches where the fires were tended and the square brick pillars that supported the floor, as well as some of the elegant imported Italian marble slabs that covered the floor itself. The long clay pipes are also remarkably intact.”

– Underground in Nazareth by Haim Shapiro in The Jerusalem Post

“Haifa University Professor Adrian Boas, an expert in the Crusader period, visited the bath, too. He says nothing about the construction of the bath reminds him of Crusader times. He can't say for certain, but he believes it's older.”

– Experts Differ on Age of Nazareth Bathhouse by Peter Kenyon on NPR

“The American excavators are convinced that what Shama has exposed is an almost perfectly preserved Roman bathhouse from 2,000 years ago - the time of Christ”

– Is This Where Jesus Bathed? by Jonathan Cook in The Guardian

``It's beautiful,'' Freund said. ``What we are trying to do is to see if this can be directly connected to Mary's Well. You have an ancient well, a church with the water source, and a Roman bathhouse. That's where the combination of archaeology and the Bible come together.''

– Nazareth in a Different Light by Frances Taylor in The Hartford Courant

“This astonishing find has led more than one scientist to argue that the city of Nazareth must have been an important Roman city, which would explain the presence of such an impressive Roman bath. No one really knows if that assumption is correct. But it proves that we must rethink the history of the region and especially of Nazareth.”

– The Story of Place by Heba Zoabi

Guidebooks

“Elias Shama, has excavated an almost perfectly preserved 2000-year-old Roman bathhouse which utilised water from Mary's Well.”

– Lonely Planet

“Adjacent to Sebil is a souvenir shop called Cactus, owned by Elias and Martina Shama, which conceals one of the most fascinating and important discoveries in Nazareth in recent years.”

– Bed and Breakfasts in Israel

“…the Shamas discovered that beneath it was concealed one of the most exciting and important discoveries in Nazareth in recent history: a network of beautifully preserved ancient stones arches that once supported a giant bath house.”

– Israel Tourism Guide

Other Guidebooks that we are in:

· Palestine - A Guide by Mariam Shahin

· Palestine & Palestinians by the Alternative Tourism Group

· ANWB guide book - Nederland

Other Websites

“The finds, which also include a furnace, and a white marble floor imported from Rome, suggest that a radical reassessment may be needed of the significance of Nazareth at the time of Jesus.”

– Nazareth Cultural & Tourism Association Archaeological Sites