ABSTRACT
The transition between Phases 2 and 3 is distinguished by a profound shift in the function of the site, from its use for Jewish tombs to Christian religious complex. Textual evidence might be interpreted as supporting a fourth-century or earlier dating for the cave. The late fourth-century Western pilgrim Egeria recounts that in Nazareth there was ‘a big and very splendid cave in which she (the Virgin Mary) lived. There are many Late Roman and Byzantine analogies for the ecclesiastical reuse of a Roman-period Jewish tomb, from the Jerusalem area to Galilee. Water played an important part in Byzantine liturgies elsewhere and, as Ana Miskovic has pointed out, wells are a characteristic of important Byzantine churches, especially those at pilgrimage centres. It is generally accepted by modern scholars that the principal Byzantine building excavated by Bagatti should be interpreted as the Church of the Annunciation.
