50 Fun Facts About Bethlehem

Bethlehem lies about ten kilometres south of which city?

It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate in the West Bank.

In Hebrew, the name Bethlehem is traditionally understood to mean what?

The Arabic Bayt Lahm is read as 'house of meat', and the oldest Canaanite sense may be 'temple of the god Lakhmu'.

A possible first mention of Bethlehem, as Bit-Lahmi, appears in which 14th-century BC Egyptian archive?

An Egyptian-appointed governor wrote to Pharaoh asking for help retaking the town from Apiru mercenaries.

According to the Hebrew Bible, which matriarch died and was buried on the road to Bethlehem?

Her tomb, also revered by Muslims as the Bilal bin Rabah mosque, is now enclosed by the West Bank barrier.

Which Israelite king was born in Bethlehem, the youngest of Jesse's eight sons?

The prophet Samuel anointed him there while he was still a shepherd boy.

In the Book of Ruth, whom does the Moabite Ruth marry in Bethlehem?

Their son Obed became grandfather to a famous king of Israel.

Which prophet's book was read as foretelling the Messiah's birth in Bethlehem?

Both Gospel nativity accounts place the birth of Jesus there in the reign of Herod the Great.

Which two Gospels contain accounts of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem?

One has the census, the manger and the shepherds; the other has the wise men, the star and Herod's plot.

Which Gospel alone tells of the Magi following a star to Bethlehem?

It never says how many they were; the traditional number comes from their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Kepler suggested in 1614 the Star of Bethlehem was a series of 7 BC conjunctions between which two planets?

Other candidates proposed over the years include Halley's Comet in 12 BC and a nova recorded by Chinese astronomers around 5 BC.

The bones of the Magi are traditionally said to rest in a shrine in which cathedral?

Western tradition names them Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar; Syriac tradition often counts twelve.

In the Massacre of the Innocents, Herod ordered the killing of all boys in Bethlehem up to what age?

The Feast of the Holy Innocents, or Childermas, is kept on 28 December; most scholars doubt the event's historicity.

Which Roman emperor destroyed Bethlehem and made the Nativity grotto a shrine to Adonis?

He did it after crushing the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–136; Constantine later rebuilt the town.

Which emperor commissioned the Church of the Nativity around 327, after his mother's Holy Land pilgrimage?

His mother Helena visited the ruins of Bethlehem in 326–328; the first basilica was dedicated on 31 May 339.

After the Constantinian church was destroyed in the Samaritan revolts, which Byzantine emperor rebuilt it?

The present basilica is essentially his, with five aisles of Corinthian columns.

Legend says the invading Persians spared the Church of the Nativity in 614 because of what?

The Persian army under Khosrau II swept through the region but left the basilica standing.

Which caliph promised after the 637 conquest that the Church of the Nativity would remain Christian?

The Old City's only mosque, facing the basilica, is named after him.

Who was crowned in Bethlehem on Christmas Day 1100?

The Crusaders had taken the town in 1099 and replaced its Greek Orthodox clergy with Catholic ones.

What is the 'Door of Humility' at the Church of the Nativity?

The main entrance was walled up to stop people riding horses and cattle into the church.

How many points does the silver star marking Jesus's birthplace in the Nativity Grotto have?

Its Latin inscription reads 'Here Jesus Christ was born to the Virgin Mary' and is dated 1717.

The 1847 theft of the Grotto's silver star by Greek monks is cited as a factor in which war?

Rival Catholic and Orthodox claims over the holy places gave France and Russia a pretext for confrontation.

What is the 1852 arrangement governing the rival churches' rights in the Church of the Nativity called?

The Franciscans, Greeks and Armenians share the basilica under its terms.

In 2012 the Church of the Nativity became the first site inscribed by UNESCO under which state party?

It went straight onto the List of World Heritage in Danger because of a leaking roof, and came off it in 2019.

What happened at the Church of the Nativity in April 2002 during the Second Intifada?

About 50 armed Palestinians wanted by the IDF barricaded themselves inside.

The Nativity Grotto is described as the oldest site in Christianity that has been what?

The basilica above it is the oldest major church in the Holy Land.

