131-663: The Seraya (also spelled Saraya ) is a historical building in Nazareth , Israel . It was built around 1740 (or 1730 by the autonomous Arab ruler of the Galilee , Zahir al-Umar , during the Ottoman era in Palestine . Zahir, who later based himself in Acre , used it as a summer home. The Seraya served other functions, namely that of a governmental headquarters for Nazareth, which was an important town in
262-585: A portico was built for the Seraya, amid other renovations. Later, in the early 20th century, a watchtower, built in the European Renaissance style, was added to the building. With the establishment of the Nazareth Municipal Council in 1877, the Seraya served as the council's headquarters until 1991. Prior to that it served as the residence of the local governor of Nazareth and its subdistrict. It
393-634: A major cult centre in that era. The Franciscan priest Bellarmino Bagatti , "Director of Christian Archaeology", carried out extensive excavation of this "Venerated Area" from 1955 to 1965. Fr. Bagatti uncovered pottery dating from the Middle Bronze Age (2200 to 1500 BC) and ceramics, silos and grinding mills from the Iron Age (1500 to 586 BC) which indicated substantial settlement in the Nazareth basin at that time. Archaeological evidence shows that Nazareth
524-529: A minor village into a large town by encouraging immigration to it. Nazareth played a strategic role in Zahir's sheikhdom because it allowed him to wield control over the agricultural areas of central Galilee. He ensured Nazareth's security for other reasons as well, among them strengthening ties with France by protecting the Christian community and protecting one of his wives who resided in Nazareth. Zahir authorized
655-721: A more active military role, contributing nine commanders between them. The leaders of the revolt sought to use Nazareth as a staging ground to protest the British proposal to include the Galilee into a future Jewish state. On 26 September 1937, the British district commissioner of the Galilee, Lewis Yelland Andrews , was assassinated in Nazareth by local rebels. By 1946, the municipal boundary of Nazareth had been enlarged and new neighborhoods, namely Maidan, Maslakh, Khanuq and Nimsawi, were established. New homes were established in existing quarters and
786-599: A prophet in Islam . Findings unearthed in the neighboring Qafzeh Cave show that the area around Nazareth was populated in the prehistoric period. Nazareth was a Jewish village during the Roman and Byzantine periods and is described in the New Testament as the childhood home of Jesus . It became an important city during the Crusades after Tancred established it as the capital of
917-602: A public school, a police station, three orphanages, a hotel, three inns, a flour mill and eight souks . The Ottomans lost control of Palestine, including Nazareth, to the Allied Powers during World War I . By then, Nazareth's importance had declined significantly as most of the Arab villages in the Jezreel Valley had been replaced by newly established Jewish communities. The United Kingdom gained control of Palestine in 1917,
1048-740: A rivalry that would become known as the Great Game . Mahan realized not only the strategic importance of the region, but also of its center, the Persian Gulf . He labeled the area surrounding the Persian Gulf as the Middle East. He said that, beyond Egypt's Suez Canal , the Gulf was the most important passage for Britain to control in order to keep the Russians from advancing towards British India . Mahan first used
1179-478: A small church which encompassed a cave complex might have been located in Nazareth in the early 4th century", although the town was Jewish until the 7th century. The Christian monk and Bible translator Jerome , writing at the beginning of the 5th century, says Nazareth was a viculus or mere village. In the 6th century, religious narrations from local Christians about the Virgin Mary began to spark interest in
1310-581: A village in Judea and locates it near Cochaba (modern-day Kaukab ). In the same passage Africanus writes of desposunoi – relatives of Jesus – who he claims kept the records of their descent with great care . Ken Dark describes the view that Nazareth did not exist in Jesus's time as "archaeologically unsupportable". James F. Strange, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Florida, notes: "Nazareth
1441-803: A vital role in the Middle East, and they represent 40.5% of Lebanon, where the Lebanese president , half of the cabinet, and half of the parliament follow one of the various Lebanese Christian rites. There are also important minority religions like the Baháʼí Faith , Yarsanism , Yazidism , Zoroastrianism , Mandaeism , Druze , and Shabakism , and in ancient times the region was home to Mesopotamian religions , Canaanite religions , Manichaeism , Mithraism and various monotheist gnostic sects. The six top languages, in terms of numbers of speakers, are Arabic , Persian , Turkish , Kurdish , Modern Hebrew and Greek . About 20 minority languages are also spoken in
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#17328513317841572-539: A white flag over the town's police station. Most of the fighting around Nazareth occurred in its satellite villages, particularly in Saffuriya , whose residents put up resistance until largely dispersing following Israeli air raids on 15 July. During the ten days of fighting which occurred between the first and second truce, Nazareth capitulated to Israeli troops during Operation Dekel on 16 July, after little more than token resistance. By then, morale among local militiamen
1703-553: A written agreement, whereby the town's leaders agreed to cease hostilities in return for promises from the Israeli officers, including brigade commander Ben Dunkelman (the leader of the operation), that no harm would come to the civilians of the town. Soon after the signing of the agreement, Dunkelman received an order from the Israeli General Chaim Laskov to forcibly evacuate the city's Arabs. He refused, remarking that he
1834-537: Is Aramaic and its dialects are spoken mainly by Assyrians and Mandaeans , with Western Aramaic still spoken in two villages near Damascus, Syria. There is also an Oasis Berber -speaking community in Egypt where the language is also known as Siwa . It is a non-Semitic Afro-Asiatic sister language. Persian is the second most spoken language. While it is primarily spoken in Iran and some border areas in neighbouring countries,
1965-527: Is Middle Eastern and the derived noun is Middle Easterner . While non-Eurocentric terms such as "Southwest Asia" or "Swasia" have been sparsely used, the classificiation of the African country, Egypt, among those counted in the Middle East challenges the usefulness of using such terms. The description Middle has also led to some confusion over changing definitions. Before the First World War , "Near East"
2096-618: Is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula , the Levant , Turkey , Egypt , Iran , and Iraq . The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western European nations in the early 20th century as a replacement of the term Near East (both were in contrast to the Far East ). The term "Middle East" has led to some confusion over its changing definitions. Since
