Explore the real-world places that appear in The Bible Designed to Be Read as Living Literature by Ernest Sutherland Bates (editor). Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Jerusalem — Temple Mount, Bethlehem, Nazareth, The Sea of Galilee, Jericho and 8 more.
Old City, Jerusalem — Center of Hebrew worship and narrative
The Temple in Jerusalem is the gravitational center of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament alike. In Kings and Chronicles, Solomon's grand construction of the First Temple is described with meticulous literary detail — the cedar panels, the gold overlaid walls, the Ark of the Covenant placed in the Holy of Holies. The Psalms were sung here as liturgy. Jesus famously overturns the money-changers' tables in the Temple courts in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, and in Luke he disputes with the teachers as a boy of twelve.
Solomon's First Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BCE. The Second Temple was built after the Babylonian Exile and later lavishly expanded by Herod the Great, only to be destroyed by Rome in 70 CE. The site has been sacred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam for millennia.
The Temple Mount is now home to the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, administered by the Islamic Waqf. The Western Wall — a retaining wall of Herod's Temple Mount — remains the holiest accessible site in Judaism and receives millions of visitors annually.
Visit: Western Wall / Temple Mount (historic site)
West Bank — Birthplace of David and Jesus
Bethlehem appears first in Ruth, where the loyal Moabite widow Ruth follows her mother-in-law Naomi back to Bethlehem, gleaning barley in the fields of Boaz — one of the most tender narratives in the Hebrew Bible. It is also the city of David's birth, where the shepherd boy is anointed king by Samuel. In the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, it is the birthplace of Jesus; the Nativity account — the manger, the shepherds, the star, the Magi — is set here entirely.
Bethlehem has been continuously inhabited since at least the Bronze Age. The Church of the Nativity, built over the traditional site of Jesus's birth, was originally commissioned by Emperor Constantine in the 4th century CE and is one of the oldest continuously operating Christian churches in the world.
Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the West Bank with a significant Christian community. The Church of the Nativity, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, draws pilgrims year-round. The grotto beneath the church is venerated as the precise birthplace of Jesus.
Visit: Church of the Nativity (historic site)
Lower Galilee, Israel — Hometown of Jesus
Nazareth is the childhood home of Jesus in the Gospels, identified as a Galilean town of little repute — Nathanael's dismissive question 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?' captures the sentiment of the age. In Luke, Jesus returns to Nazareth and reads from the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.' The townspeople, astonished and then enraged, attempt to throw him off a cliff.
First-century Nazareth was a small agricultural village in the Galilee region, under Roman jurisdiction. Archaeological excavations since the mid-20th century have revealed domestic structures and agricultural installations consistent with the Gospel-era setting.
Modern Nazareth (Natzrat) is Israel's largest Arab city. The Basilica of the Annunciation, built over the traditional site of Mary's home, is the largest Christian church in the Middle East and a major pilgrimage site.
Visit: Basilica of the Annunciation (historic site)
Kinneret, northern Israel — Setting of Jesus's ministry
The shores of the Sea of Galilee provide the backdrop for some of the most vivid scenes in the Gospels. Jesus calls his first disciples — Simon Peter and Andrew casting their nets, James and John mending theirs — directly from these waters. He walks on the water toward the disciples' storm-tossed boat, and Peter sinks when his faith falters. In John, the resurrected Jesus appears on the shore and cooks fish over coals for the disciples after a fruitless night of fishing.
The Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret) is Israel's largest freshwater lake, fed by the Jordan River. In the first century CE its shores were dotted with prosperous fishing towns — Capernaum, Magdala, Bethsaida — that formed the heart of Jesus's Galilean ministry.
The Sea of Galilee is a major tourist and pilgrimage destination in northern Israel. Visitors can take boat rides on the lake, visit excavated sites like ancient Capernaum, and walk the Jesus Trail. The region remains an important agricultural and water resource for Israel.
Visit: Sea of Galilee / Kinneret (historic site)
West Bank, Jordan Valley — City of walls and miracles
Jericho is the first Canaanite city conquered by the Israelites in Joshua. The narrative is unforgettable in its spare power: the Israelites march silently around the city walls for seven days, the priests blow the ram's horn trumpets, the people shout, and the walls collapse. The prostitute Rahab hangs a scarlet cord from her window to be spared. In the New Testament, Jesus heals blind Bartimaeus outside Jericho and dines with Zacchaeus, the diminutive tax collector who climbs a sycamore tree to see him pass.
