Photo courtesy of bibleplaces.com. Sepphoris, Zippori in Hebrew, is located in the center of the Lower Galilee, three miles northwest of Nazareth. Although it was probably founded in First Temple days (eighth or seventh century B.C.E.) it reached its floruit much later. In the Hasmonean period (first century B.C.E.) as well as in the Herodian period (late first century B.C.E.–first century C.E.), Sepphoris served as the capital of the Galilee. Excerpted from New Mosaic Art from Sepphoris, Ehud Netzer & Zeev Weiss, BAR 18:06, 1992.