2227-562: Is an inscription on a marble fragment from a synagogue found in Caesarea Maritima in 1962. This fragment gives the town's name in Hebrew as נצרת (n-ṣ-r-t). The inscription dates to c. AD 300 and chronicles the assignment of priests that took place at some time after the Bar Kokhba revolt , AD 132–35. (See "Middle Roman to Byzantine Periods" below.) An 8th-century AD Hebrew inscription, which
2358-496: Is currently in disuse, but the city plans to turn the Seraya into a museum. Nazareth Nazareth ( / ˈ n æ z ər ə θ / NAZ -ər-əth ; Arabic : النَّاصِرَة , romanized : an-Nāṣira ; Hebrew : נָצְרַת , romanized : Nāṣraṯ ; Syriac : ܢܨܪܬ , romanized : Naṣrath ) is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel . In 2022 its population
2489-659: Is more definite: "It must be accepted with certainty that [the Ordinance of Caesar]… was brought to the Nazareth market by outside merchants." Princeton University archaeologist Jack Finnegan describes additional archaeological evidence related to settlement in the Nazareth basin during the Bronze and Iron Ages , and states that "Nazareth was a strongly Jewish settlement in the Roman period." In 2020, Yardenna Alexandre confirmed that Jews from Judea migrated to Galilee and settled in new villages and settlements, including Nazareth, since
2620-570: Is not mentioned in ancient Jewish sources earlier than the third century AD. This likely reflects its lack of prominence both in Galilee and in Judaea." Strange originally calculated the population of Nazareth at the time of Christ as "roughly 1,600 to 2,000 people" but, in a subsequent publication that followed more than a decade of additional research, revised this figure down to "a maximum of about 480." In 2009, Israeli archaeologist Yardenna Alexandre excavated archaeological remains in Nazareth that date to
2751-629: Is present in areas in neighboring countries. It is a member of the Turkic languages , which have their origins in East Asia. Another Turkic language, Azerbaijani , is spoken by Azerbaijanis in Iran. The fourth-most widely spoken language, Kurdish , is spoken in the countries of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, Sorani Kurdish is the second official language in Iraq (instated after the 2005 constitution) after Arabic. Hebrew
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#17328513317842882-429: Is the official language of Israel , with Arabic given a special status after the 2018 Basic law lowered its status from an official language prior to 2018. Hebrew is spoken and used by over 80% of Israel's population, the other 20% using Arabic. Modern Hebrew only began being spoken in the 20th century after being revived in the late 19th century by Elizer Ben-Yehuda (Elizer Perlman) and European Jewish settlers, with
3013-656: The Maghreb , the western part). Even though the term originated in the West, countries of the Middle East that use languages other than Arabic also use that term in translation. For instance, the Persian equivalent for Middle East is خاورمیانه ( Khāvar-e miyāneh ), the Hebrew is המזרח התיכון ( hamizrach hatikhon ), and the Turkish is Orta Doğu. Traditionally included within the Middle East are Arabia , Asia Minor , East Thrace , Egypt , Iran ,
3144-558: The Arab Liberation Army (ALA) had entered Nazareth on 9 July. The local defense of the town consisted of 200–300 militiamen distributed along the hills surrounding the town. The defense in the southern and western hills collapsed after Israeli shelling, while resistance in the northern hills had to contend with an incoming Israeli armored unit. Not long after the Israelis began shelling the local militiamen, Nazareth's police chief raised
3275-734: The Arabian Peninsula ( Magan , Sheba , Ubar ). The Near East was first largely unified under the Neo Assyrian Empire , then the Achaemenid Empire followed later by the Macedonian Empire and after this to some degree by the Iranian empires (namely the Parthian and Sassanid Empires ), the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire . The region served as the intellectual and economic center of
3406-536: The Baháʼí Faith . Throughout its history the Middle East has been a major center of world affairs; a strategically, economically, politically, culturally, and religiously sensitive area. The region is one of the regions where agriculture was independently discovered, and from the Middle East it was spread, during the Neolithic, to different regions of the world such as Europe, the Indus Valley and Eastern Africa. Prior to
3537-518: The Central Powers , was defeated by the British Empire and their allies and partitioned into a number of separate nations, initially under British and French Mandates . Other defining events in this transformation included the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the eventual departure of European powers, notably Britain and France by the end of the 1960s. They were supplanted in some part by
3668-616: The Grotto of the Annunciation . Pilgrimage tours to surrounding sacred sites were organised by the Franciscans, but the monks suffered harassment from surrounding Bedouin tribes who often kidnapped them for ransom. Stability returned with the rule of Zahir al-Umar , a powerful Arab sheikh who ruled the Galilee , and later much of the Levantine coast and Palestine. He transformed Nazareth from
3799-682: The International Organization for Migration , there are 13 million first-generation migrants from Arab nations in the world, of which 5.8 reside in other Arab countries. Expatriates from Arab countries contribute to the circulation of financial and human capital in the region and thus significantly promote regional development. In 2009 Arab countries received a total of US$ 35.1 billion in remittance in-flows and remittances sent to Jordan , Egypt and Lebanon from other Arab countries are 40 to 190 per cent higher than trade revenues between these and other Arab countries. In Somalia ,
3930-568: The Levant , Mesopotamia , and the Socotra Archipelago . The region includes 17 UN -recognized countries and one British Overseas Territory . Various concepts are often paralleled to the Middle East, most notably the Near East , Fertile Crescent , and Levant . These are geographical concepts, which refer to large sections of the modern-day Middle East, with the Near East being the closest to
4061-708: The Nile Delta in Egypt, the Tigris and Euphrates watersheds of Mesopotamia , and the basin of the Jordan River that spans most of the Levant. These regions are collectively known as the Fertile Crescent , and comprise the core of what historians had long referred to as the cradle of civilization (multiple regions of the world have since been classified as also having developed independent, original civilizations). Conversely,
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4192-493: The Principality of Galilee . The city declined under Mamluk rule, and following the Ottoman conquest, the city's Christian residents were expelled, only to return once Fakhr ad-Dīn II granted them permission to do so. In the 18th century, Zahir al-Umar transformed Nazareth into a large town by encouraging immigration to it. The city grew steadily during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when European powers invested in
4323-610: The Qur'an , Christians are referred to as naṣārā , meaning "followers of an-Nāṣirī ", or "those who follow Jesus of Nazareth". In the Gospel of Luke, Nazareth is first described as "a town of Galilee" and home of Mary . Following the birth and early epiphanial events of chapter 2 of Luke, Mary, Joseph and Jesus "returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth". The phrase "Jesus of Nazareth" appears seventeen times in English translations of
