Sepphoris ( ; ), known in Hebrew as Tzipori ( Ṣīppōrī) and in Arabic as Saffuriya ( ), is one of the most excavated and studied archaeological sites in Israel.Eric M. Meyers and Carol L. Meyers, The Archaeology of Sepphoris (Leiden: Brill, 1997) Over time, the site was home to many civilizations. It was a Jewish city during classical antiquity, and was the epicenter of second century Jewish life. In the modern era it was the Palestinian town of Saffuriya, which was the second largest in the Nazareth Subdistrict after Nazareth itself. and :File:1945 Palestine Mandate Village Statistics population page for Sub-District of Nazareth.jpg
Sepphoris is located in central Galilee, north-northwest of Nazareth. It lies above sea level and overlooks the Beit Netofa Valley. The site holds a rich and diverse historical and architectural legacy that includes remains from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, early Islamic, Crusader, Mamluk and Ottoman periods.
Sepphoris was a significant town in ancient Galilee. Originally named for the Hebrew word for bird, the city was also known as Eirenopolis and Diocaesarea during different periods of its history. In the first century CE, it was a Jewish city, the home of the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish court.In a different light, Haaretz Following the Bar Kokhba Revolt of 132–135, Sepphoris was one of the Galilean centers where rabbinical families from neighboring Judea relocated.Miller (1984), p. 132. In late antiquity, Sepphoris appears to have been predominantly Jewish, serving as a spiritual and cultural center, though it also housed a Christian bishopric and maintained a multi-ethnic population. Remains of a synagogue dated to the first half of the fifth century were discovered on the northern side of town.Mor, Menahem. "The Mosaic Pavements of Roman and Byzantine Zippori". Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Since late antiquity, Sepphoris was believed to be the birthplace of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the original village where Saints Anna and Joachim are often said to have resided, where today a fifth-century basilica is excavated at the site honouring the birth of Mary.Meyers, ed. (1999), pp. 396–397. The town was later conquered by Arab Rashidun forces during the 7th-century Muslim conquest of the Levant and remained under successive Muslim rule until the Crusades. Before the 1948 Arab–Israeli War,Morris (2004), pp. 417-, 516–517. Saffuriya was a Palestinian Arab village with a population of approximately 5,000 people at the time of its depopulation. Moshav Tzippori was established adjacent to the site in 1949. It falls under the jurisdiction of Jezreel Valley Regional Council, and in had a population of .
The area where the remains of the ancient city have been excavated, occupied until 1948 by the Arab village, was designated an archaeological reserve named Tzipori National Park in 1992."Zippori and the Mona Lisa of the Galilee" at TouristIsrael.com. Re-accessed 20 June 2025. Notable structures at the site include a Roman theatre, two early Christian churches, a Crusader fort partly rebuilt by Daher al-Umar in the 18th century, and over sixty different mosaics dating from the third to the sixth century CE.Weiss, Zeev (2009). "The Mosaics of the Nile Festival Building at Sepphoris and the legacy of the Antiochene Tradition". Katrin Kogman-Appel, Mati Meyer (eds.). Between Judaism and Christianity: Art Historical Essays in Honor of Elisheva (Elizabeth) Revel-Neher, BRILL, pp. 9–24 [p. 10].
Names Zippori / Tzipori; Sepphoris In Ancient Greek, the city was called Sepphoris from its Hebrew name Tzipori, understood to be a variant of the Hebrew word for bird, tzipor – perhaps, as a Talmudic gloss suggests, because it is "perched on the top of a mountain, like a bird".Lewin, Ariel (2005). The Archaeology of Ancient Judea and Palestine. Getty Publications, p. 80.Steve Mason (ed.) Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary. Judean war. Vol. 1B. 2, BRILL 2008 p. 1. Cf. Bavli, Megillah, 6, 81.
The name of the city changed during the years (see below sections), but during the Trajan's reign the city had again the name Sepphoris as we can see from the city's coins that bore the inscription "ΣΕΠΦΩΡΗΝΩΝ" ("of the people of Sepphoris").Chancey (2002), p. 73.
Autocratoris Herod Antipas named it Autocratoris (Αὐτοκρατορίς). Autocrator in Greek means Imperator and it seems that Antipas named the city after the imperial title to honor the Augustus.Chancey (2002), p. 83.
Eirenopolis and Neronias Sepphoris issued its first coins at the time of the First Jewish War, in c. 68 CE, while Vespasian's army was reconquering the region from the rebels.Chancey (April 2001), pp. 127–145 . The inscriptions on the coins are honouring both the emperor in Rome, Nero (r. 54–68), and his general, Vespasian, as they read "ΕΠΙ ΟΥΕϹΠΑΙΑΝΟΥ ΕΙΡΗΝΟΠΟΛΙϹ ΝΕΡΩΝΙΑ ϹΕΠΦΩ" meaning 'Under Vespasian, 'Eirenopolis-Neronias-Sepphoris'. The name 'Neronias' honours Nero, while the name 'Eirenopolis' declares Sepphoris to be a 'city of peace' ( means tranquillity and peace,Eirene at biblestudytools.com and polis is a city). Pancracio Celdrán interprets this name choice as the result of the city's cultural synthesis between three elements – Jewish faith, moderated by the exposure to Greek philosophy and made more tolerant than other, more fanatic contemporary orthodox Jewish places, and a pragmatism which suited the Roman ideology. Celdrán notes that the name Sepphoris was reinstated before the end of Antoninus Pius's rule.
