Overview
At Capernaum, south of the white limestone synagogue, the Franciscans excavated a Byzantine octagonal church from 1968. Beneath it they found a cluster of simple basalt houses around courtyards. One room in that cluster was singled out, plastered and repeatedly rebuilt as a place of gathering.
The Custody's summary of the results: the house was 'built in the Late Hellenistic period'. 'In the late first century A.D. it was changed into a domus-ecclesia', which in the 4th century was enlarged and enclosed by a wall. 'In the second half of the fifth century A.D. an octagonal church was built upon the house of St. Peter' and remained in use until the 7th century. The walls produced many fragments of painted plaster and graffiti with Christian symbols and invocations.
No inscription in the house names Peter as owner. The identification rests on the room's long special treatment, on the pilgrim graffiti (published by E. Testa, Cafarnao IV, 1972), and on the Gospel statement that Jesus stayed at Simon's house in Capernaum.
What the evidence shows
- A residential quarter of basalt houses under the octagon; one room was repeatedly replastered and set apart (Custody summary; Corbo's publications).
- A 4th-century enclosure wall around the venerated house (Custody summary).
- A 5th-century octagonal church built directly over the venerated room, centred on it (Custody summary).
- Painted plaster fragments and pilgrims' graffiti with Christian symbols and invocations on the walls (Custody summary; Testa 1972).
- Excavation seasons: 19 seasons 1968–1986 (Corbo, Loffreda) and 4 campaigns 2000–2003 (Loffreda).
Open questions
- When did Christian use of the room begin? The excavators (Corbo; Custody summary) put its conversion into a domus-ecclesia in the late 1st century CE, pointing to the replastering and the graffiti. Taylor (Christians and the Holy Places, OUP 1993, ch. 12, pp. 268–294) directly tests the excavators' claim that the octagon was built on a Jewish-Christian house-church, in her wider critique of the Bagatti–Testa hypothesis. Cirafesi (Capernaum, Fortress 2024) returns to the question with a chapter on 'Jewish Christ-Followers in Capernaum before the Fourth Century'.
- The graffiti readings: Testa (Cafarnao IV, 1972) published readings that include names and invocations. How many of them can be securely read, and whether any name Peter, is disputed in later discussion (Strange & Shanks, BAR 1982, discuss Testa's volume). The full texts were not available for this entry.
Since 2024
- 2024-10Cirafesi's monograph on Capernaum reopens the question of Jewish Christ-followers at the site before the 4th century and of the 4th-century architecture over Peter's house. [6]
Sources
- Custody of the Holy Land, 'Capernaum' sanctuary page (excavation history and phases of the House of Peter) link excavation project page
- V. C. Corbo, Cafarnao (Pubblicazioni dello Studium Biblicum Franciscanum 19; Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press), final report on the buildings link excavation report
- V. C. Corbo, Ricordi di S. Pietro sul lago di Tiberiade: scavi condotti dalla Custodia di Terra Santa nel 1968 (Quaderni de 'La Terra Santa'; Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1969) link excavation report
- J. F. Strange and H. Shanks, 'Has the House Where Jesus Stayed in Capernaum Been Found?', Biblical Archaeology Review 8:6 (Nov/Dec 1982) link study
- J. E. Taylor, Christians and the Holy Places (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993), ch. 12 'Capernaum', pp. 268–294 link study
- W. V. Cirafesi, Capernaum: Jews and Christians in the Ancient Village from the Time of Jesus to the Emergence of Islam (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2024) link study
Corrected from the earlier edition of this page
- Old subtitle '1st century CE house' is too narrow. The Custody's excavation summary says the house was built in the Late Hellenistic period.
- Old claim that the find 'provides tangible evidence of the existence of Peter' goes beyond what was found. No inscription names the owner. The finds show a room given special treatment and later marked by Christian graffiti and churches. The link to Peter is the tradition carried by that treatment.
- Old claim it 'aligns precisely with the biblical description of Peter's residence'. The Gospels say only that Simon and Andrew's house was in Capernaum and was entered after the synagogue (Mark 1:29). They give no location or description to match 'precisely'.
- Old dimension 'Approximately 10 meters square' and material 'Stone and mudbrick' are unsourced. The houses are basalt-built (Custody). No measurement was verified, so the size is dropped.
- Old phrase 'testament to the enduring legacy of ancient Jerusalem' is wrong. Capernaum is in Galilee.
- Old 'venerated as Peter's since 1st century' states the excavators' interpretation as fact. The late-1st-century date for the domus-ecclesia is their reading and is disputed (Taylor 1993).
Checked against new publications through 2026-09.