4454-563: The Sassanid Empire . However, it would be the later Islamic Caliphates of the Middle Ages , or Islamic Golden Age which began with the Islamic conquest of the region in the 7th century AD, that would first unify the entire Middle East as a distinct region and create the dominant Islamic Arab ethnic identity that largely (but not exclusively) persists today. The 4 caliphates that dominated
4585-775: The Somali Civil War has greatly increased the size of the Somali diaspora , as many of the best educated Somalis left for Middle Eastern countries as well as Europe and North America . Non-Arab Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey , Israel and Iran are also subject to important migration dynamics. A fair proportion of those migrating from Arab nations are from ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution and are not necessarily ethnic Arabs, Iranians or Turks. Large numbers of Kurds , Jews , Assyrians , Greeks and Armenians as well as many Mandeans have left nations such as Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey for these reasons during
4716-607: The Supreme Muslim Council 's Organization of Muslim Youth and the National Muslim Association were established in Nazareth later in the 1920s. In 1922 there were 4885 Christians, 2486 Muslims and 58 Jews living in Nazareth. Nazareth was relatively slow to modernize. While other towns already had wired electricity, Nazareth delayed its electrification until the 1930s and invested instead in improving its water supply system. This included adding two reservoirs at
4847-480: The Textus Receptus clearly translates all passages as Nazara , leaving little room for debate there. Many scholars have questioned a link between "Nazareth" and the terms " Nazarene " and " Nazoraean " on linguistic grounds, while some affirm the possibility of etymological relation "given the idiosyncrasies of Galilean Aramaic ." The form Nazara is also found in the earliest non-scriptural reference to
4978-514: The first ever papal visit to the Holy Land. As of the early 1990s, no city plans drafted by Nazareth Municipality have been approved by the government (both the British Mandate and later Israel) since 1942. This has left many people in Nazareth who vote in the city's municipal elections and receive services from its municipality effectively outside of the city's jurisdiction. Such areas include
5109-432: The first native Hebrew speaker being born in 1882. Greek is one of the two official languages of Cyprus , and the country's main language. Small communities of Greek speakers exist all around the Middle East; until the 20th century it was also widely spoken in Asia Minor (being the second most spoken language there, after Turkish) and Egypt. During the antiquity, Ancient Greek was the lingua franca for many areas of
5240-427: The massacres of 1860 by Aqil Agha , the Bedouin leader who exercised control over the Galilee between 1845 and 1870. Kaloost Vartan , an Armenian from Istanbul , arrived in 1864 and established the first medical mission in Nazareth, the Scottish "hospital on the hill", or the Nazareth Hospital as it is known today, with sponsorship from the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society . The Ottoman Sultan, who favored
5371-488: The netsarim "watchmen" of Ephraim in Jeremiah 31:6. In Syriac Aramaic Nasrath (ܢܨܪܬ) is used for Nazareth, while "Nazarenes" (Acts 24:5) and "of Nazareth" are both Nasrani or Nasraya (ܕܢܨܪܝܐ) an adjectival form. Nasrani is used in the Quran for Christians, and in Modern Standard Arabic may refer more widely to Western people. Saint Thomas Christians , an ancient community of Jewish Christians in India who trace their origins to evangelistic activity of Thomas
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5502-455: The 'Palestinian' Aramaic dialect wherein a sade (ṣ) between two voiced (sonant) consonants tended to be partially assimilated by taking on a zayin (z) sound". The Arabic name for Nazareth is an-Nāṣira , and Jesus ( Arabic : يَسُوع , romanized : Yasū' ) is also called an-Nāṣirī , reflecting the Arab tradition of according people an attribution , a name denoting whence a person comes in either geographical or tribal terms. In
5633-461: The 1988 national elections. Ilut was designated by the Interior Ministry as a separate local council in 1991. The Israeli government has designated a Nazareth metropolitan area that includes the local councils of Yafa an-Naseriyye to the south, Reineh, Mashhad and Kafr Kanna to the north, Iksal and Nazareth Illit to the east and Migdal HaEmek to the west. Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language)
5764-487: The 4th century AD, but latent anti-Christian hostility broke out in AD 614 when the Persians invaded Palestine . The Christian Byzantine author Eutychius claimed that Jewish people of Nazareth helped the Persians carry out their slaughter of the Christians. When the Byzantine or Eastern Roman emperor Heraclius ejected the Persians in AD 629-630, he expelled the Jews from the village, turning it all-Christian. The Arab Muslim invasion of AD 638 had no immediate impact on
5895-572: The Apostle in the 1st century, are sometimes known by the name "Nasrani" even today. Archaeological researchers have revealed that a funerary and cult center at Kfar HaHoresh , about two miles (3.2 km) from current Nazareth, dates back roughly 9,000 years to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B era. The remains of some 65 individuals were found, buried under huge horizontal headstone structures, some of which consisted of up to 3 tons of locally produced white plaster. Decorated human skulls uncovered there have led archaeologists to identify Kfar HaHoresh as
6026-404: The Apostle Paul. They are called "Nazarenes" once by Tertullus , a Jewish lawyer. The Rabbinic and modern Hebrew name for Christians, notzrim , is also thought to derive from Nazareth, and be connected with Tertullus' charge against Paul of being a member of the sect of the Nazarenes , Nazoraioi , "men of Nazareth" in Acts. Against this, some medieval Jewish polemical texts connect notzrim with
6157-432: The Arabic equivalent of Middle East (Arabic: الشرق الأوسط ash-Sharq al-Awsaṭ ) has become standard usage in the mainstream Arabic press. It comprises the same meaning as the term "Middle East" in North American and Western European usage. The designation, Mashriq , also from the Arabic root for East , also denotes a variously defined region around the Levant , the eastern part of the Arabic-speaking world (as opposed to
6288-419: The Bible, Jesus grew up in Nazareth from some point in his childhood. However, some modern scholars also regard Nazareth as the birthplace of the historical Jesus. A Hebrew inscription found in Caesarea dating to the late 3rd or early 4th century mentions Nazareth as the home of the priestly Hapizzez/Hafizaz family after the Bar Kokhba revolt (AD 132–135). From the three fragments that have been found,
6419-489: The Christian world. By the end of the war, Nazareth's population saw a large influx of refugees from major urban centers and rural villages in the Galilee. In the first few years of its incorporation into Israel, Nazareth's affairs were dominated by the issues of land expropriation, internally displaced refugees and the hardships of martial law, which included curfews and travel restrictions. Efforts to resolve these issues were largely unsuccessful and led to frustration among
