medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Seems to be a bit of confusion about the topography of the area.

Jerusalem and Nazareth, although only around 60 kilometers apart, do 
not have the same climate or vegetation. (Everything is condensed in 
that strip of land roughly the area of New Jersey -- including climates.)

Nazareth is located in the mountains of the lower Galilee halfway up 
between the fertile coastal plain of the Sharon Valley to the West 
and the Upper Galilee to the North and North-East. (Mount Hermon is 
the North-East end of the Upper Galilee.) Much of the Galilee is on 
its side and covered with (mostly) coniferous forest (lots of pine). 
It does get heavy rains in winter and in many ways has a climate 
similar to the Pacific NW -- except that Seattle has (or had) rain 
almost every day -- not just in winter.

The road from the coast to the Galilee was, and is, the pre-historic 
Salt Road from the Mediterranean Sea inland and climbs up to the Beit 
HaKerem plateau. This section is what is called the Carmel Mountain 
range. The name Carmel is from "kerem" -- vineyard. Land good for 
vineyards is not particularly fertile and is on the arid side. The 
other major crops on the plateau are olives and pasturage. Again, not 
particularly fertile and on the arid side, but certainly not desert. 
These have been the major crops on this plateau for at least 4,000 years.

At the end of the Carmel plateau is the Biblical village of Rame 
(which village, like the road itself, is still there). The salt road 
then starts climbing again to the Upper Galilee (ending at Rosh Pina 
[ancient name -- literally head of the corner] where it turned South 
to descend to the Sea of Galilee and went around the Sea to climb 
back up. No trading caravan or sane traveler would take the direct 
route that climbs/descends to Damascus; it is very steep and long. 
So, we know which road Paul took to Damascus.)

What about Rame? It was a major turn off point from the salt road to 
the lower Galilee and a short-cut to get to Jerusalem. The 
North-South track/road between Rame and Nazareth was, and is, a crest 
road. (You do not need a permanent to curl your hair; just take 
public transportation on this road and hope you do not meet an 
on-coming truck. Its width is limited by being a crest-road.) From 
Nazareth, you were then at a mid-level point in the Galilee and had 
by-passed the Upper Galilee en route to Jerusalem (and this route was 
also the only reasonable way to get to the Sharon Valley from the Galilee).

To go from Nazareth to Jerusalem you took the Eastern track/road and 
descended to the Sea of Galilee -- meeting the old Salt Road that 
came down from the Upper Galilee and went around the Sea -- then 
turned South, passed through Samaria, and then climbed up to Jerusalem.

While Nazareth is part way up in the hills, Jerusalem was, and the 
ancient core still is, an acropolis in the Judean hills. As in all 
such natural fortresses, nothing much grows (then or now) on an 
acropolis. (Photographs from the late 19th-century from another hill 
show a collection of plastered stone buildings in the distance and 
shepherds on large vacant areas of pasturage strewn with rocks and 
broken stone in the foreground.) The hills to the South-West around 
Jerusalem are terraced -- many ancient and repaired -- and are 
planted with olive trees. The olives indicate the climate in terms of 
rain fall and many of these olive trees are more than a thousand 
years old. To the West, descending from the acropolis, are mainly 
reforested hills. To the South, the continuation of the Judean hills 
are extremely arid; however, the extreme aridity of full desert dates 
to the Roman era and later. To the North you run into the Galilee.

The Galilee was, and still is, forested with fertile plateaus and 
arid rocky sections (particularly in the vicinity of Tel-Dan) among 
the tilted mountain sides. It is not at all a desert. (I rather doubt 
Josephus' description of 100 rich villages of 30,000 people each -- 
it would have been a continuous metropolitan area squeezed into the 
plateaus. I do accept fertile and populous.)

In other words, in the time of Jesus, there were forested mountains 
and fertile plateaus to the North -- including Nazareth, fertile 
plains towards the coast in the West, and arid lands to the South.

So, yes, there was wood available. Olive wood, however, is available 
only in small portions good for small boxes and other small 
manufactures. Conifers, in general, yield lumber good for chairs, 
stools, shelves, doors, door-frames, bed-frames, etc. Most conifers 
(not Douglas Fir or Redwoods -- neither available there and then) 
also are limited in the width of the lumber and are not the most 
durable of woods. The cedars of Lebanon were prized for their girth, 
height, strength, and durability. The lumber made excellent pillars, 
and, as it could yield wide widths as well as having a pleasant odor, 
it also made excellent panelling -- but it was very expensive.

Herod's new town of Sepphoris was about 20 km from Nazareth. So, 
there was plenty of wood -- and work -- available for a jointer, a 
cabinet-maker, but not much for a general carpenter. (Separation of 
types of areas of expertise in every field -- artisan or farmer or 
household -- dates back to Sumer and Akkad. A place for everything 
and everything in its place meant exactly that. To call someone a 
"jack-of-all trades" is not a compliment. So, the translation does 
make a difference.)

To answer your question, George, the dominant building material was 
stone. Mountains of that around between Jerusalem and the Lower and 
Upper Galilee. That's not any type of adobe-like mud-brick 
construction; it's plastered stone. Wood was not used in general 
construction. Wood framed construction of Northern Europe and the US 
was never common in the Middle-East -- not many forested areas away 
from the coast.  Wood was used in door and window frames, doors, 
furniture, shelving, and household items. etc.

Hope this helps clarify the wood issue somewhat,

Rochelle

>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
>In the 1st C. probably a reasonable amount although between desert 
>and a couple millenia of deforestation certainly it was not like 
>being in the Pacific NW of the US.
>
>Lebanon was famous for its cedar groves, and I seem to recall there 
>there were still a fair number of groves and modest woodlands 
>further south, particularly closer to the coastal areas.  Then there 
>would have been imports of wood, much like today, from places like 
>Egypt and Persia.
>
>"Jointer" does actually make a fair bit of sense, too.  What was the 
>dominant construction material of the Nazareth/Galilee/Jerusalem 
>region during the
>period in question?  I see a lot of "adobe" type structures (yes, I 
>know its not adobe like in the American Southwest).  I know wood 
>figured in construction, but to what extent?
>
>George (speculation is the Romantic's friend)
>
>On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:03:07 -0800, Diana Wright wrote:
>
> >medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> >Given that the only reference we have is one word in the NT, what proof
> >could there be?  Please.
>
> >And how much wood would there have been around Nazareth anyway?
>
> >A tekton would have done any working with wood there was to be done --
> >fixing a door, making a box, repairing a wagon or a barrel, making a
> >yoke or a stool, carving a spoon.
>
> >DW

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