Cana
Cana of
The location is disputed, with the four primary locations being Kafr Kanna, Khirbet Qana and Reineh in Lower Galilee and Qana in Upper Galilee. The Arabic name "Qana al-Jalil" has been said to apply to a number of sites, but is of doubtful authenticity.[1] The name possibly derives from the Hebrew or Aramaic word for reeds.[2]
Written references to Cana
Biblical references
Among Christians and other students of the
The other biblical references to Cana are also in John:
The Book of Joshua mentions one city (19:28) and one brook (16:8; 17:9) named Kanah (Cana) – neither is likely to be the Cana of Galilee.[4]
Other references
In secular history, the annals of Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III, who conquered the Galilee in a 733 BC campaign, contain a badly preserved list of cities[5] that had been thought to mention a certain Kana.[6][7] It relates that six hundred fifty captives were taken there. However, a revised transliteration revealed the one well-preserved syllable to be Ku, not Ka.[8]
Locating Cana
There has been much speculation about where Cana might be. In his Gospel, the author makes no claim to have been at the wedding. Many would regard the story of the wedding at Cana as of theological rather than historical or topographical significance;[according to whom?] it is the first of the seven miraculous "signs" by which Jesus's divine status is attested, and around which the gospel is structured.
The consensus of modern scholarship[
There are four primary locations which have been under consideration as the New Testament Cana:[12]
- Upper Galilee
- Lower Galilee
- Kafr Kanna, Israel (also spelled Kefar Kenna)
- Karm er-Ras, the western part of Kafr Kanna[13]
- Khirbet Qana, Israel
- Ain Qana, Israel
- Kafr Kanna, Israel (also spelled Kefar Kenna)
Qana, Lebanon
The village of
Kafr Kanna and Karm er-Ras
The first time this site is associated with New Testament Cana is in a mid-17th century report to the Pope by
Some scholars believe, according to archaeological evidence, that the identification of Kafr Kanna was the result of the decline of Khirbet Qana beginning in the Mamluk period. They note that it was a common practice for new and more affluent and easily accessible sites to be established in place of old ones to accommodate increases in pilgrim traffic, particularly in the late Medieval and Ottoman periods.[17]
Karm er-Ras, the western part of Kafr Kanna, was recently excavated by Israeli archaeologist Yardenna Alexandre.[13] The excavation revealed evidence of a substantial Roman village with a Jewish population which declined considerably in the Late Roman period, and which was finally abandoned in the Byzantine Period, explaining why the pilgrim route was shifted to Kafr Kanna. Alexandre believes the site is precisely identified by Josephus, but other scholars disagree.[16]
Khirbet Kana, Israel
Another possible candidate is the ruined village of Khirbet Qana, meaning "the ruins of Cana." Overlooking the Beit Netofa Valley from the north, it is located about 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) north of Kafr Kanna and has been noticed by pilgrims since the 12th century or earlier.[19] However, this could either be an ancient retention, as Edward Robinson maintained,[19] or may have been attached to the place in conversation with querying pilgrims.[2]
This site is located on a limestone outcropping that rises 330 feet (100 m) above the floor of the Bet Netofa Valley, 8 miles (13 km) from
Other historical evidence from the Byzantine and Medieval periods show that Khirbet Kana was regarded as the true site of New Testament Cana from a very early period. A guidebook written by Theodosius between 517 and 527 CE titled The Layout of the Holy Land identifies Khirbet Kana and indicates that two of the vessels were still at the location. A pilgrim account written by
'Ain Kanah, Reineh, Israel
Just about 1.5 miles northeast from Nazareth is the Arab town of Reineh, and on the way out of it toward Mount Tabor there is a small spring named 'Ain Kânah, which was identified by Claude Reignier Conder his Tent Work in Palestine (1878) as the better candidate for the location of Cana, based on etymological grounds.[21] Some early Christian pilgrim reports mention a spring in association with the Cana of Galilee, but no excavations have been conducted there yet.[16]
References
- ^ Masterman 1910, p. 80-81: "This Khurbet Kana was reidentified by the late Dr. Robinson as Cana of Galilee, but he unfortunately reported that it was called by the natives Kana el Jalil = Cana of Galilee. Were this the universal custom it would no doubt be an important confirmation of this view, but this is far from being the case; indeed, such a name is unknown to the unsophisticated fellahin. On my recent visit there I had as guide a very intelligent native of Reineh who told me he had never heard any other name than Khurbet Kana, and whose answer to my question as to where was Kana el Jalil was "In the gospel." Far more important is the testimony of the late Rev. T. Zeller of the Church Missionary Society, who passed many years in Nazareth, that he never heard such a name. In any argument regarding this site it is better to neglect the name Kana el Jalil as of altogether doubtful authenticity. Unfortunately the discrediting of this name has been used as an argument against the site."