6550-404: The Christians of Nazareth and their churches, since Bishop Arculf remembered seeing there around 670 two churches, one at the house of Joseph where Jesus had lived as a child, and one at the house of Mary where she received the Annunciation - but no synagogue, which had possibly been transformed into a mosque. The 721 iconoclastic edict of Caliph Yazid II apparently led to the destruction of
6681-419: The Crusader Tancred captured Galilee and established his capital in Nazareth. He was the ruler of the Principality of Galilee , which was established, at least in name, in 1099, as a vassal of the Kingdom of Jerusalem . Later, in 1115, Nazareth was created as a seigneury within the principality. A Martin of Nazareth, who probably acted as viscount of Nazareth, is documented in 1115 and in 1130/1131. Nazareth
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#17328513317846812-412: The Franciscans to build a church in 1730. That structure stood until 1955, when it was demolished to make way for a larger building completed in 1967. He also permitted the Franciscans to purchase the Synagogue Church in 1741 and authorized the Greek Orthodox community to build St. Gabriel's Church in 1767. Zahir commissioned the construction of a government house known as the Seraya , which served as
6943-466: The French, allowed them to establish an orphanage, the Society of Saint Francis de Sale. By the late 19th century, Nazareth was a town with a strong Arab Christian presence and a growing European community, where a number of communal projects were undertaken and new religious buildings were erected. In 1871 Christ Church, the city's only Anglican church, was completed under the leadership of the Rev John Zeller and consecrated by Bishop Samuel Gobat . In
7074-410: The Levant, all originated in the Fertile Crescent and Nile Valley regions of the ancient Near East. These were followed by the Hittite , Greek , Hurrian and Urartian civilisations of Asia Minor ; Elam , Persia and Median civilizations in Iran , as well as the civilizations of the Levant (such as Ebla , Mari , Nagar , Ugarit , Canaan , Aramea , Mitanni , Phoenicia and Israel ) and
7205-407: The Levantine coast and most of Turkey have relatively temperate climates typical of the Mediterranean , with dry summers and cool, wet winters. Most of the countries that border the Persian Gulf have vast reserves of petroleum . Monarchs of the Arabian Peninsula in particular have benefitted economically from petroleum exports. Because of the arid climate and dependence on the fossil fuel industry,
7336-481: The Middle East for more than 600 years were the Rashidun Caliphate , the Umayyad caliphate , the Abbasid caliphate and the Fatimid caliphate . Additionally, the Mongols would come to dominate the region, the Kingdom of Armenia would incorporate parts of the region to their domain, the Seljuks would rule the region and spread Turko-Persian culture, and the Franks would found the Crusader states that would stand for roughly two centuries. Josiah Russell estimates
7467-416: The Middle East in its geographical meaning. Due to it primarily being Arabic speaking, the Maghreb region of North Africa is sometimes included. The countries of the South Caucasus – Armenia , Azerbaijan , and Georgia – are occasionally included in definitions of the Middle East. " Greater Middle East " is a political term coined by the second Bush administration in
7598-421: The Middle East is both a major contributor to climate change and a region that is expected to be severely adversely affected by it. Other concepts of the region exist, including the broader Middle East and North Africa (MENA), which includes states of the Maghreb and the Sudan . The term the " Greater Middle East " also includes parts of East Africa , Mauritania , Afghanistan , Pakistan , and sometimes
7729-504: The Middle East. Arabic, with all its dialects, is the most widely spoken language in the Middle East, with Literary Arabic being official in all North African and in most West Asian countries. Arabic dialects are also spoken in some adjacent areas in neighbouring Middle Eastern non-Arab countries. It is a member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Several Modern South Arabian languages such as Mehri and Soqotri are also spoken in Yemen and Oman. Another Semitic language
7860-407: The Middle East. Arabs constitute the main ethnic group in the region, followed by Turks , Persians , Kurds , Azeris , Copts , Jews , Assyrians , Iraqi Turkmen , Yazidis , and Greek Cypriots . The Middle East generally has a hot, arid climate, especially in the Arabian and Egyptian regions. Several major rivers provide irrigation to support agriculture in limited areas here, such as
7991-408: The Middle East. For the period between the 1970s and 1990s, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf in particular provided a rich source of employment for workers from Egypt, Yemen and the countries of the Levant, while Europe had attracted young workers from North African countries due both to proximity and the legacy of colonial ties between France and the majority of North African states." According to
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#17328513317848122-460: The Nazareth region bearing the name Nazareth נצרת (in this case vocalized "Nitzrat"), which was home to the descendants of the 18th Kohen family Happitzetz (הפצץ), for at least several centuries after the Bar Kochva revolt. Although it is mentioned in the New Testament gospels, there are no extant non-biblical references to Nazareth until around AD 200, when Sextus Julius Africanus , cited by Eusebius ( Church History 1.7.14), speaks of Nazara as
8253-410: The New Testament, 10 times as Nazaréth or Nazarét , and twice as Nazará . The former two may retain the 'feminine' endings common in Galilean toponyms. The minor variants, Nazarat and Nazarath are also attested. Nazara ( Ναζαρά ) might be the earliest form of the name in Greek, going back to the putative Q document . It is found in Matthew 4:13 and Luke 4:16. However,
8384-407: The New Testament, whereas the Greek original contains the form "Jesus the Nazarēnos " or "Jesus the Nazōraios ." One plausible view is that Nazōraean ( Ναζωραῖος ) is a normal Greek adaptation of a reconstructed, hypothetical term in Jewish Aramaic for the word later used in Rabbinical sources to refer to Jesus. "Nazaréth" is named twelve times in surviving Greek manuscript versions of
8515-400: The Roman Empire and played an exceptionally important role due to its periphery on the Sassanid Empire . Thus, the Romans stationed up to five or six of their legions in the region for the sole purpose of defending it from Sassanid and Bedouin raids and invasions. From the 4th century CE onwards, the Middle East became the center of the two main powers at the time, the Byzantine Empire and
8646-422: The Sharqiya and Jabal el-Daula quarters which are in Nazareth Illit's jurisdiction and whose residents had to acquire building permits from the latter city. Similarly, the Bilal neighborhood of the Safafra Quarter is located within Reineh 's jurisdiction. In 1993, the residents of Bilal became official residents of Reineh. Nazareth's municipal plans for expansion prior to the establishment of Nazareth Illit, were to
