Bethsaida

Bethsaida (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> from Template:Langx; from Aramaic and Template:Langx, Template:Lit, from the Hebrew root {{#invoke:Lang|lang}};<ref name=Case>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Franz>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Langx), also known as Julias or Julia (Template:Langx), is a place mentioned in the New Testament. Julias lay in an administrative district known as Gaulonitis, in modern-day Golan Heights. Historians have suggested that the name is also referenced in rabbinic literature under the epithet Template:Transliteration (Template:Langx).Template:EfnTemplate:Efn

History

New Testament

According to Template:Bibleverse, Bethsaida was the hometown of the apostles Peter, Andrew, and Philip. In the Gospel of Mark (Template:Bibleverse), Jesus reportedly restored a blind man's sight at a place just outside the ancient village of Bethsaida. In Template:Bibleverse, Jesus miraculously feeds five thousand near Bethsaida.

Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History, places Bethsaida on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The historian Josephus says that the town of Bethsaida (at that time called Julia), was situated 120 stadia from the lake Semechonitis, not far from the Jordan River as it passes into the middle of the Sea of Galilee.<ref>Josephus, The Jewish War 3.10.7</ref> De Situ Terrae Sanctae, a 6th-century account written by Theodosius the archdeacon describes Bethsaida's location in relation to Capernaum, saying that it was Template:Convert distant from Capernaum.<ref>Rami Arav & Richard Freund (eds.), Bethsaida: A City by the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee, vol. 3, Truman State University 2004, p. xii, Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The distance between Bethsaida and Paneas is said to have been Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Although Bethsaida is believed to be located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, within the Bethsaida Valley, there is disagreement among scholars as to precisely where. Since the nineteenth century, three places have been considered as the possible location of Biblical Betsaida: the Bedouin village of Messadiye; the small, deserted settlement of El-Araj (Beit HaBek, "House of the Bey"); and the archaeological site (tel) of Et-Tell.<ref name=Haaretz/> Over time, the latter two locations have come to appear more likely. While Messadiye and El-Araj are closer to the Sea of Galilee, Et-Tell shows significant archaeological remains, including fragments of fishing equipment.

Archaeology

• Et-Tell, a site on the east bank of the Jordan River, is promoted by the Bethsaida Excavations Project, led by Rami Arav.
• El-Araj (Template:Coord) is proposed by a second group, led by Mordechai Aviam, under the auspices of the Center for Holy Land Studies (CHLS).<ref>Pfister, Samuel DeWitt. "Where Is Biblical Bethsaida?", Bible History Daily, Biblical Archaeological Society, June 16, 2019.</ref>

Et-Tell

Archaeologists tend to agree that the capital of the kingdom of Geshur was situated at et-Tell, a place also inhabited on a lesser scale during the first centuries BCE and CE and sometimes identified with the town of Bethsaida of New Testament fame.<ref name="Tell2016"/>

The first excavations of the site were conducted in 1987–1989 by the Golan Research Institute. In 2008–2010, and in 2014, archaeological excavations of the site were conducted by Rami Arav on behalf of the University of Nebraska of Omaha, Nebraska.<ref>Israel Antiquities Authority, Excavators and Excavations Permit for Year 2008, Survey Permit # G-31; Excavators and Excavations Permit for Year 2009, Survey Permit # G-45; Excavators and Excavations Permit for Year 2010, Survey Permit # G-42; Excavators and Excavations Permit for Year 2014, Survey Permit # G-46</ref> According to Arav, the ruin of et-Tell is said to be Bethsaida, a ruined site on the east side of the Jordan on rising ground, Template:Convert from the sea. However, this distance poses a problem insofar as if it were a fishing village, it is situated far from the shore of the Sea of Galilee. In an attempt to rectify the problem, the following hypotheses have been devised:

