Ein Karem
From the twelfth century CE onward there are many Christian writers who claim that Carem/Ein Karem was the "city of Judah" in the "hill country" mentioned in , the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth, parents of John the Baptist, where Elizabeth received the visit of her cousin, the Virgin Mary. The tradition thus identifies Ein Karem as the birthplace of John the Baptist. Many Christians cite the existence of manuscripts as evidence in favour of this tradition. However, early writers such as St. Jerome and later scholars like Baronius contradict this theory by citing the breadth of the term 'city of Judah' and the unlikelihood that it necessarily refers to this particular city.