8777-400: The South Caucasus and Central Asia . The term "Middle East" may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office . However, it became more widely known when United States naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902 to "designate the area between Arabia and India". During this time the British and Russian empires were vying for influence in Central Asia ,
8908-429: The area and protected the routes and agricultural lands of the Jezreel Valley . The Seraya contained a stable for horses and a jail. Moreover, because of the absence of mosques in Nazareth at the time of the Seraya's construction, Zahir designated a prayer room to substitute for a mosque to serve the town's Muslim residents. It continued in this capacity until the nearby White Mosque was completed in 1812. In 1857,
9039-468: The area from Mesopotamia to Burma , namely, the area between the Near East and the Far East. In the late 1930s, the British established the Middle East Command , which was based in Cairo , for its military forces in the region. After that time, the term "Middle East" gained broader usage in Europe and the United States. Following World War II, for example, the Middle East Institute was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1946. The corresponding adjective
9170-454: The beauty of the Hebrew women there, he records them saying St. Mary was a relative of theirs, and notes that, "The house of St. Mary is a basilica." Constantine the Great ordered that churches be built in Jewish cities, and Nazareth was one of the places designated for this purpose, although construction of churches apparently only started decades after Constantine's death, i.e. after 352. Archaeologists have unearthed evidence that previous to
9301-417: The borders of India or command the approaches to India." After the series ended in 1903, The Times removed quotation marks from subsequent uses of the term. Until World War II , it was customary to refer to areas centered around Turkey and the eastern shore of the Mediterranean as the " Near East ", while the " Far East " centered on China , India and Japan . The Middle East was then defined as
9432-496: The cities devoid of a non-Jewish population. Epiphanius, writing of Joseph of Tiberias , a wealthy Roman Jew who converted to Christianity in the time of Constantine , says he claimed to have received an imperial rescript to build Christian churches in Jewish towns and villages where no gentiles or Samaritans dwell, naming Tiberias , Diocaesarea , Sepphoris , Nazareth and Capernaum . From this scarce notice, it has been concluded that
9563-459: The city's municipal headquarters until 1991. His descendants—known as the "Dhawahri"—along with the Zu'bi, Fahum, and 'Onassah families later constituted Nazareth's traditional Muslim elite. Nazareth's Christian community did not fare well under Zahir's Ottoman successor, Jazzar Pasha (r. 1776–1804), and friction increased between its Christians and Muslim peasants from the surrounding villages. Nazareth
9694-634: The construction of churches, monasteries, educational and health facilities. Since late antiquity, Nazareth has been a center of Christian pilgrimage , with many shrines commemorating biblical events. The Church of the Annunciation is considered one of the largest Christian sites of worship in the Middle East . It contains the Grotto of the Annunciation, where, according to Catholic tradition, angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she would conceive and bear Jesus . According to Greek Orthodox belief,
9825-479: The country and are generally different from the English terms. In German the term Naher Osten (Near East) is still in common use (nowadays the term Mittlerer Osten is more and more common in press texts translated from English sources, albeit having a distinct meaning). In the four Slavic languages, Russian Ближний Восток or Blizhniy Vostok , Bulgarian Близкия Изток , Polish Bliski Wschód or Croatian Bliski istok (terms meaning Near East are
9956-609: The country as citizens and wanted to return to their homes. Israel offered compensation to these internal refugees, but most refused for fear of permanently relinquishing their right of return . Tensions between Nazareth's inhabitants and the state came to a head during a 1958 May Day rally where marchers demanded that refugees be allowed to return to their villages, an end to land expropriation, and self-determination for Palestinians. Several young protesters were arrested for throwing stones at security forces. Martial law ended in 1966. On 5 January 1964, Pope Paul VI included Nazareth in
10087-509: The country is one of the region's largest and most populous. It belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch of the family of Indo-European languages . Other Western Iranic languages spoken in the region include Achomi , Daylami , Kurdish dialects, Semmani , Lurish , amongst many others. The close third-most widely spoken language, Turkish , is largely confined to Turkey, which is also one of the region's largest and most populous countries, but it
10218-546: The early town was perched on or near the brow of the hill, or, in the passive sense as 'preserved, protected' in reference to its secluded position. The negative references to Nazareth in the Gospel of John suggest that ancient Jews did not connect the town's name to prophecy. Another theory holds that the Greek form Ναζαρά ( Nazará ), used in the Gospel of Matthew and Gospel of Luke , may derive from an earlier Aramaic form of
10349-652: The economy of the Western world [...] Within this contextual framework, the United States sought to divert the Arab world from Soviet influence. Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, the region has experienced both periods of relative peace and tolerance and periods of conflict particularly between Sunnis and Shiites . Arabs constitute the largest ethnic group in the Middle East, followed by various Iranian peoples and then by Turkic peoples ( Turkish , Azeris , Syrian Turkmen , and Iraqi Turkmen ). Native ethnic groups of
10480-473: The emerging independent countries of the Islamic world . However, the usage "Near East" was retained by a variety of academic disciplines, including archaeology and ancient history . In their usage, the term describes an area identical to the term Middle East , which is not used by these disciplines (see ancient Near East ). The first official use of the term "Middle East" by the United States government
10611-556: The erection of the Byzantine-period church at the site of Mary's house in the mid-5th century, Judeo-Christians had built there a synagogue-church, leaving behind Judeo-Christian symbols. Until being expelled in c. 630, Jews probably kept on using their older synagogue, while the Judeo-Christian needed to build their own, probably at the site of Mary's house. The Jewish town profited from the Christian pilgrim trade which began in
10742-502: The facility to concentrate in force if occasion arise, about Aden , India, and the Persian Gulf. Mahan's article was reprinted in The Times and followed in October by a 20-article series entitled "The Middle Eastern Question", written by Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol . During this series, Sir Ignatius expanded the definition of Middle East to include "those regions of Asia which extend to
