The city of Tiberias is located on the Western side of the sea of Galilee. The area was known to be a location of healing hot springs and beautiful landscapes. It is no surprise that the son of Herod the Great, Herod Antipas chose this place for finding a city here in 20 AD. The name given was that of his protector, Roman empire Tiberius.
Location: Map
Archeological Garden
Rehov ha- Banim
Tiberias is one of the four holy cities for the Jews
(Jerusalem, Hebron, Tiberias and Safed).
Every year, tens of
thousands of people flock to Tiberias to visit national shrines: the
tombs of Rambam (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon - Maimonides), Rabbi Johanan
Ben-Zakkai and Rabbi Akiva.
Sights include the Greek Orthodox
Church of the Twelve Apostles, the ruins of a synagogue (6th century) in
the hot springs area, and the remains of the ancient Jewish city of
Hamat Tiberias (1st-4th century AD). Since 1955, on the basis of 17
local springs with a temperature of up to +63 ° C and therapeutic mud
"Piloma", the balneological resort complex Hamei Tiberias has been
operating. In the vicinity of the lake there are rest houses.
South of Tiberias, at the point where the Jordan River flows out of Lake
Tiberias, is Yardenit, a traditional baptismal site in the waters of the
river. To the north of Tiberias, on the northwestern shore of Lake
Tiberias, is Capernaum (Kfar Nachum), where Jesus Christ lived and
preached. The Franciscans purchased this site, excavated and explored
the city, and also founded their monastery here. Not far from Capernaum,
on a mountain, there is a Catholic monastery with a temple dedicated to
the Beatitudes.
The city got its name from the name of the Roman emperor Tiberius.
After the expulsion of the Jews from Jerusalem, it became the main
Jewish spiritual center. According to the Talmud, the patriarch Jacob
lived here.
Antiquity
According to Josephus, Tiberias was
founded in 17 AD Herod Antipas and was named after the emperor
Tiberius. The place for the city was chosen in the most beautiful part
of the Galilee.
Herod Antipas made Tiberias his residence, for
which he built a magnificent palace, a temple, an amphitheater and
surrounded the city with a wall. There was another reason for the
attractiveness of the city for the rulers of Galilee: a mountain
stream with healing water flowed near the city. There were many
ancient tombs in the vicinity, which were destroyed during
construction (often houses were built right in their place), so the
Jews considered the city unclean and were afraid to settle in it, so
at first it had a completely Greek appearance. For the Jews Herod
built a great synagogue; two generations later, rebellious meetings of
the Galileans took place in its premises during the great war with
Rome.
The archives of the province were transported to Tiberias
along with the government residence; a fortress was built for the
garrison, in the arsenals of which weapons for 70,000 soldiers were
stored. For the next 50 years, Tiberias was the undisputed capital of
Galilee and, with the exception of Caesarea, the most beautiful city
in Judea. Nero gave it to Agrippa the Younger, who moved the capital
from Tiberias to Sepphoris.
It is not known whether Jesus
visited Tiberias, the Gospels do not mention this; it is only certain
that he was in the vicinity of the city and the lake. Tiberias itself
is mentioned twice in the Gospel (John 6:1, 23).
The Jews of
Tiberias did not participate in the uprising of 70 CE. e., after the
suppression of which the majority of the Jewish population of Judea
was destroyed or expelled. After the destruction of Jerusalem in the
year 70, and especially after the founding of Aelia Capitolina on the
site of Jerusalem, the Jews of Jerusalem moved in large numbers to
Galilee, inhabited its cities and founded the center of Jewry here. As
a result, Tiberias became the only city in the Roman Empire with a
Jewish majority. 13 synagogues were built in the city. The Sanhedrin
of Tiberias becomes for the Jews the highest authority in religious
matters; the highest Jewish academy, transferred here from Jerusalem,
becomes the center of Jewish learning. In the yeshivas of Tiberias,
those rulings were collected that form the Mishnah, the main part of
the Talmud.
During this era, part of the Jerusalem Talmud was
recorded in Tiberias. And in the city itself and in the district lived
the Jewish sages of that time - Tanaim and Amoraim.
Middle Ages
Under Constantine the Great, the church was founded by a converted
Jew, Joseph; Empress Elena erected a church with 12 thrones here. From
449 to 553 there was a bishopric here.
Emperor Justinian I
surrounded Tiberias with strong walls. Under Caliph Omar (637), the
city came under the rule of the Muslims.
In 1099, the crusaders
captured Tiberias and the city became part of the Kingdom of
Jerusalem. The bishopric was restored during the First Crusade. The
population and architecture of the city has almost completely changed.
The city has become an important administrative and military center.
The Crusaders built castles and fortifications in Tiberias. In 1187,
the crusaders were defeated by the army of Salah ad-Din near Karnei
Hitin (near Tiberias). After the defeat of the crusaders, the city
again fell under the rule of the Saracens and from 1247 was under
their rule constantly. Destroyed Tiberias for a long time remained an
insignificant city.
