View source for Cana

{{Short description|Historical place in Galilee}}
{{About|a place mentioned in the New Testament|other uses|Cana (disambiguation)}}
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| label = '''[[Kafr Kanna]]'''
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[[File:Cana of Galilee. 90.Holy land photographed. Daniel B. Shepp. 1894-1.jpg|250px|thumb|[[Kafr Kanna]] described as "Cana of Galilee". ''Holy Land Photographed'' by Daniel B. Shepp, 1894.]]

'''Cana of Galilee''' ({{langx|grc|Κανὰ τῆς Γαλιλαίας}}; {{langx|ar| قانا الجليل |translit= Qana al-Jalil |lit=Qana of the [[Galilee]]}}) is the location of the [[Wedding at Cana]], at which the [[Miracles of Jesus|miracle]] of turning water into wine took place in the [[Gospel of John]]. 

The location is disputed, with the four primary locations being  [[Kafr Kanna]], [[Khirbet Qana]] and [[Reineh]] in [[Lower Galilee]], and [[Qana]] in [[Upper Galilee]] in Lebanon. The Arabic phrase "Qana el-Jalil" has been said not to be in use as a place-mame other than in [[Gospel]]-related contexts.{{sfn| Masterman|1910|p=80-81|ps=: "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 [[fellah]]in. 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."}}
The name possibly derives from the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] or [[Aramaic]] word for ''reeds''.<ref name= EwC>{{Cite encyclopedia |last= Ewing |first= W. |title= Cana |editor-last= Orr |editor-first= James |encyclopedia=[[International Standard Bible Encyclopedia]] |year= 1915 |via= bibleatlas.org |url= http://bibleatlas.org/cana.htm |access-date= 2014-04-28}}</ref>

==Written references to Cana==
===Biblical references===
{{main article|Wedding at Cana}}
[[Image:Ancient Galilee.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Cana is very positively located in ''Shepherd's Historical Atlas'', 1923: modern scholars are less sure.]]

Among Christians and other students of the [[New Testament]], Cana is best known as the place where, according to the [[Gospel of John|Fourth Gospel]], [[Jesus]] performed "the first of his signs", his first public [[miracle]], the turning of a large quantity of water into wine at a wedding feast ([[John 2#Water into wine (verses 1–11)|John 2]], {{bibleverse||John|2:1–11|NKJV}}) when the wine provided by the bridegroom had run out. Although none of the [[synoptic gospels]] record the event, mainstream Christian tradition holds that this is the first public miracle of Jesus.<ref>Towner, W. S. (1996), Wedding, in P. J. Achtermeier (Ed.), ''Harper Collins Bible dictionary'' (pp. 1205–1206). San Francisco: Harper</ref>

The other biblical references to Cana are also in John: [[John 4]] ({{bibleverse||John|4:46|NKJV}}), which mentions that Jesus is visiting Cana when he is asked to heal the son of a royal official at [[Capernaum]]; and [[John 21]] ({{bibleverse||John|21:2|NKJV}}), where it is mentioned that [[Nathanael (disciple of Jesus)|Nathanael]] (sometimes identified with the [[Bartholomew the Apostle|Bartholomew]] included in the synoptic gospels' lists of apostles) comes from Cana.<ref name= EwK>{{Cite encyclopedia |last= Ewing |first= W. |title= Kanah |editor-last= Orr |editor-first= James |encyclopedia= International Standard Bible Encyclopedia |year= 1915 |via= bibleatlas.org |url= http://bibleatlas.org/kanah.htm |access-date= 2014-05-28}}</ref>

The [[Book of Joshua]] mentions one city ({{bibleverse-nb|Joshua|19:28|NKJV}}) and one brook ({{bibleverse-nb|Joshua|16:8|NKJV}}; {{bibleverse-nb|Joshua|17:9|NKJV}}) named Kanah (Cana) – neither is likely to be the Cana of Galilee.<ref name= EwK/>

