Trekking the Sea of Galilee

Transcription

Holyland Journal
A Guide for the Christian Traveller
Trekking the
Sea of Galilee
Exciting New Hiking
Path Opens
The Masada Dig
Fiftieth Anniversary of the
Famous Excavation
Selected Sites in Galilee
The Sea of Galilee
The Town of Jesus
Who Destroyed Hazor?
New Finds from the Biblical City
,VUDHO*RYHUQPHQW7RXULVW2IÀFH
www.walkwherejesuswalked.com
Tiberias
&
Sea
of
Galilee
Special hotel rates, excursions, concerts,
tourist attractions, bicycle tours.
Tourist Information: +972-4-6725666
www.tiberias-hotels.com
[email protected]
‫עיריית טבריה‬
¨‫מחלקת אירועים‬
‫תיירות וספורט‬
Holyland Journal
A Guide for the Christian Traveller
Dear Friends,
May I take this opportunity of welcoming you to our latest edition of the Holyland
Journal.
In keeping with previous editions, we have brought together a number of articles
covering a wide cross-section of topics and we hope that you will find plenty of
interest within its pages.
“The Anniversary of the Masada Dig” relates the story of the largest archaeological
excavation ever conducted in the Holyland, whose fiftieth anniversary is approaching.
Thousands of volunteers came from around the globe to participate in the excavation.
“Trekking the Sea of Galilee” offers a preview of the new 35-mile Sea of Galilee Trail,
which runs through some of the Holyland’s most significant historic and spiritual sites.
And our website, specific to the Christian marketplace, www.walkwherejesuswalked.
com continues to be as popular as ever. We have just completed a facelift to the home
and resources pages where you can now access a full range of resources for your visit
to Israel as well as watching numerous videos on the new Christian YouTube channel.
Please do look at the site and bookmark these pages for future visits.
The summer months mark the beginning of our visits to Christian conferences,
holidays, and exhibitions, so please do drop by and see us. In the meantime, if our
office can help in any way with your interest in or visit to Israel, please do get in touch
with us.
With very best wishes,
Naama Oryan-Kaplan
Director of the Israel
Government Tourist Office,
UK and Ireland
Publishers
Yadin Roman and Dita Kohl-Roman
Editor in Chief
Yadin Roman
Editor
Heidi J. Gleit
Graphic Designer
Einat Rogel
Research Assistant
Maya Roman
Managing Director
Ruthie Herzikowitz
Advertising and Special
Projects Director
Rachel Ayalon Solell
Public Relations
Manor Betzer
Tel.: 972-3-691-2211 ext. 3
Fax.: 972-3-609-1890
Email: [email protected]
Accounting
Rama Elimeleh
Please address manuscripts,
comments, and photographs to
the ERETZ Group, 5 Ma’avar Yabok
St., Tel Aviv 6744007, Israel.
We regret that we cannot guarantee
the return of material. Letters to the
editor may be edited for clarity and
space.
All rights, including translation into
other languages, reserved by the
publishers in Israel, the United States,
Great Britain, and all other countries
participating in the International
Copyright Convention and the Pan
American Copyright Convention.
Contents
Articles and the opinions expressed
herein do not necessarily represent the
views of the Holyland Journal. The
contents of the advertisments in this
issue of the Holyland Journal is the sole
responsibility of the advertisers.
6
The Anniversary of the Masada Dig
20
A Dip in the Sources
22
The Promontory Castle
2013 Edition
12
Ornate Ancient
26
The King's Stronghold
Synagogue Discovered
14
Nazareth's Timeless Souk
28
Front cover:
Herod's Palace, Masada
Photo: Doron Horowitz,
ERETZ Magazine Archive
18
New Palace Discovered
32
The Shores of the Lake
in Tel Hazor
34
The Town of Jesus
To learn more, call 0207-299-1100
Visit us on the web at:
www.eretz.com
ERETZ
THE MAGAZINE OF ISRAEL
MASADA
The Anniversary of
the Masada Dig
The fiftieth anniversary of the largest
archaeological excavation every conducted is
a time to reflect on all that has been learned
from it. > by Yadin Roman
A
Above:
A view of Masada
from the east.