Diocaesarea Peter Schäfer (1990), also citing G. F. Hill's conclusions based on his numismatic work done a century earlier, considers that the city's name was changed to Diocaesarea in 129/30, just prior to the Bar Kokhba revolt, in Hadrian's time. Also here at Google Books. This gesture was done in honour of the visiting Roman emperor and his identification with Zeus Olympias, reflected in Hadrian's efforts in building temples dedicated to the supreme Olympian god. Celdrán (1995) places this name change a few decades later, during the time of Emperor Antoninus Pius (r. 138–161), when the city minted coins using this name, and interprets it as proof of the city's high degree of Hellenisation. The city's coins during that period bore the inscription "ΔΙΟΚΑΙϹΑΡΙΑ ΙΕΡΑ ΑϹYΛΟϹ ΚΑΙ ΑΥΤΟΝΟΜΟϹ" ("of Diocaesarea, Holy City of Shelter, Autonomous").Chancey (2002), p. 82. Celdrán notes that the name Sepphoris was reinstated before the end of Antoninus Pius's rule.
This name was not used by Jewish writers, who continued to refer to it as Zippori.Chancey (2005), pp. 102–.
History
Canaanite and Israelite Zippori in Hebrew Bible, Mishnah, Talmud The Hebrew Bible makes no mention of the city,Losch, Richard R. (2005). The Uttermost Part of the Earth: A Guide to Places in the Bible, William B. Eerdmans, p. ix, 209. although in Jewish tradition it is thought to be the city Kitron mentioned in the Book of Judges (1:30 ).Babylonian Talmud, Megillah 6aSchwarz (1850), p. 173
According to Mishna 'Arakhin 9:6, the old fortress of Zippori was encompassed by a wall during the era of Joshua.Shivti'el, Yinon (2019). Cliff Shelters and Hiding Complexes: The Jewish Defense Methods in Galilee During the Roman Period. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, p.46
Iron Age findings Evidence from ceramic remains indicates the site of Sepphoris was inhabited during the Iron Age, 1,000–586 BCE.Fischer, Alysia (2008). Hot Pursuit: Integrating Anthropology in Search of Ancient Glass-blowers. Lexington Books, p. 40.
Hellenistic period; Hasmoneans Actual occupation and building work can be verified from the 4th century BCE, with the Hellenistic period.
In 104 BCE, the Judean priestly dynasty of the Hasmoneans conquered Galilee under the leadership of either Alexander Jannaeus or Aristobulus I and at this time the town may have been administered by a quarter-master, probably Jewish, and by the middle of the 1st century BCE, after the campaigns of Pompey, it fell under Roman rule in 63 BCE. Around 57 BCE, the city became one of the five synods of Roman influence in the Near East.Josephus, J.W. 1.170Strange, James F. (2015). "Sepphoris: The Jewel of the Galilee". Galilee in the Late Second Temple and Mishnaic Periods. Volume 2: The Archaeological Record from Cities, Towns, and Villages. Edited by David A. Fiensy and James Riley Strange (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress), 22–38, 26.
Roman and Byzantine periods It appears that Sepphoris remained predominantly Jewish through late antiquity. In the centuries between the rule of Herod Antipas (4 BCE - c. 39 CE) and the end of the Byzantine era in the 630s, the city reportedly thrived as a center of learning, with a diverse, multiethnic and multireligious population of some 30,000 living in relatively peaceful coexistence.
Early Roman period The Roman client king, Herod the Great recaptured Sepphoris in 37 BCE after it had been garrisoned by the Parthian proxy, the Hasmonean Antigonus II Mattathias.Meyers, ed. (1999). Eric M. Meyers, "Sepphoris on the Eve of the Great Revolt (67–68 C.E.): Archaeology and Josephus", pp. 109 ff., pp. 113–114 (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 14.414-6). Herod seemingly built a royal palace-fortress that doubled as an arsenal, likely positioned within the acropolis enclosed by the city's wall.
After Herod's death in 4 BCE, a rebel named Judas, son of a local bandit, Ezekias, attacked Sepphoris, then the administrative center of the Galilee, and, sacking its treasury and weapons, armed his followers in a revolt against Herodian rule.Meyers, ed. (1999). Eric M. Meyers, "Sepphoris on the Eve of the Great Revolt (67–68 C.E.): Archaeology and Josephus", pp. 109 ff., pp. 114 (Josephus, Ant. 17.271-87; War 2.56–69). The Roman governor in Syria, Varus is reported by Josephus – perhaps in an exaggeration, since archaeology has failed to verify traces of the conflagration – to have burnt the city down, and sold its inhabitants into slavery. After Herod's son, Herod Antipas was made tetrarch, or governor, he proclaimed the city's new name to be Autocratoris, and rebuilt it as the "Ornament of the Galilee" (Josephus, Ant. 18.27).Mason, Steve, ed. (2008). Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary. Judean war. Vol. 1B. 2, BRILL, p. 138. The meaning of 'autocrator' is not clear, and may denote either autonomy or reference to a Roman emperor. Antipas expanded upon Herod's palace/arsenal, and built a city wall. An ancient route linking Sepphoris to Legio, and further south to Sebastia (ancient Samaria), is believed to have been paved by the Romans around this time.Richardson (1996), p. 133 The new population was loyal to Rome.
Maurice Casey writes that, although Sepphoris during the early first century was "a very Jewish city", some of the people there did speak Greek. A lead weight dated to the first century bears an inscription in Greek with three Jewish names. Several scholars have suggested that Jesus, while working as a craftsman in Nazareth, may have travelled to Sepphoris for work purposes, possibly with his father and brothers.Evans, Craig A., ed. (2014). The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Historical Jesus, Routledge, pp. 37, 296. Casey states that this is entirely possible, but is likewise impossible to historically verify. Jesus does not seem to have visited Sepphoris during his public ministry and none of the sayings recorded in the Gospels mention it.