===Other references===
In secular history, the [[annals]] of Assyrian king [[Tiglath-Pileser III]], who conquered the Galilee in a 733&nbsp;BCE campaign, contain a badly preserved list of cities<ref>{{cite web |editor1-last= Tadmor |editor1-first= Hayim |editor2-last= Yamada |title= Tiglath-pileser III 22 | work=RINAP: Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period |editor2-first= Shigeo |publisher= ORACC  |url=http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/itemmain/P2_4fb538e4/XNvnYmEzQJ |access-date=13 May 2014}}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot= InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted= yes}}, also in {{ISBN|978-1-57506-220-4}}, p. 61 ff.</ref> that had been thought to mention a certain ''Kana''.<ref>[[Benjamin Mazar]]/Maisler identifies it with Cana "without doubt": {{Cite journal |oclc= 7858680 |volume= 1 |number= 1 |date= April 1933 |last= Maisler |first= B |author-link= Benjamin Mazar |script-title= he:מסע תגלת פלאסר השלישי לא"י בשנת 732 |trans-title= The expedition of Tiglath Pileser III to Palestine in 732 B.C. |lang= he |journal= [[Bulletin of the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society]] |url= http://www.dlir.org/archive/items/show/1599 |access-date= 2014-05-15 |archive-date= 2014-05-17 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140517151644/http://www.dlir.org/archive/items/show/1599 |url-status= dead }} In Digital Library for International Research Archive, Item #1599.</ref><ref>The translations of the inscription by Smith, Rost and Oppenheim all sport the same name.

*{{Cite book | last = Smith | first = George | author-link = George Smith (Assyriologist) | title = Assyrian Discoveries: An Account of Explorations and Discoveries on the site of Nineveh, during 1873 and 1874. | location = New York | year = 1875 | publisher = Scribner, Armstrong & Co. | pages = 283 | url = http://www.etana.org/node/804 | access-date = 2014-05-17 | oclc = 182847392}}
* Rost, Paul, chapter translator (orig. 1893). {{Cite book | publisher = University of Chicago Press | volume = 1 | editor-last = Luckenbill | editor-first = Daniel David | title = Historical Records of Assyria: From the Earliest Times to Sargon | location = Chicago | series = Ancient records of Assyria and Babylonia | date = November 1926 | url = http://oi-idb.uchicago.edu/#D/234607/H/1400365206326 | access-date = 2014-05-18 | chapter = §779 | page = 280}}
* [[A. Leo Oppenheim]], chapter translator. {{Cite book | editor-last = Pritchard | editor-first = James B | publisher = Princeton University Press | isbn = 9780691035031 | editor-link= James B. Pritchard | title = Ancient Near Eastern Texts: Relating to the Old Testament | edition = Third edition with supplement | page = 283 | location = Princeton, N.J. | year = 1969 }}</ref> 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''.<ref>{{Cite book |last= Tadmor |first= Hayim |author-link= Hayim Tadmor |chapter= כיבוש הגליל בידי תגלת פלאסר הג' |trans-chapter= The conquest of Galilee by Tiglath-Pileser III |pages= 63–64 |year= 1967 |title= כל ארץ נפתלי / Kol erets Naftali |trans-title=All the land of Naphtali: the twenty-fourth Archaeological Convention, October 1966 |lang= he |place= Jerusalem |publisher=[[Israel Exploration Society]] |editor1-last= Hirschberg |editor1-first= Haïm Zeev |editor2-last= Aviram |editor2-first= Yosef |oclc = 19147471}}</ref>

[[Flavius Josephus]] mentions more than one place named Cana.<ref name= EwC/><ref>{{cite dictionary |last= Williams |first= George |author-link= George Williams (priest) |entry= Cana |editor-last= Smith |editor-first= William |editor-link= William Smith (lexicographer) |title= Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography |date= 1854 |via=[[Perseus Project]] |url= https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=cana-geo}}</ref> In the context of the Galilee, there are two mentions in his [[The Life of Flavius Josephus|''Life'']]: one is a place on the road from [[Iulias]],<ref>{{cite web |title= The Life of Flavius Josephus, Niese sec. 395 |editor-last= Mason |editor-first= Steve |publisher= Brill/PACE |url= https://pace.webhosting.rug.nl/york/york/showText?text=vita&textChunk=nieseSection&book=1&chunkId=395&version=english&note=note1611&notetype=footnote}}{{Dead link |date= September 2023 |bot= InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted= yes}}</ref> and the other is a place where he resided, about a day's walk from [[Tiberias]].<ref name= EwC/><ref>Mason, ''The Life of Flavius Josephus'', [https://pace.webhosting.rug.nl/york/york/showText?book=1&chapter=1&textChunk=nieseSection&chunkId=84&go.x=0&go.y=0&go=go&text=vita&version=english&direction=&tab=comm&layout=split Niese sec. 84-87]]{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==Locating Cana==
[[Image:Lower Galilee Cana marks.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Map of the [[Lower Galilee]] with possible locations of Cana:<br>
[[Kafr Kanna]], blue; [[Khirbet Qana]], red.]]
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|date=June 2023}} 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{{weaselword|date=March 2021}} is that the Fourth Gospel was addressed to a group of Jewish Christians, and very possibly a group living in [[Judea (Roman province)|Judea province]]; so it is unlikely that the evangelist would have mentioned a place that did not exist.{{citation needed|date=May 2014}} There is a minority view that the gospel was written for a [[gentile]] audience, and those who take this view assert that the description in the passage about the marriage at Cana of "six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification", in spite of reflecting good knowledge of the [[Ritual washing in Judaism|ritual washing habits]] among Jews at the time,<ref>{{cite book |title=Purity in the Gospel of John: Early Jewish Tradition, Christology, and Ethics |last=Rogan |first=Wil |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2023 |isbn=978-0-567-70869-4 |pages=12–13 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QPK6EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA12}}</ref> is specifically for a gentile audience, who would not know the [[topography]] of the [[Holy Land]]. On this hypothesis, the name "Cana" might have some purely symbolic significance.{{citation needed|date=May 2014}}