Jericho is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, with occupation dating back more than 10,000 years. The ancient site of Tell es-Sultan, on the city's edge, contains the remains of Neolithic walls and towers predating the biblical account.
Jericho is a Palestinian city in the West Bank and remains inhabited. The archaeological site of Tell es-Sultan is open to visitors and features ruins from multiple historical periods. Cable cars run from the city to the Mount of Temptation monastery above.
Visit: Tell es-Sultan Archaeological Site (historic site)
Hebron, West Bank — Tomb of the Patriarchs
In Genesis, Abraham purchases the Cave of Machpelah from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place for Sarah — the only land the patriarch actually buys in Canaan. It becomes the family tomb: Abraham himself is buried here, then Isaac and Rebekah, then Jacob and Leah. The transaction is described in careful legal detail, reflecting the deep importance Bates's literary edition places on the narrative richness of even ostensibly documentary passages.
The site has been venerated for millennia. Herod the Great built the massive enclosure wall that still surrounds the cave. The structure has functioned at various times as a Jewish synagogue, a Byzantine church, and an Islamic mosque, and remains sacred to all three traditions.
The Cave of Machpelah, known as the Ibrahimi Mosque / Cave of the Patriarchs, is divided between a mosque and a synagogue. It is one of the most contested holy sites in the world, located in a politically sensitive part of Hebron, and is open to visitors of both faiths at designated times.
Visit: Cave of Machpelah / Ibrahimi Mosque (historic site)
South Sinai, Egypt — The giving of the Law
The literary climax of Exodus occurs at Sinai, where Moses encounters God in thunder, lightning, and thick cloud. Bates's edition preserves the terrifying grandeur of the scene: the people tremble at the foot of the mountain, forbidden to touch it on pain of death, while Moses ascends alone into the divine fire and smoke. He receives the Ten Commandments carved on stone tablets; his face, when he descends, shines so brightly that he must veil it before the people.
The identification of Jebel Musa in the southern Sinai Peninsula as the biblical Mount Sinai dates to early Christian tradition. The Emperor Constantine's mother Helena designated the site, and the Monastery of Saint Catherine was founded at its base in the 6th century CE.
Jebel Musa remains a major pilgrimage site. Thousands of visitors climb the mountain each year, many overnight to watch the sunrise from its peak. The Monastery of Saint Catherine at the base is a UNESCO World Heritage Site housing one of the world's oldest libraries of manuscripts.
Visit: Monastery of Saint Catherine (historic site)
Eastern Nile Delta, Egypt — Israelite sojourn and bondage
Genesis ends and Exodus begins in Egypt, where Joseph — sold into slavery by his brothers — rises to become Pharaoh's viceroy, interpreting dreams with prophetic precision. He settles his family in the fertile land of Goshen. Exodus opens with a new Pharaoh who 'knew not Joseph,' and the Israelites are enslaved, building treasure cities. The ten plagues — blood, frogs, locusts, darkness, the death of the firstborn — cascade through this landscape with mounting literary dread before the Exodus.
The eastern Nile Delta was inhabited by Semitic peoples during the Second Intermediate Period. The ancient city of Avaris, modern Tell el-Dab'a, has yielded archaeological evidence of a large Semitic population consistent with the biblical account of the Israelite sojourn.
The region near modern Zagazig and Tell el-Dab'a in Egypt's Sharqia Governorate contains archaeological sites open to researchers. The ancient city of Pi-Ramesses, associated with the biblical Ramesses, lies in this area. Some sites can be visited through organized archaeological tours.
Near modern Hillah, Iraq — Exile and lamentation
Babylon is the city of exile and lamentation in some of the most emotionally devastating poetry in the Hebrew Bible. Psalm 137 — 'By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion' — is set here, a cry of collective grief that Bates identified as among the supreme lyric achievements in world literature. Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar's dreams in the Babylonian court; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are cast into the fiery furnace; the handwriting appears on the wall at Belshazzar's feast.
Babylon was the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar II, who destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BCE and deported its population. At its height, Babylon was one of the largest and most magnificent cities in the ancient world, famous for its Ishtar Gate and the legendary Hanging Gardens.
