What is Magdala?

"A charming, openhearted, but wicked hamlet" near Capernaum on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Magdala gives its name to Mary, the profligate daughter of the Rabbi of Nazareth, who moves there to ply her trade as a prostitute after Jesus fails to marry her. Magdala lies on the major east-west caravan route. A bare-breasted, painted woman who always sits at the well at the entrance to town, offering refreshment to visitors. Mary's house is at the far end of town, surrounded by a pomegranate grove. It has a green door decorated with intertwined snakes and a yellow lizard above the lintel. An old women cooks snacks outside. The Zealot leader Barabbas invades Magdala following a colleague's crucifixion in Nazareth and rouses a mob to stone Mary for her sins. She flees, hotly pursued, to Capernaum, where Jesus says only the sinless may throw a stone at her. Mary returns to Magdala and reforms her ways, and when Jesus visits to attend a wedding, she becomes one of his permanent followers.