The Byzantine Empire in Palestine
The Roman Empire occupied Palestine in the year 63 BCE. In the early 4th century, the empire lifted its prohibition on Christianity, and in 324 CE, under Emperor Constantine, the capital moved to Byzantium (or Constantinople, today’s Istanbul). Palestine acquired new importance because of the adoption of Christianity, and many churches and monasteries were established in the 4th century, including Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity. Byzantine Palestine remained a culturally and religiously diverse place, with Aramaic and Greek-speaking populations, and Christian, Jewish, Samaritan and surviving Pagan communities.
Nave of the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem. The basilica substantially dates to the 6th century, on the original foundations of the church built in the 4th century. © Gabriel Polley, 2023
What do we mean by
Arab Palestine?
By “Arab”, we mean the Arabic-speaking people, communities and cultures who are indigenous to Palestine. Some of these may trace some of their roots to Arabia, and Arab Muslims who arrived in Palestine in the 7th century, or subsequently. Many more were already living in Palestine, and gradually adopted the Arabic language and elements of Arab identity, thus “becoming” Arab. The term Arab includes Arabic-speaking Muslims, Christians, Jews, Druze and other groups in Palestine.
Woman and children in Jericho, by Keystone View Company, 1900. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division.
The Madaba map
Madaba is a city in the west of present-day Jordan, historically closely connected to Palestine. In the 1880s and 1890s, members of Madaba’s Christian community made an amazing discovery – the oldest known map of the Holy Land, in a mosaic on the floor of the ancient Byzantine Church of Saint George. Originally measuring 21×7 metres, the Madaba map depicts Palestine in the 6th century CE, with around 150 named towns and villages, and a particularly detailed depiction of Jerusalem.
The Madaba map in the Church of Saint George during the British Mandate era, by American Colony Photo Department. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division.
The Canaanites
The Canaanites were the ancient inhabitants of the land known as Canaan, roughly corresponding to modern Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, and parts of Syria and Jordan, from at least the 3rd millennium BCE. The Canaanites spoke a Semitic language and shared cultural ties with neighbouring peoples, including the ancient Israelites.
Zechariah(s) in the Bible and Quran
Several figures called Zechariah (or Zakariyya) appear in the Bible and in the Quran. According to the Bible, a man named Zechariah was High Priest in Jerusalem in the 9th century BCE; he was stoned to death by King Jehoash of Judah.
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The Prophet Zechariah may have lived in the 6th century BCE. The Book of Zechariah appears in the Old Testament of both Christianity and Judaism.
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A third Zechariah features in the New Testament as a priest who was the father of John the Baptist. This Zechariah, or Zakariyya, is also mentioned in the Quran as a prophet (like his son Yahya, or John). Early Muslims in Palestine revered Zakariyya, building a prayer niche with a dome dedicated to him in the al-Aqsa Mosque in the 11th century. In another Islamic tradition, not found in the Quran, Zakariyya was killed as a martyr when pursued by soldiers. Although a tree opened itself for him to hide inside, part of his cloak was seen by the soldiers, who cut down the tree, killing Zakariyya.
What is a tel?
A tel is a unique feature of archaeology in the region – a prominent mound where it’s believed that previous human settlements once existed. The mound is partially created by human activity such as building, burial and waste disposal, causing the tel to grow in size and height. Tels are found in the Eastern Mediterranean (present-day Palestine/Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) and Iraq.
Tel ʿAzekah in the Bible and other ancient sources
One notable mention of ʿAzekah comes in the Book of Samuel, as the place where the armies of the Philistines (a coastal civilization in today’s Gaza Strip and Israel from the 12th to the 5th centuries BCE) camped before the legendary clash between the Philistine warrior Goliath and the future Israelite King David, supposedly around 1000 BCE. ʿAzekah appears in an inscription discovered in Nineveh, Iraq, marking the destruction of the town by the Assyrian King Sennacherib in 701 BCE. It was destroyed again in the early 6th century BCE by the Babylonians, as recorded on a tablet found in the nearby site of Lachish.

From Bronze Age to
Byzantines

Zakariyya from 3000 BCE to the 7th century CE

Click on the terms in red for definitions and explanations.
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Arriving in Zekharia, 20 kilometres southwest of Jerusalem, you might not think that the modern Israeli town has much to tell about Palestine’s Arab history. When you find the traces of deeper roots – the half-ruined mosque and the handful of older buildings scattered among the 1960s and 1970s villas, themselves overshadowed by new construction in the nearby city of Beit Shemesh – you might wonder what this place once was, who lived here, and what happened to them. But nothing answers your questions in today’s Zekharia.

Located in the middle of the country, between Gaza and Jerusalem, between the coast and the mountains, the story of Zakariyya – as its Arab inhabitants and their descendants call this place – “is the story of the Palestinian question, of the homeland, of pain and of loss” (Khader Salameh). People have lived in or near Zakariyya possibly since it was a Canaanite village in the Bronze Age, up to 5000 years ago. The location marks the boundary between Palestine’s flat coastal plain to the west, with fertile agricultural land, and the mountains around Jerusalem in the east, which offered greater security for villages. Southwest of the village is a hill called Tel ʿAzekah. Over time, the location of Zakariyya may have shifted from the top of Tel ʿAzekah to the site of the Palestinian village. One of the oldest sources of this region’s history is the Bible, which mentions ʿAzekah several times.
View of Tel ʿAzekah during the British Mandate era, by American Colony Photo Department. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division.
By the 5th century CE, Zakariyya’s inhabitants were Christian in faith, and spoke Greek. Palestine was part of the Roman or Byzantine Empire, which adopted Christianity in the 4th century. Close to Jerusalem and Bethlehem, Zakariyya began to host pilgrims on their way to the new religion’s holy places, particularly those on the road from Gaza, connecting North Africa to Palestine and Southwest Asia.

It wasn’t long before Zakariyya became a pilgrimage site in its own right. Around the year 415, a farmer from the village, named Calemeros, claimed to have been visited in his dreams by the Biblical figure of Zechariah. The figure directed Calemeros to a nearby garden, where he found a chest guarded by two snakes, and a glass of water. Inside the chest was a coffin, containing the body of Zechariah, miraculously intact and undecayed. Yet the question remained – just which Biblical Zechariah was this?

During the Byzantine era, a church was built in the village, dedicated to Saint Zechariah. An Italian pilgrim wrote that at Zechariah’s tomb, “there is now a lovely basilica, very well decorated, and with many servants of God.” We have a visual depiction of this basilica thanks to the Madaba mosaic map. On the map, a complex “of Saint Zechariah” appears, with a red-roofed portico in front, an upper gallery with three large windows or doors, and a semi-circular courtyard behind. Just to the left, we see a few houses cramped together, labelled “Beth Zachar”, the House of Zechariah, giving us a first glimpse of Zakariyya village.
Madaba map
Madaba map. © Sami Aranki, 2026

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The village of the watermelons

In summer 634, the army of Arab Muslims passed close by Zakariyya. The Battle of Ajnadayn, between the forces of Islam and of the Byzantine Empire, may have taken place just south of Zakariyya, at a site named al-Janaba. Victory enabled the Muslim forces to expand their conquest across Palestine and the wider Eastern Mediterranean...

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