There are four primary locations which have been under consideration as the New Testament Cana:{{sfn| McCollough|2015|p=32}}

*[[Upper Galilee]]
** [[Qana]], [[Lebanon]] 
*[[Lower Galilee]]
** [[Kafr Kanna]], [[Israel]] (also spelled Kefar Kenna)
*** Karm er-Ras, the western part of Kafr Kanna<ref name= Alexandre>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</ref>
** [[Khirbet Qana]], [[Israel]]
** [[Reineh|Ain Qana]], [[Israel]]

===Qana, Lebanon===
The village of [[Qana]], about {{convert|18|mi|km}} from [[Tyre, Lebanon]], is traditionally held to be the correct site by most Christians, and is Eusebius's pick in his 4th century ''[[Eusebius' Onomasticon|Onomasticon]]''.<ref name= EwC/><ref>{{cite book |author= Eusebius of Caesarea |author-link= Eusebius |chapter= Kappa, in Joshua |editor-last= Wolf |editor-first= Carl Umhau |title= The Onomasticon of Eusebius Pamphili, Compared with the Version of Jerome and Annotated |publisher= tertullian.org |year= 2006 |orig-year= manuscript, 1971 |chapter-url= http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/eusebius_onomasticon_02_trans.htm#K_JOSUE |access-date= 7 May 2014}}</ref><!--Displays badly in Firefox, correctly in IE.--><ref>{{Cite book |author= Eusebius of Caesarea |author-link= Eusebius |editor-first= Erich |editor-link= Erich Klostermann |editor-last= Klostermann |title= Das Onomastikon der biblischen Ortsnamen |trans-title= The Onomastikon of Biblical Toponyms |lang= el, la, de |pages= [https://archive.org/details/p1eusebiuswer03euse/page/116 116]–117 |year= 1904 |place= Leipzig |publisher= J. C. Hinrichs |series= Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte |oclc= 490976390 |url= https://archive.org/details/p1eusebiuswer03euse |access-date= 2014-05-06}}</ref><!--AKA Eusebius Werke--> It is a popular tourist site commemorating the miracle.{{sfn| McCollough|2015|p=39}}

===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 [[Francesco Quaresmi]], the papal emissary to Palestine, where he noted there were two possible candidates: Khirbet Qana and Kafr Kanna.{{sfn| McCollough|2015|p=38}} According to the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'', a tradition dating back to the 8th century<ref>{{cite Catholic Encyclopedia |last= Ward |first= B. L. |wstitle= Cana |year= 1908 |volume=3 |url= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03226a.htm}}</ref> identifies Cana with the modern [[Arab]] town of [[Kafr Kanna]], at the foot of the Nazareth range, about {{convert|7|km|mi}} northeast of [[Nazareth]].

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.{{sfn| McCollough|2015|p=38}}

Karm er-Ras, the western part of Kafr Kanna, was recently excavated by Israeli archaeologist [[Yardenna Alexandre]].<ref name=Alexandre/> 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.{{sfn| McCollough|2015|p=39}}

===Khirbet Kana, Israel===
Another possible candidate is the ruined village of ''[[Khirbet Qana]]'', meaning "the ruins of Cana."<!--but cf. [[Khirba]]--> Overlooking the [[Beit Netofa Valley]] from the north, it is located about {{convert|9|km|mi}} north of Kafr Kanna and has been noticed by pilgrims since the 12th century or earlier.<ref name=er1841>{{Cite book |publisher= Crocker & Brewster |last= Robinson |first= Edward |author-link= Edward Robinson (scholar) |author2=Eli Smith |title= Biblical researches in Palestine |location= Boston |access-date= 2014-06-21 |edition= 1st |date=1841 |url= http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001242084 |oclc= 586068890}} pp. 204-208.</ref> However, this could either be an ancient retention, as [[Edward Robinson (scholar)|Edward Robinson]] maintained,<ref name=er1841 /> or may have been attached to the place in conversation with querying pilgrims.<ref name= EwC/>