(Mossi Armon)
t six in the morning on October 13, 1963, a
stream of volunteers began to assemble in the
10-month-old town of Arad, which overlooks the
Judean Desert.
“They arrived by bus, or hitchhiked, with rucksacks, suitcases, banjos and typewriters, in shorts,
jeans, slacks, and skirts,” wrote Jerusalem Post
reporter Daniel Gavron, who had come to record the
event, “Bearded and bespectacled, clean shaven and
clear-eyed, they came from all over Israel and all over
the world.”
They had come to volunteer at the biggest archaeo-
6 | Holyland Journal
logical expedition ever mounted in Israel: the excavation of Masada.
“For Israel, then, this expedition is more than an
archaeological dig,” wrote London Observer correspondent Patrick O’Donovan, who had been sent by
David Astor, the Observer’s owner, to report on the
dig. The Observer had supported the expedition in
return for exclusive coverage of the finds. “It is an act
of piety. In its own terrible right, Masada presents a
challenge to the present that Israel could not refuse,”
O’Donovan reported.
The dig, led by archaeologist Yigael Yadin, under
the auspices of the Israel Exploration Society (IES),
was much more than an archaeological excavation. It
was a project that allowed Israelis to connect to a historical heritage still shrouded in mystery. Yadin added
a special aura to the dig. He had been the Israel
Defence Forces’ (IDF) chief operations officer during „
Experience
The Sea of Galilee
MASADA
the War of Independence. After the war, he served as
the IDF’s second chief of staff. Resigning from the
army following disagreements with David BenGurion, who was both the prime minister and the
defence minister of Israel at the time, Yadin returned
to university to complete his degree in archaeology
and spent time at the British Museum in London, collecting information for his research on biblical warfare. During this time, he was involved in the purchase of four of the seven full Dead Sea Scrolls – the
first three of the intact scrolls had been acquired by
his father, professor Eleazar Sukenik, eight years earlier. On his return to Israel, Yadin organized the excavations of biblical Hazor, the biggest excavation held
until that time in the Land of Israel. In 1960 and again
in 1961, he headed one of the four teams that surveyed the almost inaccessible caves in the cliffs of
the Judean Desert in a search for ancient remains.
Concentrating his efforts on the cliffs of the Hever
Riverbed, south of Ein Gedi, he unearthed a group of
letters and documents from the second-century AD
Jewish rebellion against Rome that was led by Bar
Kokhba. The letters, signed by Bar Kokhba himself,
provided the first evidence that this enigmatic and
shadowy hero actually had existed.
Masada was not just another archaeological site.
Since the 1920s, the desert fortress, on top of a rock
completely surrounded by sheer cliffs, had drawn the
pioneering Jewish youth of nascent Israel. In 1923,
first-century AD Jewish historian Josephus Flavius’
dramatic account of the rebellion against Rome, The
Jewish War, was translated into Hebrew from its
original Greek. For the first time, Jewish pioneers in
the Land of Israel, looking for direction and a connection to the land, could read the story of the Jewish
revolt against the Romans, which ended with the
Jewish rebels’ tragic final stand on the isolated fortress of Masada and their suicide in order not to be
enslaved by Rome. Then, four years after the translation of The Jewish War was published, Yizhak
Lamdan, one of the fathers of modern Hebrew poetry,
published the first section of his epic poem
“Massadah,” with its vivid image of Jewish pioneers
dancing around a bonfire at the top of the mountain,
proclaiming, “Masada shall not fall again.”
Masada was rediscovered by American biblical
scholar Edward Robinson in 1838, during a trip to
Ein Gedi. Robinson did not actually reach Masada
himself. But following his discovery, other nineteenth-century researchers managed to climb to the
top of the rock and make note of the remains of the
Roman siege wall, ramp, and camps around the fortress as well as the ruined remains on the summit. In
1912, the Jewish Teachers Seminary in Jerusalem
began to organize trips to Masada, arriving at the
inaccessible rock by boat via the Dead Sea. By the
1930s, the hike to Masada had become a central feature in the activities of the Jewish youth movements
and in the training of the pre-state clandestine fighting unit, the Palmah.
