Peter's House

Mark 1:29-34: As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

I saw the ruins of Peter and Andrew's alleged house today, in Capernaum, but its early conversion to a church renders it impossible to picture it two thousand years ago. It was larger than most of the houses pictured directly below, but had the same basic structure - one or more courtyards surrounded by individual rooms. Whether it was actually Peter’s house is highly debatable.

All of the houses in Capernaum were built of the depressing black basalt in the picture (bleached grey by the sun, apparently). Most families in Capernaum lived in one room, which bordered a courtyard used by multiple families. Just behind the wall is the Sea of Galilee, and the stumpy hills in the background are on the far side of it.


This octagonal structure is the remnants of Peter's house, from the fifth century. It was converted to a house church hundreds of years earlier, then remodeled. The structure blocking it is a modern-day Franciscan church forbidden to tourists.

The house dubbed 'Peter's' had two courtyards, lucky for them. There were several 1-2 room houses opening onto it, one of which was probably used by him, his wife and any children they had (all in one bed, most likely). Another room would have been for Andrew and his family, and perhaps the others for extended family. There was a large common room joining the two courtyards.

There was a common kitchen, family room and storage room, used by all of the families, along the wall dividing the two courtyards. In the family room, picture a loom, a whole lot of baskets, pottery jars for storage, maybe some small storage sheds for larger items, fishing nets, some construction tools, a clay stove to keep you warm, etc. Then add in babies screaming, children fighting, ?straw? dollies with clothes woven on Mommy's loom, galloping across the dirt floor atop ?straw? donkeys, etc. The room was massive, 21' x 20', which far extends the family room of anyone I know. Maybe the closest you can get is imagining those old log cabins and prairie homes, with one main room, a bedroom, a kitchen and a yard.

In the kitchen was a table with benches, a clay stove and oven, a lot of baskets, cheap pottery jars for olive oil, wine, water, etc. Bedrooms had little more than the basics - maybe a closet, dresser, bed and table. Most clothes were homemade with wool shorn from the family sheep, which were not very plentiful in Galilee. There were probably a lot of hand-me-downs and mended patches.

It's hard to get a good photograph, since the Franciscans had some odd compulsion to build a church in the air over the venerated site. This floor gives an idea of the woman searching for her lost coin - a bit more difficult than hardwood or carpeting. The walls probably had oil lamps propped on a ledge.

The Courtyards
The side courtyard was where animals were kept - chickens, a goat or two for milk, a couple sheep for wool, etc. A couple rooms were off of this courtyard.

The main courtyard is where everything else happened. Children played tag, the garden was there, perhaps some trees/vines, an oven and a stove, maybe some herb plants if the family was fortunate, etc. Fig trees may have been popular, since they bore fruit about ten months a year. Cisterns in the ground held the year's grain, olive oil, etc. Note that this courtyard was substantially bigger than most in Capernaum, and others wouldn't have been so fortunate.