10873-409: The farther west countries while Middle East referred to the eastern ones, but that now they are synonymous. It instructs: Use Middle East unless Near East is used by a source in a story. Mideast is also acceptable, but Middle East is preferred. European languages have adopted terms similar to Near East and Middle East . Since these are based on a relative description, the meanings depend on
11004-768: The first decade of the 21st century to denote various countries, pertaining to the Muslim world , specifically Afghanistan , Iran , Pakistan , and Turkey . Various Central Asian countries are sometimes also included. The Middle East lies at the juncture of Africa and Eurasia and of the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea (see also: Indo-Mediterranean ). It is the birthplace and spiritual center of religions such as Christianity , Islam , Judaism , Manichaeism , Yezidi , Druze , Yarsan , and Mandeanism , and in Iran, Mithraism , Zoroastrianism , Manicheanism , and
11135-556: The formation of civilizations, advanced cultures formed all over the Middle East during the Stone Age . The search for agricultural lands by agriculturalists, and pastoral lands by herdsmen meant different migrations took place within the region and shaped its ethnic and demographic makeup. The Middle East is widely and most famously known as the cradle of civilization . The world's earliest civilizations, Mesopotamia ( Sumer , Akkad , Assyria and Babylonia ), ancient Egypt and Kish in
11266-500: The former church, so that Willibald found during his pilgrimage in 724-26 only one church there, the one dedicated to St. Mary, which Christians had to save through repeated payments from destruction by the "pagan Saracens" (Muslim Arabs). The ruins of St. Joseph's remained untouched for a very long time, while the Church St. Mary is repeatedly mentioned throughout the following centuries, including by an Arab geographer in 943. In 1099,
11397-515: The highest in the world, and the international oil cartel OPEC is dominated by Middle Eastern countries. During the Cold War, the Middle East was a theater of ideological struggle between the two superpowers and their allies: NATO and the United States on one side, and the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact on the other, as they competed to influence regional allies. Besides the political reasons there
11528-462: The hilltops around the town. Other new or expanded government offices included a headquarters for the district commissioner at the former Ottoman military barracks, and offices for the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Survey and Settlement. Nazareth was in the territory allotted to the Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan . In the months leading up to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War ,
11659-513: The inhabitants, which in turn contributed to political agitation in the city. As the largest Arab town in Israel, Nazareth became a center of Arab and Palestinian nationalism , and because the Communist Party was the sole legal political group that took up many of the local Arab causes, it gained popularity in Nazareth. Arab political organization within Nazareth and Israel was largely stymied by
11790-418: The inscription seems to be a list of the twenty-four priestly courses, with each course (or family) assigned its proper order and the name of each town or village in Galilee where it settled. Nazareth is not spelled with the "z" sound but with the Hebrew tsade (thus "Nasareth" or "Natsareth"). Eleazar Kalir (a Hebrew Galilean poet variously dated from the 6th to 10th century) mentions a locality clearly in
11921-473: The king of France, attended mass in the grotto, accompanied by his wife. In 1263, Baybars , the Mamluk Sultan , destroyed the Christian buildings in Nazareth and declared the site off-limits to Latin clergy, as part of his bid to drive out the remaining Crusaders from Palestine. While Arab Christian families continued to live in Nazareth, its status was reduced to that of a poor village. Pilgrims who visited
12052-514: The last century. In Iran, many religious minorities such as Christians , Baháʼís , Jews and Zoroastrians have left since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 . The Middle East is very diverse when it comes to religions , many of which originated there. Islam is the largest religion in the Middle East, but other faiths that originated there, such as Judaism and Christianity , are also well represented. Christian communities have played
12183-593: The late 19th century and the first years of the 20th century, Nazareth prospered as it served the role of a market center for the dozens of rural Arab villages located within its vicinity. Local peasants would purchase supplies from Nazareth's many souks (open-air markets), which included separate souks for agricultural produce, metalwork, jewelry and leathers. In 1914, Nazareth consisted of eight quarters: 'Araq, Farah, Jami', Khanuq, Maidan, Mazazwa, Sharqiya and Shufani. There were nine churches, two monasteries, four convents, two mosques, four hospitals, four private schools,
12314-583: The late 20th century, it has been criticized as being too Eurocentric . The region includes the vast majority of the territories included in the closely associated definition of West Asia , but without the South Caucasus . It also includes all of Egypt (not just the Sinai ) and all of Turkey (including East Thrace ). Most Middle Eastern countries (13 out of 18) are part of the Arab world . The most populous countries in
12445-616: The late Hellenistic-Hasmonean period ( c. late 2nd century ). Under the leadership of priestly families, the Jewish inhabitants observed ritual purity laws. Previously, most of Galiee, except for minor short-lived Israelite settlements in the Naḥal Ẓippori basin, had an occupational gap for about 5 centuries because of the Assyrian conquest in 732 BCE . However, there is strong evidence for Assyrian presence in Galilee, based on artefacts in Cana , which
12576-527: The movement while also proclaiming solidarity with the Jews of Palestine . Politically, Nazareth was becoming further involved in the growing Palestinian nationalist movement . In 1922, a Muslim-Christian Association was established in the town, largely sponsored by the Muslim al-Zu'bi family. A consistent and effective united Palestinian Arab religious front proved difficult to establish and alternative organizations such as
12707-611: The name, or from another Semitic language form. If there were a tsade (צ) in the original Semitic form, as in the later Hebrew forms, it would normally have been transcribed in Greek with a sigma (σ) instead of a zeta (ζ). This has led some scholars to question whether "Nazareth" and its cognates in the New Testament actually refer to the settlement known traditionally as Nazareth in Lower Galilee . Such linguistic discrepancies may be explained, however, by "a peculiarity of
12838-509: The north and east, areas that the latter city now occupy. Arab satellite towns are closely located to the north, west and southwest. Thus, the remaining area within the city's municipal boundaries available for expansion were to the northwest and the south, where the topography restricted urban development. After lobbying the Knesset and the Interior Ministry , el-Zoubi was able to have areas to
12969-470: The northwest of the city annexed to the municipality. In the 1980s, the government began attempts to merge the nearby village of Ilut with Nazareth, although this move was opposed by residents from both localities and the Nazareth Municipality. Ilut's residents were included as part of Nazareth's electorate in the 1983 and 1989 municipal elections, which Ilut's residents largely boycotted, and in