1. Tectonic rifting has uplifted et-Tell (the site is located on the Great African-Syrian Rift fault).
2. The water level has dropped from increased population usage, and land irrigation. In fact, the excavation of Magdala's harbor has proven that the ancient water-level was much higher than it is today.<ref>F. D. Troche, "Ancient Fishing Methods and Fishing Grounds in the Lake of Galilee" Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 148:4 (2016) 290–291.</ref>
3. The Jordan River delta has been extended by sedimentation.<ref>"Bethsaida- An Ancient Fishing Village on the shore of the Sea of Galilee", Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21 Mar 2000</ref>

Bronze and Iron Ages

File:Tel Bethsaida (2).jpg

Inside the Iron-Age city gate, et-Tell

File:Ruins of Bethsaida village in summer 2011 (7).JPG

Shrine with standing stones at Iron-Age city gate, et-Tell

Excavations indicate that the settlement was founded in the 11th century BCE, in the biblical period.<ref name=":3"/> Et-Tell was inhabited during both the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The fortified town there is associated by researchers with the biblical kingdom of Geshur.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite journal</ref>

File:IMJ view 20130115 202912.jpg

A stele from Bethsaida (et-Tell) depicting a Canaanite deity, possibly Kašku. On display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Most imposing archaeological finds, mainly from the Stratum V city gate, date to the 8th century BCE,<ref name="Tell2016">Template:Cite news</ref> but as of 2024, archaeologists have found the northwestern chamber wall of the Geshurite city gate of Stratum VI, dating to the 11th-10th centuries BCE.<ref name=":3"/> The et-Tell site would have been easily the largest and strongest city to the east of the Jordan Valley during the Iron Age II era.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref>

The archaeologists tentatively identify the city with biblical Zer, a name used during the First Temple period.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Hellenistic and Roman periods

Et-Tell was reinhabited again in the third century BCE and continued on a lesser scale during the first century CE.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Archaeological excavations at site have revealed fishing gear, including lead weights used for fishing nets, as well as sewing needles for repairing fishing nets. The findings indicate that most of the city's economy was based on fishing on the Sea of Galilee. Two silver coins dating to 143 BCE, as well as Seleucid bronze coins, bronze coins from the time of Alexander Jannaeus, King of the Hasmonean dynasty (reigned c. 103–76 BCE), and one coin from the time of Philip the Tetrarch (a son of Herod the Great), ruler of the Bashan (reigned 4 BCE – 34 CE), were discovered at the site.<ref>Aryeh Kindler, "The Coins of the Tetrarch Philip and Bethsaida", Cathedra 53, September 1989, pp. 26–24 (Hebrew)</ref> Philip the Tetrarch applied the name "Julias" (Template:Langx) to the site, which he named after Caesar's daughter.<ref>Josephus, Antiquities 18.2.1. (18.26)</ref>

Al-Araj

Location: Template:Coord

According to Josephus, around the year 30/31 CE (or 32/33 CE) Philip raised the village of Bethsaida in Lower Gaulanitis to the rank of a polis and renamed it "Julias", in honor of Livia, also called Julia Augusta,<ref>Template:Aut (edd.), Prosopographia Imperii Romani saeculi I, II et III (PIR), Berlin, 1933 – L 301</ref> the wife of Augustus. It lay near the place where the Jordan enters the Sea of Galilee.<ref>Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XVIII, ii, 1; The Jewish War, II, ix, 1; III, x, 7; The Life of Flavius Josephus, 72.</ref>

Julias/Bethsaida was a city east of the Jordan River, in a "desert place" (that is, uncultivated ground used for grazing), if this is the location to which Jesus retired by boat with his disciples to rest a while (see Template:Bibleverse and Template:Bibleverse). The multitude following on foot along the northern shore of the lake would cross the Jordan by the ford at its mouth, which is used by foot travelers to this day. The "desert" of the narrative is just the barrīyeh of the Arabs, where the animals are driven out for pasture. The "green grass" of Template:Bibleverse, and the "much grass" of John 6:10, point to some place in the plain of el-Baṭeiḥah, on the rich soil of which the grass is green and plentiful, compared to the scanty herbage on the higher slopes.Template:Citation needed