Which scholar spent thirty years beside the Church of the Nativity translating the Bible into Latin?

The Roman aristocrat Paula funded his stay; his Vulgate remained the dominant Latin Bible until the Reformation.

Bethlehem's Milk Grotto takes its name from a legend that what turned the rock white?

Its chalky powder is still sought by couples hoping for children.

On how many different dates is Christmas celebrated in Bethlehem each year?

Catholics and Protestants keep 25 December, the Greek, Coptic and Syrian Orthodox 6 January, and the Armenians 19 January.

What is the name of the central plaza in front of the Church of the Nativity?

The Old City's eight quarters are laid out around it.

Bethlehem's traditional religious handicrafts are made chiefly from olive wood and what?

The souvenir trade lives off the pilgrim traffic.

Before 2023, roughly what share of Bethlehem's economy came from tourism?

The Christmas season brought the biggest influx of pilgrims to the Church of the Nativity before the war that began in October 2023 halted most visits.

What was Bethlehem's population at the 2017 census?

Historically an Arab Christian city, it now has a large Muslim majority.

Christians were about 86% of Bethlehem's population in 1950; by 2016 their share had fallen to what?

Lower birth rates and higher emigration among Christians are cited among the causes.

Which country annexed Bethlehem along with the rest of the West Bank after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War?

Israel captured the city in the 1967 Six-Day War.

In December of which year did Israeli troops withdraw from Bethlehem under the Oslo process?

The city is designated part of Area A of the West Bank.

Which street artist financed the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem in 2017, next to the separation barrier?

It opened to mark the centenary of the start of British rule in the Holy Land.

The Catholic Bethlehem University, founded in 1973 in the Lasallian tradition, holds what distinction?

It is a Catholic institution open to students of all faiths.

What long-sought discovery did Herodium, the fortified palace-hill southeast of Bethlehem, yield in 2007?

Archaeologist Ehud Netzer found it on the northern slope after decades of searching.

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was christened on Christmas Eve 1741 by a bishop of which denomination?

Nicolaus Zinzendorf did the naming; the city adopted the nickname 'Christmas City USA' in 1937.

Which American Episcopal priest wrote the words of 'O Little Town of Bethlehem' in 1868?

Americans sing it to Lewis Redner's tune 'St. Louis'; the British use a folk tune collected by Vaughan Williams.

In Britain, 'O Little Town of Bethlehem' is usually sung to which tune, collected by Vaughan Williams?

It was first published in the 1906 English Hymnal.

Which saint is credited with the Christmas nativity scene tradition, staging one at Greccio in 1223?

Franciscan piety helped popularise the tender image of the infant Jesus.

Where, according to Luke, did the newborn Jesus lie because there was no room at the inn?

Luke alone tells of the manger and the shepherds.

The Ottoman census of 1596 recorded Bethlehem's population as roughly how many?

That made it the 13th largest village in the region at the time.

Which British Jewish philanthropist expanded Rachel's Tomb near Bethlehem in 1841?

He obtained the keys for the Jewish community and added an antechamber with a mihrab for Muslim prayer.

Which Fatimid caliph ordered the Church of the Nativity demolished in 1009, only for local Muslims to save it?

They had been allowed to pray in the church's southern transept and refused to see it destroyed.

On which date do Armenian Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem?

Catholics and Protestants keep December 25 and the Greek, Coptic and Syrian Orthodox January 6, so the processions through Manger Square come three times each winter.

How does Bethlehem's elevation, about 775 m, compare with nearby Jerusalem's?

Both cities sit in the Judaean Mountains, ten kilometres apart; Bethlehem is 59 km southeast of Tel Aviv and 75 km west of Amman.

A 1229 treaty between Frederick II and which Ayyubid sultan briefly gave Bethlehem back to the Crusaders?

The deal, which also covered Jerusalem, Nazareth and Sidon, bought a ten-year truce; it lapsed in 1239 and Muslims retook the city in 1244.

Under the UN's 1947 partition plan, Bethlehem was to be part of what?

Instead Jordan captured the city in the 1948 war, and refugees settled in what became the 'Azza and 'Aida camps.