![]() ![]() The Crusaders were the first to build here a church dedicated to St John, rebuilt in the 17th century by the Franciscans and still active today, and Moshe Sharon considers it as "almost sure" that the Crusaders are the ones who started the tradition of identifying that particular site as St John's birthplace. Jehan de Bois, "Saint John in the Mountains", during the Crusades. 990), mentions a church in Ein Karem that was venerated by the Christians, also mentioning an old custom of the Jews of Ein Karem to make wreaths from the boughs (branches) of a wild plant belonging to the mint family ( Lamiaceae) during the Jewish holiday of Shavu'ot. Early Islamic period Įin Karem was recorded after the Islamic conquest. In around 530 CE, the Christian pilgrim Theodosius places Elizabeth's town at a distance of five miles (8.0 km) from Jerusalem, which suits Ein Karem. Sources from the Byzantine period are associating Ein Karem with the place where Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, had lived, which is not properly named by the New Testament. Ceramics from the Byzantine period have also been found in Ein Karem. Excavations in front of the same church, which has at its core the cave which Christian tradition identifies as the birthplace of John the Baptist, have unearthed remains of two Byzantine chapels, one containing an inscription mentioning Christian "martyrs", but without any mention of John. Today, the statue is at the Rockefeller Museum. It is believed to date from the Roman era and was probably toppled in Byzantine times. Roman and Byzantine periods ĭuring excavations in the Church of Saint John the Baptist, a marble statue of Aphrodite (or Venus) was found, broken in two. A reservoir here was mentioned in the Copper Scroll, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Second Temple period Ī well-preserved mikveh (Jewish ritual bath) indicates there was a Jewish settlement in the Second Temple period along with some other discoveries such as handful of graves, bits of a wall, and an olive press. Iron Age/Israelite period ĭuring the Iron Age, or Israelite period, Ein Karem is usually identified as the location of the biblical village of Beth HaKerem ( Jeremiah 6:1 Nehemiah 3:14). ![]() Pottery has been found near the spring dating to the Middle bronze age. History Ī spring that provides water to the village of Ein Karem stimulated settlement there from an early time. In Arabic, other than meaning "Spring of the Vineyard", it could be understood as well as "the Generous Spring". Another possible translation would be "Spring of Carem", if derived from an ancient Iron Age Israelite city called Carem, mentioned as a city in the dominion of the tribe of Judah in the Septuagint version of Book of Joshua. The name Ein Karem or Ein Kerem can be literally translated from both Hebrew and Arabic as "Spring of the Vineyard".
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