Magdala

Listen first. A light wind moves across the water of the Sea of Galilee, and under your feet the ground is pale, dusty and warm. Low walls of dark basalt stone run in neat lines around you. Behind you, the cliffs of Mount Arbel rise sharply against the sky. This quiet stretch of shoreline, a short drive north of Tiberias, was once a busy Jewish town. Its name was Magdala.

The name comes from the Hebrew word migdal, which means tower. Many scholars connect the town with a place the ancient historian Josephus called Taricheae. That Greek name relates to the salting of fish. If the connection is correct, the name tells you what this town did for a living. Fishermen brought their catch to this shore. Workers salted it, dried it, and sent it inland. The identification is still debated, but the picture fits what archaeologists have found here.

For most visitors, one name matters more than any other. In the Gospels, one of Jesus's closest followers is called Mary Magdalene. Christian tradition understands this as Mary from Magdala. The Gospels describe her as a woman who travelled with Jesus and supported his work. She stood near the cross. She was the first witness at the empty tomb. So pilgrims have long come to this shoreline to stand in her hometown.

For centuries, however, there was very little to see. The ancient town lay under soil and later settlements. Franciscan archaeologists dug parts of the site in the late twentieth century. They found streets, buildings and water installations. Then, in 2009, something unexpected happened. Builders were preparing ground for a new Christian pilgrim centre. Before construction, the law required an archaeological survey. Under the planned building, the archaeologists found a synagogue from the first century.

This was a remarkable discovery. Only a small number of synagogues from that early period have ever been found in the land. This one stands in a town that the Gospels connect directly with Jesus's ministry around the lake. The Gospels say that Jesus taught in the synagogues of Galilee. No one can prove that he entered this particular room. But this is the kind of building the Gospel writers describe, from the same years, on the same shore.

Look at the synagogue now. It is a fairly modest square hall. Benches of stone run along the walls, so people could sit facing the centre. Traces of colourful painted plaster and a mosaic floor were found here. It was not a grand monument. It was a local meeting place, where people read the scriptures aloud, discussed them, and gathered as a community.

In the middle of the hall, the excavators found a carved stone block. It is now called the Magdala Stone. One side shows a seven-branched lamp, the menorah, the symbol of the Temple in Jerusalem. The other carvings include rosettes, arches and wheel-like shapes. Many scholars think the stone was a kind of table for scrolls. Its carvings point toward the Temple, far to the south. The block in the hall today is a replica. The original is kept elsewhere for protection.

Here is the first surprise. The menorah carving on that stone is one of the earliest known images of the menorah made while the Temple in Jerusalem was still standing. The person who carved it may have seen the real golden lamp. Within a few decades, the Temple was destroyed by Rome. So this small, rough carving carries a memory of a building that has not existed for nearly two thousand years.

That destruction touched Magdala too. In the 60s of the first century, a Jewish revolt against Rome spread across Galilee. Josephus describes Roman forces capturing Taricheae, and a bloody fight on the lake itself. Josephus wrote with his own purposes and exaggerations, so historians read him carefully. Still, the excavations show that the town declined. And that decline helped preserve the site. Buried and abandoned, these walls survived.

Walk on toward the town remains. Here is the second surprise. Archaeologists found several Jewish ritual baths, called mikvehs. A mikveh is a pool for ritual purification. Most such pools were filled with collected rainwater. These baths fill with groundwater rising up from below, because the lake is so close. On some days you may still see water at the bottom. Nearby, you can make out streets, shops and a market area, perhaps where people sold salted fish.

Next to the ruins stands the modern pilgrim centre, called Duc in Altum. The Latin phrase means put out into the deep. It comes from the Gospel story where Jesus tells the fishermen to sail into deeper water. The building opens toward the lake. One chapel has an altar shaped like a fishing boat, set against a wide window of water and sky. Another space honours the women who followed Jesus, with pillars carrying their names.

In a lower chapel, a large painting shows a famous Gospel scene. A woman reaches out to touch the edge of Jesus's cloak, hoping to be healed. The painting shows the scene from below, among the crowd's feet. Under the chapel floor, you can see ancient stones of the town's road. Old and new sit side by side here, on purpose. The builders chose to place the modern centre next to the excavations, not over them.

Before you leave, stand for a moment and face the water. The same hills rise on the far shore. The same light moves over the lake in the afternoon. Fishing boats still cross these waters. Somewhere under your feet are the paths of people who sat on those stone benches and listened to the scriptures. As you walk back, look down at the basalt. Those dark stones were laid by a town that lived from this lake.