BETHLEHEM
Jordan/Israel.
A city 9.6 km
S-SW of Jerusalem, on a narrow ridge set in a fertile
area. The setting of the story of Ruth and the birthplace
of David and Jesus, it is mentioned frequently in the
Bible, especially with reference to the Nativity (Matt. 2,
Luke 2), as well as in various texts (i.e., Joseph.
AJ 5,
7, 8; Justin Martyr
Dialogue 78; Procop.
Aed. 5.9).
Some ancient cisterns and several catacombs exist, and
there was once a shrine, of Hadrianic date, to Tammuz
(Adonis), in a grove of trees hard by the traditional site
of the Nativity. The chief remaining monument is the
Church of the Nativity, built first in Constantine's time
(by A.D. 333). A five-aisled basilica, it was entered
through an atrium and was continuous, on the opposite
(E) end, with an octagonal structure placed over the
grotto of the Nativity. In the 6th c. (perhaps ca. 560),
the church was much rebuilt, particularly at the E, where
the octagon was replaced by an expanded construction
of trefoil plan; it is substantially this later work that can
be seen today. In the church there are remnants of
mediaeval mosaics depicting early church councils.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
R. W. Hamilton,
A Guide to Bethlehem
(1939)
MP; A. M. Schneider, “Bethlehem,”
RAC (1952) 224-28
P; M. Restle, “Bethlehem,”
Reallexikon zur byzantinischen Kunst 1 (1966) 599-612
P.
W. L. MAC DONALD