13100-699: The northwestern hills and several new cisterns . By 1930, a church for the Baptist denomination, a municipal garden at Mary's Well and a police station based in Zahir al-Umar's Seraya had been established and the Muslim Sharqiya Quarter had expanded. In the 1936–1939 Arab Revolt , Nazareth played a minor role, contributing two rebel commanders out of 281 rebel commanders active in the country. The two were Nazareth native and Christian Fu'ad Nassar and Nazareth resident and Indur native Tawfiq al-Ibrahim. The nearby villages of Saffuriya and al-Mujaydil played
13231-404: The only appropriate ones for the region. However, some European languages do have "Middle East" equivalents, such as French Moyen-Orient , Swedish Mellanöstern , Spanish Oriente Medio or Medio Oriente , Greek is Μέση Ανατολή ( Mesi Anatoli ), and Italian Medio Oriente . Perhaps because of the political influence of the United States and Europe, and the prominence of Western press,
13362-561: The population of what he calls "Islamic territory" as roughly 12.5 million in 1000 – Anatolia 8 million, Syria 2 million, and Egypt 1.5 million. From the 16th century onward, the Middle East came to be dominated, once again, by two main powers: the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid dynasty . The modern Middle East began after World War I , when the Ottoman Empire, which was allied with
13493-464: The prophetic, messianic words in Book of Isaiah 11:1: "from (Jesse's) roots a Branch [ netzer ] will bear fruit". One view suggests this toponym might be an example of a tribal name used by resettling groups on their return from exile. Alternatively, the name may derive from the verb na·ṣar , נָצַר , 'watch, guard, keep", and understood either in the sense of 'watchtower' or 'guard place', implying
13624-416: The region are Egypt, Turkey, and Iran, while Saudi Arabia is the largest Middle Eastern country by area. The history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times , and it was long considered the "cradle of civilization". The geopolitical importance of the region has been recognized and competed for during millennia. The Abrahamic religions, Judaism , Christianity , and Islam , have their origins in
13755-439: The region as including only Egypt , Syria, Israel , Lebanon , Jordan , Iraq, Saudi Arabia , Kuwait , Bahrain , and Qatar . Since the late 20th century, scholars and journalists from the region, such as journalist Louay Khraish and historian Hassan Hanafi have criticized the use of "Middle East" as a Eurocentric and colonialist term. The Associated Press Stylebook of 2004 says that Near East formerly referred to
13886-662: The region include, in addition to Arabs, Arameans , Assyrians , Baloch , Berbers , Copts , Druze , Greek Cypriots , Jews , Kurds , Lurs , Mandaeans , Persians , Samaritans , Shabaks , Tats , and Zazas . European ethnic groups that form a diaspora in the region include Albanians , Bosniaks , Circassians (including Kabardians ), Crimean Tatars , Greeks , Franco-Levantines , Italo-Levantines , and Iraqi Turkmens . Among other migrant populations are Chinese , Filipinos , Indians , Indonesians , Pakistanis , Pashtuns , Romani , and Afro-Arabs . "Migration has always provided an important vent for labor market pressures in
14017-519: The rising influence of the United States from the 1970s onwards. In the 20th century, the region's significant stocks of crude oil gave it new strategic and economic importance. Mass production of oil began around 1945, with Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates having large quantities of oil. Estimated oil reserves , especially in Saudi Arabia and Iran, are some of
14148-725: The same event took place at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation , also known as Church of Saint Gabriel. Other important churches in Nazareth include the Synagogue Church , St. Joseph's Church , the Mensa Christi Church , and the Basilica of Jesus the Adolescent . One view holds that the name 'Nazareth' is derived from one of the Hebrew words for 'branch', namely ne·ṣer , נֵ֫צֶר , and alludes to
14279-580: The same year of the Balfour Declaration , which promised British support for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. In the years preceding and following the declaration, Jewish immigration to Palestine had been increasing. Representatives of Nazareth opposed the Zionist movement , sending a delegation to the 1919 First Palestine Arab Congress and issuing a letter of protest in 1920 that condemned
14410-582: The site among pilgrims, who founded the first church at the location of the current Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation at the site of a freshwater spring, today known as Mary's Well . Around 570, the Anonymous of Piacenza reports travelling from Sepphoris to Nazareth. There he records seeing in the Jewish synagogue the books from which Jesus learnt his letters, and a bench where he sat. According to him, Christians could lift it, but Jews could not, since it disallowed them from dragging it outside. Writing of
14541-499: The site in 1294 reported only a small church protecting the grotto . In the 14th century, Franciscan friars were permitted to return and live within the ruins of the basilica. In 1584 the Franciscan friars were evicted again from the site of the ruined basilica. In 1620, Fakhr-al-Din II , a Druze emir who controlled this part of Ottoman Syria , permitted them to build a small church at
14672-408: The state until recent decades. Arab and Palestinian nationalist sentiment continue to influence Nazareth's political life. In 1954, 1,200 dunams of Nazareth's land, which had been slated for future urban expansion by the municipality, was expropriated by state authorities for the construction of government offices and, in 1957, for the construction of the Jewish town of Nazareth Illit . The latter
14803-693: The term in his article "The Persian Gulf and International Relations", published in September 1902 in the National Review , a British journal. The Middle East, if I may adopt a term which I have not seen, will some day need its Malta , as well as its Gibraltar ; it does not follow that either will be in the Persian Gulf. Naval force has the quality of mobility which carries with it the privilege of temporary absences; but it needs to find on every scene of operation established bases of refit, of supply, and in case of disaster, of security. The British Navy should have
14934-556: The time of Jesus in the early Roman period. Alexandre told reporters, "The discovery is of the utmost importance since it reveals for the very first time a house from the Jewish village of Nazareth." Other sources state that during Jesus' time, Nazareth had a population of 400 and one public bath, which was important for civic and religious purposes, as a mikva . A tablet at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, dating to AD 50,
15065-515: The town became a refuge for Arab-Palestinians fleeing the urban centers of Tiberias , Haifa and Baysan before and during the Haganah 's capture of those cities on 18 April 22 April and 12 May 1948, respectively. Nazareth itself was not a field of battle during the 1948 War, which began on 15 May, before the first truce on 11 June, although some of the villagers had joined the loosely organized peasant military and paramilitary forces, and troops from