In 1951, legendary Palmah fighter Shmaryahu
MASADA
Guttman began promoting visits to and research of
Masada. This was followed by the discoveries of the
Snake Path that led to the summit and Herod’s amazing palace suspended on the cliff. In 1955 and again
in 1956, following Guttman’s reports on the remains
at Masada, two 10-day archaeological surveys and
excavations were launched. Following these initial
surveys, it was clear that a major excavation was
needed – and that it would require a massive logistical. It would take another 10 years to persuade Yadin,
perhaps the only archaeologist with the organizational
abilities to conduct the excavation, to do so.
Yadin’s charisma enabled him to persuade the
London Observer that this was a story well worth
carrying. Following a few months of thrilling stories
about Masada and the soon-to-be-launched expedition, the London Observer published a call for volunteers. Thousands of applications from 30 countries
flooded the offices of the newspaper in London and
of the IES in Jerusalem.
The excavations lasted for two seven-month seasons, in 1963 and 1964. They yielded an unprecedented amount of finds and data, including 12 ancient
manuscripts, 750 inscribed pottery shards, a million
and a half other shards of pottery, and 4,000 coins. „
Let Him Feed Your Soul Where He Fed The Five Thousand.
Below: Prof. Yigael Yadin leads prime minister David Ben-Gurion down stairs at
Masada. (GPO/Fritz Cohen)
Experience
Tabgha
www.walkwherejesuswalked.com | 9
MASADA
Directions
Nes Ammim is located between Akko and
Route 4, near Moshav Regba and Kibbutz
Above: The lower
terrace of Herod's
cliffside palace
(top and center)
and a mosaic floor
in the western
palace. (Mossi
Armon)
The finds provided the modern world with a better
understanding of king Herod and the palaces that he
built, of Roman siege methods (since the remains of
the Masada siege works are the most complete
remains of a Roman siege that have survived to this
date), and of Jewish life, religious beliefs, and customs in the generation after Jesus.
Following the excavations, Yadin wrote a popular
book on the finds and moved on to other fields. He
passed away in 1984. The excavation and research of
Masada is still underway, together with the massive
project of publishing the final reports, of which eight
volumes have been published to date.
Yadin came to Masada with the purpose of solving
the enigma of the Jewish rebels’ last stand: what really happened on Masada in 73 AD; why did the
Romans decide to invest such great effort in capturing
the fortress and its defenders; who were the defenders; who built Masada; and what happened to the
remains of the defenders.
Today, while many still prefer to climb the Snake
Path to Masada, the summit can be reached by cable
car. Though most of the buildings collapsed over the
ages due to earthquakes and the passage of time, all
Nahariya,
east
of materials are still there, enathe stones and
building
bling many HaGeta'ot.
of the walls to be reconstructed using the
Lohamei
original stones. Once through the gate in the wall that
surrounds the fortress, visitors tend to gravitate
towards the northern end of the flat summit where the
huge storerooms, bathhouse, and dramatic cliff-hanging northern palace can be seen. In the center and
western side are the remains of water cisterns, a small
Byzantine church, Herod’s main palace on the mountain, and a synagogue built by the rebels. The remains
of the Roman camps, the siege wall, and the great
ramp that was built in order to invade the fortress can
be seen some 900 feet below – as if the Romans had
just left. Most visitors miss the southern part of the
summit. Far from the crowds, it boasts a huge cistern
that can be entered. This cistern illuminated Herod’s
skill in providing water for Masada, notwithstanding
its desert location (the fortress even had a swimming
pool and fresh vegetables were raised in the open
space in the centre of the summit).
That said, the main reason for visiting this part of
the mountain is at the summit’s south-western tip.
Here are the remains of a fortified bastion that sits
right on the cliff face, overlooking the majestic ravine
to the south of Masada. Another Roman camp sits on
the top of the mountain on the other side of the
ravine. The siege wall that runs around the entire
mountain also can be seen clearly from this point.