In later times, the city, called Tabariye,
was built on the ruins of the former Tiberias; it was open from the
side of the lake, and from all other sides it was surrounded by high
walls and 20 black basalt towers.
In 1564, the Jewish
philanthropist from Portugal, Beatriz de Luna (who took the name of
Grazia Mendes Nasi), taking advantage of the favor of the Turkish
Sultan Suleiman I, leased the city. The city was significantly rebuilt
in the period 1564-1569. Grazia Nasi's nephew, Jean Mick, who became
Joseph Nasi in Turkey, is considered by some sources to be the first
Zionist. Back in 1561, he received a part of the city with suburbs as
a gift and wanted to create a center of Jewish life there, that is, a
place where the Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal, as well as all
the oppressed Jews of Germany, France and Poland, could come.
new time
In 1740, the Chief Rabbi of Izmir Chaim Abulafia moved to
Tiberias. Since 1777, Hasidim began to settle in the city under the
leadership of Rabbi Menachem Mendel from Vitebsk.
In 1811,
Tiberias was nothing more than a village, in which there were about a
hundred Jewish houses, 20 Christian and quite a few Muslim houses. I. L.
Burckhardt counted up to 4,000 inhabitants here, of which half were
Jews. In 1837 the city was destroyed by an earthquake; only part of the
ancient fortress with walls of houses survived; many of the inhabitants
then died.
In 1881-1882, the famous Russian artist Vasily
Dmitrievich Polenov, during his first trip to the Middle East and
biblical places, visited Constantinople, Palestine, Syria and Egypt,
from where he brought sketches and sketches for the large-scale canvas
"Christ and the Sinner", as well as other paintings written in a new
style of writing found on the trip. Probably, at the same time he
painted the painting "The Yard in Tiberias". In 1888 he painted the
painting "On the Lake of Tiberias (Genisaret)".
In 1596,
according to the Ottoman registers, the population of Tiberias was 50
Muslim families and 4 bachelors. In 1780, about 4,000 people lived here,
2/3 of which were Jews. In 1842, the population was about 3,900
inhabitants, about a third of them Jews, a few Christians and 2/3
Muslims. In 1850 there were three Sephardic synagogues serving 80
families and another 100 Ashkenazi families. The Jews of Tiberias lived
more quietly than the Jews of Safed. According to the registers, in
1863, 3/4 of the population of Tiberias were Christians and Muslims, who
numbered from 2,000 to 4,000 people. Census data around 1887 report that
approximately 3,640 people lived in Tiberias; 2025 Jews, 30 Latins, 215
Catholics, 15 Greek Catholics and 1355 Muslims.
Since the
beginning of Jewish immigration to Palestine in the late 19th and first
half of the 20th century, the Jewish population of Tiberias has
increased significantly. In 1901, 2000 of the 3600 inhabitants of
Tiberias were Jews, by 1912 the city's population reached 6500, of which
4500 were Jews, 1600 were Muslims and 400 were Christians. According to
the 1922 Palestine census conducted by the British authorities, 6950
people lived in Tiberias, of which 4427 Jews, 2096 Muslims, 422
Christians and five "others". According to the 1931 census, 5381 Jews
lived in the city, which accounted for 63.9% of the total population;
There were 2,645 Muslims, 565 Christians, and ten "others."
On
October 2, 1938, a pogrom in the Kiryat Shmuel quarter killed 19 Jews,
including 11 children.
During the Israeli War of Independence,
the city became the scene of violent clashes between Arabs and Jews.
Between April 8 and 9, 1948, sporadic skirmishes broke out between the
Jewish and Arab regions. On April 10, the Haganah launched a mortar
attack, killing several Arab residents. The local Arab committee refused
the Arab Liberation Army's offer to take the city under its protection,
but a small contingent of irregular Arab groups entered the city. During
April 10-17, the Haganah launched an offensive against the city,
refusing to negotiate a truce, and the British did not intervene. The
Arab population (6,000 inhabitants or 47.5%) was evacuated under the
protection of British military forces on April 18, 1948. The Jewish
command did not order the evacuation, and she, apparently, came as a
surprise to him.
Modernity
Today Tiberias is one of the
tourist centers of Israel. In 2005, income from foreign tourists in
hotels in Tiberias increased by 118.3%.
The Southern Wall
Byzantine emperor Justinian I (527- 565 AD) built these city walls
for defence against raiders. Remains of city gates also have
remained.
Crusader’s fortification
After the First Crusade captured the lands on the Western shore of
the sea of Galilee they started building walls of their own castle
to defend it against the Saracens. Their Citadels are still visible.
The Synagogue
Judging by archaeological digs there were several synagogues build
here, one on top of the other from the first century till the 8th
century AD. The mosaic floor that is well preserved here belong to
the time of the Severus emperors that ruled Roman empire from 193 to
235 AD. Mosaic depicts among other things doors of the Jerusalem
Temple, Zodiac and probably Jehovah or a Sun God similar to the
findings at Beit Alpha synagogue which is peculiar if it is true.
This particular synagogue was destroyed in the 5th century.