In 2017, archaeologists announced the discovery of a Roman bathhouse at el-Araj, which is taken as proof that the site was a polis in the Roman Empire period.<ref name=Haaretz>Template:Cite news</ref> The bathhouse was located in a layer below the Byzantine layer, with an intervening layer of mud and clay that indicated a break in occupation between 250 and 350 CE.<ref name=Haaretz/> They also found what might be the remains of a Byzantine church building, matching the description of a traveller in 750 CE.<ref name=Haaretz/> On account of these discoveries, the archaeologists believe that el-Araj is now the most likely candidate for the location of Bethsaida.<ref name=Haaretz/>

In 2019, what some describe as the Church of Apostles was unearthed by the El-Araj excavations team during the fourth season at the site of Bethsaida-Julias / Beithabbak (El-Araj), on the north shore of Sea of Galilee near where the Jordan river enters the lake. The excavation was carried out by Prof. Mordechai Aviam of Kinneret College and Prof. R. Steven Notley of Nyack College. This Byzantine period church is believed by some to have been built over the house of the apostle brothers, Peter and Andrew. Only the southern rooms of the church were excavated. A well-protected ornamental mosaic floor, gilded glass tesserae, and a marble chancel decorated with a wreath have been found in some of the excavated rooms.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> According to Professor Notley:

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In 2022, the archaeological team uncovered a large mosaic that is over 1500 years old containing an inscription. This invokes St. Peter as "the chief and commander of the heavenly apostles". and mentions a donor named "Constantine, a servant of Christ". These terminologies are consistent with Byzantine usage.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Because of this, Notley said that this "strengthen[s] our argument that [it] should be considered the leading candidate for first century Bethsaida."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

El-Mesydiah

El-Mesydiah, also spelled el-Mes‛adīyeh is a third, but generally considered least likely possibility. It is located on the present shoreline, but preliminary excavations, including the use of ground penetrating radar, initially revealed only a small number of ruins dating from before the Byzantine period. Some were inclined to favor el-Mes‛adīyeh which stands on an artificial mound about Template:Convert from the mouth of the River Jordan. However, the name is in origin radically different from Bethsaida. The substitution of sīn for ṣād is easy, but the insertion of the guttural ‛ain is impossible.Template:Citation needed

One or two Bethsaidas?

Many scholars Template:Who maintain that all the New Testament references to Bethsaida apply to one place, namely, Bethsaida Julias. The arguments for and against this view may be summarized as follows.

Galilee ran right round the lake, including most of the level coastland on the east. Thus Gamala, on the eastern shore, was within the jurisdiction of Josephus, who commanded in Galilee.<ref>Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War, II, xx, 4.</ref> Judas of Gamala<ref>Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XVIII, i, l.</ref> is also called Judas of Galilee.<ref>Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XVIII, i, 6</ref> If Gamala, far up the slope towering over the eastern shore of the sea, were in Galilee, a fortiori Bethsaida, a town which lay on the very edge of the Jordan, may be described as in Galilee.

Josephus makes it plain that Gamala, while added to his jurisdiction, was not in Galilee, but in Gaulanitis.<ref>Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War, II, xx, 6</ref> Even if Judas were born in Gamala, and so might properly be called a Gaulanite, he may, like others, have come to be known as belonging to the province in which his active life was spent. "Jesus of Nazareth" for instance was said to be born in Bethlehem in Judaea. Josephus also explicitly says that Bethsaida was in Lower Gaulanitis .<ref>Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War, II, ix, 1</ref> Further, Luke places the country of the Gerasenes on the other side of the sea from Galilee (Luke 8:26) – antipéra tês Galilaías ("over against Galilee").