This is the place where the battle of Masada can be
fully understood. With all the sheer cliffs all around,
there was no protection or escape. Day after day, the
Roman ramp inched its way up the cliff, on the way
to breaking in to what seemed an impregnable fortress – and there was no escape. Stand on the edge of
the cliff, with the wind whistling through the metal
guardrail and the desert all around, the story of
Masada suddenly takes on a whole new meaning. 0
This fall, ERETZ Magazine, the magazine of Israel, will publish a special album dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary
of the famous dig – with in-depth articles based on interviews of the archaeologists involved in the excavations
and new insights. The album also will focus on the thousands of volunteers that dug at Masada. If you were a
volunteer at Masada during one of the digs, or know someone who was, please send an email to yadin.eretz@
gmail.com. Reminiscences, comments, and pictures will be most welcome.
Nes Ammim Hotel
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The rooms are cozy, equipped with highquality comfortable beds, central air
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meeting rooms and events facilities and
hotel's restaurant which serves diverse
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Nes Ammim – D.N. Western Galilee 22801 Tel: 04-9950000 Fax: 04-9950098
E-Mail: [email protected] ● www.nesammim.com
A
monumental synagogue building
dating to the Late Roman Period
(approximately the fourth and fifth centuries AD) has been discovered in
archaeological excavations at Huqoq in
the Lower Galilee.
The excavations are being conducted
by Jodi Magness, the Kenan distinguished professor in the religious studies
department of the University of North
Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, and
David Amit and Shua Kisilevitz, both of
the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA),
under the sponsorship of UNC, Brigham
Young University in Utah, Trinity
University in Texas, the University of
Oklahoma, and the University of Toronto
in Canada. Students and staff from the
schools are participating in the dig.
Excavations began in the summer of
2011 and are scheduled to continue in
the summer of 2013.
Huqoq, which also is spelled Yaquq,
Huqqoq, and Hukok, is an ancient
Jewish village located a few miles west
of Capernaum and Migdal (Magdala).
Nearby Kibbutz Hukok was founded in
1945 near the Arab village of Yaquq,
which was abandoned shortly after that
during the War of Independence.
Biblical Huqoq is mentioned in the
Book of Joshua as being in the territory
of the tribe of Naftali. It has been identified at Khirbet Huqoq, the hill towering
above the remains of the Arab village of
Yaquq, which probably sits on the site of
a Jewish village from the times of the
Mishna and the Talmud. The Jerusalem
Talmud mentions Huqoq in connection
to the sages who lived in the town and
archaeologists have uncovered a network
of subterranean rooms and tunnels there
that probably is from the Jewish revolts
against the Romans that occurred during
the period when the Talmud was being
redacted.
The existence of a synagogue at
Khirbet Huqoq is mentioned in the fourteenth-century book, Kaftor Vaferah,
written by Rabbi Estori Haparhi (Isaac
Ben Moses), who lived in Beit She’an.
(Jim Haberman)
Archaeological surveys in the area also
have brought to light architectural
remains that could be attributed to a synagogue. This summer, during the second
season of excavations, a portion of the
synagogue finally was discovered.
The highlight of the discovery is a
stunning mosaic floor in the synagogue
building. The mosaic, which is made of
tiny coloured stone cubes of the highest
quality, includes a scene depicting
Samson placing torches between the tails
of foxes, as related in the Book of Judges
15. In another part of the mosaic, two
human faces (apparently female) flank a
circular medallion with a Hebrew
inscription that refers to rewards for
those who perform good deeds.
