Category:Magdala

Mag"da*la, a.

Defn: Designating an orange-red dyestuff obtained from naphthylamine, and called magdala red, naphthalene red, etc.

Magdala, which means "elegant", "great", or "tower", is where Jesus landed in Matthew 15:39, is also the name of two different locations according to the Jewish Talmud:  Magdala Gadar and Magdala Nunayya. Reliable Greek manuscripts give a third name to the place: "Magadan", which is considered to be close to Dalmanutha.

Magdala Gadar is in the east on the River Yarmouk near Gadara (in the Middle Ages it was called "Jadar" and is now "Umm Qais.)

Magdala Nunayya (which means Magdala of the fishes) is near Tiberias on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. It is believed it was the village of Al-Majdal, which was depopulated before the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. The municipality of Migdal has expanded into the area once known as Al-Mijdal.

It is thought that Saint Mary Magdalene was from this region due to the thinking that her name meant "Mary from Magdala" and it would be Magdala Nunayya, which would also be the place Jesus landed in Matthew 15:39.

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Magdala - A tower, a town in Galilee, mentioned only in Matthew 15:39. In the parallel passage in Mark 8:10 this place is called Dalmanutha. It was the birthplace of Mary called the Magdalen, or Mary Magdalene. It was on the west shore of the Lake of Tiberias, and is now probably the small obscure village called el-Mejdel, about 3 miles north-west of Lake of Tiberias. In the Talmud this city is called "the city of color," and a particular district of it was called "the tower of dyers." The indigo plant was much cultivated here.