- ^ a b c d e Ewing, W (1915). "Cana". In Orr, James (ed.). International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2014-04-28.
- ^ Towner, W. S. (1996), Wedding, in P. J. Achtermeier (Ed.), Harper Collins Bible dictionary (pp. 1205–1206). San Francisco: Harper
- ^ a b Ewing, W. (1915). "Kanah". In Orr, James (ed.). International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2014-05-28.
- ISBN 978-1-57506-220-4, p. 61ff.
- OCLC 7858680. Retrieved 2014-05-15. In Digital Library for International Research Archive, Item #1599.
- ^ The translations of the inscription by Smith, Rost and Oppenheim all sport the same name.
- OCLC 182847392. Retrieved 2014-05-17.
- Rost, Paul, chapter translator (orig. 1893). Luckenbill, Daniel David, ed. (November 1926). "§779". Historical Records of Assyria: From the Earliest Times to Sargon. Ancient records of Assyria and Babylonia. Vol. 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 280. Retrieved 2014-05-18.
- ISBN 9780691035031.
- OCLC 19147471.
- Perseus Project.
- ^ Mason, Steve (ed.). "The Life of Flavius Josephus, Niese sec. 395". Brill/PACE.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Mason, Steve (ed.). "The Life of Flavius Josephus, Niese sec. 84-87". Brill/PACE.[permanent dead link]
- ^ McCollough 2015, p. 32.
- ^ a b Alexandre, Y. (2017). Karm er-Ras (Areas AB, AC): Final Report. Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel / חדשות ארכיאולוגיות: חפירות וסקרים בישראל, 129. Retrieved July 22, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/26693775
- ^ Eusebius, of Caesarea (2006) [manuscript, 1971]. "Kappa, in Joshua". In Wolf, Carl Umhau (ed.). The Onomasticon of Eusebius Pamphili, Compared with the Version of Jerome and Annotated. tertullian.org. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
- OCLC 490976390. Retrieved 2014-05-06.
- ^ a b c McCollough 2015, p. 39.
- ^ a b McCollough 2015, p. 38.
- ^ Ward, B. (1908). "Cana". CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Cana. Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ OCLC 586068890. Retrieved 2014-06-21. pp. 204-208.
- ^ a b McCollough 2015.
- ^ a b Conder, Claude Reignier (1878). Tent Work in Palestine: A Record of Discovery and Adventure. Vol. 1. R. Bentley & Son for the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. p. 154. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
External links
- Comprehensive list of online resources and references relating to John 2:1–11 at The Text This Week
- Entry on Cana in Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
- "Khirbet Qana, a Galilean Village in Regional Perspective: Survey and Excavation, 1997–2004". University of Puget Sound. 2011. Archived from the original on 2014-05-21. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
- Masterman, E. W. G. (1910). "Cana of Galilee". The Biblical World. 36 (2): 79–92. S2CID 144945747. (free access)
- McCollough, Tom (2015). "Searching for Cana Where Jesus Turned Water into Wine". Biblical Archaeology Review. 41 (6): 31–38.