The ruins of ancient Babylon are located near the modern city of Hillah in Iraq's Babylon Governorate. The site, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2019, suffered damage during the Iraq War but is now open to visitors. The rebuilt Ishtar Gate's original tiles are displayed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.
Visit: Ancient City of Babylon (historic site)
Near modern Nasiriyah, Iraq — Abraham's homeland
Ur is the starting point of the entire biblical narrative of covenant and promise. In Genesis, Abram (later Abraham) is called by God to leave Ur of the Chaldeans and journey toward an unnamed land — 'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee.' This departure launches the foundational story of the Hebrew people. Bates framed Genesis as a literary epic of migration and faith, and Ur is its point of origin.
Ancient Ur was a major Sumerian city-state, home to the famous Ziggurat of Ur built around 2100 BCE. Excavations by Sir Leonard Woolley in the 1920s and 1930s revealed the Royal Tombs of Ur, a spectacular trove of Sumerian art and artifacts, alongside evidence of the great city's urban civilization.
The ruins of Ur are located near Nasiriyah in southern Iraq. The partially restored Ziggurat of Ur remains standing and is one of the best-preserved monuments from the ancient world. Access is limited but the site has been opened to visitors in recent years as security in the region has improved.
Visit: Ziggurat of Ur (historic site)
Rome, Italy — Paul's letters and imprisonment
Rome stands at the horizon of the New Testament as both destination and threat. Paul's Letter to the Romans — arguably his most sustained theological argument, and one Bates placed among the great rhetorical masterpieces — is addressed to the Christian community in the imperial capital. The Acts of the Apostles ends with Paul under house arrest in Rome, preaching 'with all confidence, no man forbidding him.' The Book of Revelation, written in the apocalyptic tradition, encodes Rome as 'Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots.'
Rome in the 1st century CE was the capital of an empire stretching from Britain to Mesopotamia. The Christian community in Rome was established early; Nero blamed Christians for the Great Fire of 64 CE, initiating the first Roman persecution. Both Peter and Paul are traditionally held to have been martyred in Rome.
Rome is a living museum of early Christian history. The Colosseum, the Mamertine Prison (where Peter is traditionally held to have been imprisoned), and Vatican City with St. Peter's Basilica are among the most visited sites in the world. The Appian Way and the Catacombs offer direct connection to the early Christian community.
Visit: Colosseum / Roman Forum (historic site)
Dodecanese, Greece — The Apocalypse of John
The Book of Revelation — the final and most fantastical text in the Bible — opens with John identifying himself as exiled on the island of Patmos 'for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.' Here he receives his terrifying vision: the seven churches of Asia, the Lamb with seven seals, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the Whore of Babylon, the Battle of Armageddon, the New Jerusalem descending from heaven like a bride. Bates included Revelation as a supreme example of prophetic and visionary literature.
Patmos is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea, traditionally identified as John's place of exile during the reign of Emperor Domitian (81–96 CE). The Cave of the Apocalypse, where John is said to have received his visions, became a Christian pilgrimage site from an early date.
Patmos is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Monastery of Saint John the Theologian, founded in 1088, dominates the island's hillside town of Chora. The Cave of the Apocalypse, midway up the hill, is a major pilgrimage destination. The island is accessible by ferry from Athens.
Visit: Monastery of Saint John the Theologian, Patmos (historic site)
Near modern Selçuk, Turkey — Paul's mission and John's Gospel
Ephesus is the most fully realized of Paul's mission cities in Acts. He spends three years there, described in Acts 19, where his preaching so disrupts the trade in silver shrines of Artemis that the silversmiths riot in the great theater, chanting 'Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!' Paul writes his Letter to the Ephesians from prison, urging them to 'put on the whole armor of God.' In early Christian tradition, John the Apostle lived and wrote the fourth Gospel and his Epistles in Ephesus, and Mary was held to have died there.
Ancient Ephesus was one of the largest cities in the Roman world, home to the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was a major commercial and cultural center on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, and became an important early center of Christianity.
The ruins of ancient Ephesus near Selçuk in western Turkey are among the best-preserved and most extensively excavated Roman cities in the world. The Great Theatre, the Library of Celsus, and the terrace houses are all open to visitors. The site draws over a million visitors annually.
Visit: Ancient City of Ephesus (historic site)
More by Ernest Sutherland Bates (editor): All Ernest Sutherland Bates (editor) books
Other nearby maps: The Book of Intimate Grammar by David Grossman locations map