15196-458: The town still had an abundance of orchards and agricultural fields. Two cigarette factories, a tobacco store, two cinemas and a tile factory had been established, significantly boosting Nazareth's economy. A new police station was built on Nazareth's southernmost hill, while the police station in the Seray had been converted into Nazareth's municipal headquarters. Watchtowers were also erected on some of
15327-547: The town, a citation by Sextus Julius Africanus dated about AD 221 (see "Middle Roman to Byzantine Periods" below). The Church Father Origen (c. AD 185 to 254) knows the forms Nazará and Nazarét . Later, Eusebius in his Onomasticon (translated by St. Jerome ) also refers to the settlement as Nazara . The nașirutha of the scriptures of the Mandeans refers to "priestly craft", not to Nazareth, which they identified with Qom . The first non-Christian reference to Nazareth
15458-519: The western Middle East and until the Muslim expansion it was widely spoken there as well. Until the late 11th century, it was also the main spoken language in Asia Minor ; after that it was gradually replaced by the Turkish language as the Anatolian Turks expanded and the local Greeks were assimilated, especially in the interior. English is one of the official languages of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. It
15589-418: Was 'shocked and horrified' that he would be commanded to renege on the agreement he, and also Chaim Laskov, had just signed. Twelve hours after defying his superior, he was relieved of his post, but not before obtaining assurances that the security of Nazareth's population would be guaranteed. David Ben-Gurion backed Dunkelman's judgement, fearing that expelling Christian Arabs might provoke an outcry throughout
15720-434: Was 78,007. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and commercial center for the Arab citizens of Israel . The inhabitants are predominantly Arab citizens of Israel , of whom 69% are Muslim and 30.9% Christian . The city also commands immense religious significance, deriving from its status as the hometown of Jesus , the central figure of Christianity and
15851-411: Was also the "ideological conflict" between the two systems. Moreover, as Louise Fawcett argues, among many important areas of contention, or perhaps more accurately of anxiety, were, first, the desires of the superpowers to gain strategic advantage in the region, second, the fact that the region contained some two-thirds of the world's oil reserves in a context where oil was becoming increasingly vital to
15982-472: Was built as a way for the state to counterbalance the Arab majority in the region. Knesset member Seif el-Din el-Zoubi , who represented Nazareth, actively opposed the Absentees' Property Law , which allowed state expropriation of land from Arab citizens who were not permitted to return to their original villages. Zoubi argued that the internally displaced refugees were not absentees as they were still living in
16113-713: Was in the 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine , which pertained to the Suez Crisis . Secretary of State John Foster Dulles defined the Middle East as "the area lying between and including Libya on the west and Pakistan on the east, Syria and Iraq on the North and the Arabian peninsula to the south, plus the Sudan and Ethiopia ." In 1958, the State Department explained that the terms "Near East" and "Middle East" were interchangeable, and defined
16244-457: Was low and most refused to fight alongside the ALA because of their perceived weakness in the face of Israel's perceived military superiority and the alleged maltreatment of Christian residents and clergy by ALA volunteers. Seking to prevent the town's destruction, the Muslim mayor of Nazareth, Yusef Fahum requested a halt to all resistance put up by Nazarenes. The surrender of Nazareth was formalized in
16375-462: Was north of Nazareth. Konrad Schmid and Jens Schroter note that Assyrians were typically relocated to conquered territories, which most likely included Israel. Some scholars believed Jesus , a native of Nazareth, was influenced by Cynicism , which was popular in Hellenized Galilean cities such as Gadara . Epiphanius in his Panarion ( c. AD 375 ) numbers Nazareth among
16506-602: Was occupied during the late Hellenistic period, through the Roman period and into the Byzantine period. According to the Gospel of Luke , Nazareth was the home village of Mary as well as the site of the Annunciation (when the angel Gabriel informed Mary that she would give birth to Jesus). According to the Gospel of Matthew , Joseph and Mary resettled in Nazareth after returning from the flight from Bethlehem to Egypt . According to
16637-506: Was sent from Nazareth to Paris in 1878. It contains an inscription known as the "Ordinance of Caesar" that outlines the penalty of death for those who violate tombs or graves. However, it is suspected that this inscription came to Nazareth from somewhere else (possibly Sepphoris ). Bagatti writes: "we are not certain that it was found in Nazareth, even though it came from Nazareth to Paris. At Nazareth there lived various vendors of antiquities who got ancient material from several places." C. Kopp
16768-594: Was temporarily captured by the troops of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799, during his Syrian campaign . Napoleon visited the holy sites and considered appointing his general Jean-Andoche Junot as the duke of Nazareth. During the rule of Governor Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt (1830–1840) over much of Ottoman Syria , Nazareth was opened to European missionaries and traders. After the Ottomans regained control, European money continued to flow into Nazareth and new institutions were established. The Christians of Nazareth were protected during
16899-674: Was the earliest known Hebrew reference to Nazareth prior to the discovery of the inscription above, uses the same form. Around 331, Eusebius records that, from the name Nazareth, Christ was called a Nazoraean, and that, in earlier centuries, Christians were once called Nazarenes. Tertullian (Against Marcion 4:8) records that "for this reason the Jews call us 'Nazarenes'." In the New Testament Christians are called "Christians" three times (in Acts 11:26; 26:28; and 1 Peter 4:16), but never directly by
17030-719: Was the original site of the Latin Patriarch, also established by Tancred. The ancient diocese of Scythopolis was relocated under the Archbishop of Nazareth , as one of the four archdioceses in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. When the town returned to Muslim control in 1187 following the victory of Saladin in the Battle of Hattin , the remaining Crusaders and European clergy were forced to leave town. Frederick II managed to negotiate safe passage for pilgrims from Acre in 1229, and in 1251, Louis IX ,
17161-553: Was used in English to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire , while "Middle East" referred to the Caucasus , Persia , and Arabian lands, and sometimes Afghanistan , India and others. In contrast, " Far East " referred to the countries of East Asia (e.g. China , Japan , and Korea ). With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, "Near East" largely fell out of common use in English, while "Middle East" came to be applied to
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