This site is located on a limestone outcropping that rises {{convert|330|ft|m}} above the floor of the Bet Netofa Valley, {{convert|8|mi|km}} from [[Nazareth]] and {{convert|5|mi|km}} northeast of [[Sepphoris]] in lower Galilee. It also has long been identified as the true location of New Testament Cana. Excavations by archaeologist Douglas Edwards of the [[University of Puget Sound]] and archaeologist Tom McCollough reveal architectural and [[numismatic]] remains demonstrating that the site contained a modest-sized village from the [[Hellenistic period]] onward (c. 200 BCE – 650 CE), including a structure that bears similarities to Roman-period synagogues, and several ''[[mikveh]]'' pools for Jewish ceremonial bathing.{{sfn| McCollough|2015}} Most importantly, they uncovered a cave complex on the south slope of the site that showed indications of use as a center for worship, including a [[sarcophagus]] lid or altar and a shelf that held two stone vessels ''in situ'', and space for another four vessels, suggesting that Khirbet Kana was regarded as New Testament Cana from a very early time. Remains of an Arab village and a church or monastery were also uncovered immediately south of the cave complex.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}

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 [[Saewulf]] in 1101 to 1103 CE also identifies the site, as do [[Belard of Ascoli]] (c. 1155 CE) and Dominican friar [[Burchard of Mount Sion]] (1283 CE), and a map by noted cartographer [[Petrus Vesconte]] in 1321&nbsp;CE. Burchard of Mount Sion describes a cave complex located there that was used as a veneration site: "the place is shown at this day where the six water pots stood, and the dining-room where the tables were placed."{{sfn| McCollough|2015}}

==='Ain Kanah, Reineh, Israel===
[[File:Reineh in the Survey of Western Palestine 1880.06 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Reineh]] in the 1870 [[PEF Survey of Palestine]], showing Ain Kana, identified by [[C. R. Conder]] as a good candidate for biblical Cana<ref name= Conder/>]]

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 (not to be confused with [[Ain Qana]] in Lebanon), which was identified by [[Claude Reignier Conder]] his ''Tent Work in Palestine'' (1878) as the better candidate for the location of Cana, based on [[etymology|etymological]] grounds.<ref name= Conder>{{cite book |last= Conder |first= Claude Reignier |author-link= Claude Reignier Conder |title= Tent Work in Palestine: A Record of Discovery and Adventure |volume= 1 |page=154 |year= 1878 |publisher=[[Richard Bentley (publisher)|R. Bentley]] & [[George Bentley (publisher)|Son]] for the Committee of the [[Palestine Exploration Fund]] |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ltiQteXzxNIC&pg=PA154 |access-date= 14 August 2022}}</ref> Some early Christian pilgrim reports mention a spring in association with the Cana of Galilee, but no excavations had been conducted there yet as of 2015.{{sfn| McCollough|2015|p=39}}

==See also==
*[[Ain Qana]], municipality in South Lebanon northeast of Qana

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Masterman |first= E. W. G. |title= Cana of Galilee |journal= The Biblical World |volume= 36 |issue= 2 |pages= 79–92 |date= 1910 |doi= 10.1086/474359 |jstor= 3141390 |s2cid= 144945747}}<small>(free access)</small><!--|access-date= 2014-04-30-->
* {{cite journal |last= McCollough |first= Tom |title= Searching for Cana Where Jesus Turned Water into Wine |journal=[[Biblical Archaeology Review]] |year= 2015 |volume= 41 |issue= 6 |pages= 31–38 |url=https://archive.org/details/Biblical_Archaeology_Review_December_2015/page/n31/mode/2up}}

{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{AmCyc Poster|Cana}}
* [http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/jn2a.htm Comprehensive list of online resources and references relating to John 2:1–11] at [[The Text This Week]]
* [http://www.ccel.org/e/easton/ebd/ebd/T0000700.html#T0000702 "Cana"] in [[Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)|''Easton's Bible Dictionary'' (1897)]]
* {{Cite web |editor-last= Edwards |editor-first= Douglas R. |title= Khirbet Qana, a Galilean Village in Regional Perspective: Survey and Excavations 1997–2004 |year= 2011 |publisher=[[University of Puget Sound]] |url= http://archaeology.pugetsound.edu/volumeQana/Introduction/index.html |access-date= 2014-05-02 |archive-date= 2014-05-21 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140521040754/http://archaeology.pugetsound.edu/volumeQana/Introduction/index.html |url-status= dead}}

{{New Testament places associated with Jesus}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Cana| ]]
[[Category:Gospel of John]]
[[Category:New Testament cities]]
[[Category:Disputed biblical places]]
[[Category:Galilee in the New Testament]]
[[Category:Wedding at Cana]]