• To go to the other side – eis tò péran (Mark 6:45) – does not of necessity imply passing from the west to the east coast of the lake, since Josephus uses the verb diaperaióō of a passage from Tiberias to Taricheae.<ref>Flavius Josephus, The Life of Flavius Josephus, 59</ref> But
  1. this involved a passage from a point on the west to a point on the south shore, "crossing over" two considerable bays; whereas if the boat started from any point in el-Baṭeiḥah, to which we seem to be limited by the "much grass", and by the definition of the district as belonging to Bethsaida, to sail to et-Tell or el-Araj, it was a matter of coasting not more than a couple of miles, with no bay to cross.Template:Citation needed
  2. No case can be cited where the phrase eis tò péran certainly means anything else than "to the other side".Template:Citation needed
  3. Mark says that the boat started to go unto the other side to Bethsaida, while John, gives the direction "over the sea unto Capernaum" (John 6:17). The two towns were therefore practically in the same line. Now there is no question that Capernaum was on "the other side", nor is there any suggestion that the boat was driven out of its course; and it is quite obvious that, sailing toward Capernaum, whether at Tell Ḥūm or at Khān Minyeh,{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B=

Template:Fix }} it would never reach Bethsaida Julias{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Fix }}Template:Citation needed

• The words of Mark (Template:Bibleverse), it is suggested,<ref>William Sanday, Sacred Sites of the Gospels, 42.</ref> have been too strictly interpreted: as the Gospel was written probably at Rome, its author not being a native of Galilee. Want of precision on topographical points, therefore, need not surprise us. But as we have seen above, the "want of precision" must also be attributed to the writer of Template:Bibleverse. The agreement of these two favors the strict interpretation.

In support of the single-city theory it is further argued that

• 1. Jesus withdrew to Bethsaida as being in the jurisdiction of Philip, when he heard of the murder of John the Baptist by Herod Antipas, and would not have sought again the territories of the latter so soon after leaving them.
  2. Medieval works of travel notice only one Bethsaida.
  3. The east coast of the sea was definitely attached to Galilee in AD 84, and Ptolemy (c. 140) places Julias in Galilee. It is therefore significant that only the Fourth Gospel speaks of "Bethsaida of Galilee".
  4. There could hardly have been two Bethsaidas so close together.

But:

• 1. It is not said that Jesus came hither that he might leave the territory of Antipas for that of Philip; and in view of Template:Bibleverse, and Luke 9:10, the inference from Matthew 14:13 that he did so, is not warranted.
  2. The Bethsaida of medieval writers was evidently on the west of the Jordan River. If it lay on the east, it is inconceivable that none of them should have mentioned the river in this connection.
  3. If the Gospel of John was not written until well into the 2nd century, then John the Apostle was not the same person as the author John the Evangelist. But this is a very precarious assumption. John, writing after AD 84, would hardly have used the phrase "Bethsaida of Galilee" of a place only recently attached to that province, writing, as he was, at a distance from the scene, and recalling the former familiar conditions.
  4. In view of the frequent repetition of names in Palestine the nearness of the two Bethsaidas raises no difficulty. The abundance of fish at each place furnished a good reason for the recurrence of the name.

1217 battle

During the Fifth Crusade, the well-mounted crusader army led by King Andrew II of Hungary defeated Sultan Al-Adil I at Bethsaida on the Jordan River on 10 November 1217. Muslim forces retreated to their fortresses and towns.<ref>Jean Richard, The Crusades, c. 1071 – c. 1291. p. 298.</ref><ref name=Howard>Template:Cite book</ref>

See also

• The Sea of Galilee Boat
• New Testament places associated with Jesus
• Woes to the unrepentant cities

Bibliography

• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite book

Further reading

• Arav R and RA Freund (2004) Bethsaida: A City by the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee Truman State University. Template:ISBN.
• Bethsaida: An Ancient Fishing Village on the shore of the Sea of Galilee , 2001, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

External links

• Bethsaida, Jacqueline Schaalje
• "Archaeologists discover lost home of Jesus's Apostles" by Benyamin Cohen, The Grapevine, August 7, 2017
• Template:ISBE
• Template:YouTube