The story of the first Christians is not a story of ideas floating in the air. It happened in specific places, on specific roads, in specific cities that still exist. This page gathers the eight places that matter most for the journey, from the village where Jesus was born to the capital of the empire where the two chief apostles died.
The Geography of the Journey
Bethlehem, Nazareth, Capernaum, Jerusalem, the Jordan, Damascus, Antioch, Rome
The map is stylized, not to scale. Distances are compressed for legibility. Rome and Smyrna are shown off-map because they lie outside the frame.
The Eight Places
1
c. 7–4 BC
Bethlehem
The village of David, six miles south of Jerusalem. The traditional site of the Nativity is the oldest continuously venerated site in Christianity.
Read →2
c. 4 BC – 27 AD
Nazareth
The Galilean village where Jesus grew up. Not mentioned in the Old Testament, Josephus, or the Talmud — a small, obscure farming community.
Read →3
c. 27 AD
The Jordan
The baptism site at Bethany beyond the Jordan. Identified by Origen in the third century and confirmed by archaeology in the 1990s.
Read →4
c. 28–29 AD
Capernaum
The fishing village on the Sea of Galilee that became the base of the ministry. The synagogue and the house of Peter have both been excavated.
Read →5
c. 30 AD
Jerusalem
The city that killed him. The Temple, the upper room, Gethsemane, the Via Dolorosa, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Read →6
c. 35 AD
Damascus
Where the persecutor became the apostle. The “street called Straight” still exists in the old city.
Read →7
c. 40–108 AD
Antioch
The third-largest city of the Roman Empire. Where the disciples were first called Christians. The see of Ignatius.
Read →8
c. 60–68 AD
Rome
The capital of the empire. Peter and Paul died here under Nero, and the city became the seat of the western church.
Read →Why Geography Matters
The gospel did not spread through ideas alone. It spread through roads, ports, and cities. Paul travelled along the Roman road network, which was built for the legions and maintained by the empire. He stopped at cities where there were synagogues, because that is where he would find Jews who already knew the Scriptures and God-fearers who were interested in them.
Understanding the geography is understanding how the message moved. From a village in Judea, to a fishing town on the Sea of Galilee, to the capital of the Jewish world, to the cities of Syria and Asia Minor, to Greece, and finally to Rome. In thirty years, the gospel had reached the capital of the empire. In seventy years, it had reached the western edge of Spain. In three hundred years, the empire itself would be Christian.
See the Journey for the narrative, the Timeline for the chronology, and the Sources for the primary documents.