“This discovery is significant because
only a small number of ancient [Late
Roman] synagogue buildings are decorated with mosaics showing biblical
scenes and only two others have scenes
with Samson [one is at a site just a couple of miles from Huqoq],” Magness
said. “Our mosaics are also important
because of their high artistic quality and
the tiny size of the mosaic cubes. This,
together with the monumental size of the
stones used to construct the synagogue’s
walls, suggests a high level of prosperity
in this village, as the building clearly
was very costly.” 0
ERETZ Staff
Photo: Amos Ben Gershon. The Government Press Office
Ornate Ancient
Synagogue Discovered
(Jim Haberman)
ARCHAEOLOGY
Ruth Youth Wing for Art Education
Shrine of the Book
Samuel and Saidye Bronfman
Archaeology Wing
Model of Jerusalem in the
Second Temple Period
Edmond and Lily Safra Fine Arts Wing
Billy Rose Art Garden
Herod the Great:
The King’s Final Journey
Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Wing
for Jewish Art and Life
www.imj.org.il
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
OLD CITIES
OLD CITIES
The Timeless Souk
of Nazareth
Though the souk in the Old City of Nazareth sells a rainbow of fruits, vegetables, clothing,
and tourist trinkets like most other markets, its history, religious sites, and culinary gems
make it unique. > by Yadin Roman Photography: Jamie Lee Avraham Nachum and Sophie Conn-Taylor
T
he heart of any old city is its market.
Always near the most important
building in town, usually the castle or
royal residence, it was the lifeblood of
the community. Nazareth’s market, however, developed a little differently.
Nazareth was never a city, at least not in
the way that large urban communities
are defined. It was not located on a
major highway or ancient trade route;
nor was it a centre for a certain kind of
produce.
Nazareth was a village with an important Christian site that became famous
during the Byzantine period and again
during the Crusades, with interest peaking at times when the major pilgrimage
routes to Bethlehem and Jerusalem were
inaccessible due to political restrictions.
As a result, it developed a market that
served pilgrims to the city and is not
located in the centre of the Old City, but
in the alleyways leading to the Basilica
of the Annunciation and the other major
Christian sites.
Today the market is a mix of rougharound-the-edges Ottoman-period buildings with florid Arabic interiors scattered
along a maze of narrow passageways.
These buildings offer a glimpse into the
grand lifestyles of Nazareth’s wealthy
landowners.
The market developed in the seventeenth century and was divided into sections, with each section named after the
trades plied in its shops. It included a
paint market, a goldsmiths’ market, a
carpenters’ market, a brides’ market, and
a vegetable market, among other sections. There was also the Protestants’
Market, which belonged to the Protestant
religious trust, and the el-Khan Market,
which derived its name from its proximity to the el-Basha caravansary.
In the nineteenth century, Nazareth
also became a regional centre and the
Ottoman authorities headquartered various government offices in it. Between
1873 and 1875, German settlers paved
the first modern road in the area between
Haifa and Nazareth. As a result, the
number of merchants in the city
increased and many camel convoys carrying grain and corn passed through
Nazareth on their way from the Golan
Heights to the coastal cities. Nazareth
soon became a market centre for the surrounding villages and supplied farmers
with many services.
TOURING THE MARKET
Begin the tour of the market in the Old
City of Nazareth at Bishop’s Square
(also known as al-Mutran Square). Walk
along Street 6098 towards the heart of
the Old City of Nazareth. Continue along
Street 6112, take a left on Street 6132,
and then take an immediate right onto
Facing page: Colorful shops line the narrow alley leading from the Synagogue Church to the Church of the Annunciation.
Above: The barber shop at the entrance to the market.
Street 6130 to reach Brides’ Market.
Brides’ Market
Brides’ Market is a lane in the market
which was once full of life, colour, jewellery, and bridal stores. It was customary for the bride and groom to shop here
for their wedding attire and gold rings.
Today, sadly, there are only four or five
remaining shops, as the rest closed due
to lack of business.
Follow Street 6130 to the end and turn
left onto Street 6131, which leads to the
Vegetable Market.
Vegetable Market
The Vegetable Market was built in 1961.
Chefs, locals, and gourmets flock here to
buy the season’s best fruits, vegetables,
and herbs, such as hyssop, mallow, okra,
baby zucchini, and olives. The market is
liveliest on Fridays and Saturdays.
Fahoum Family Mansion
The Fahoum clan, which resides in the
Moslem Quarter, is among Nazareth’s
wealthiest and most influential families.
Until the establishment of the State of
Israel, the family had extensive landholdings in the Jezreel Valley. In 1946,
Yousef Fahoum was elected mayor of
Nazareth. The largest of the Fahoum
family mansions, which also is said to be
the largest private home in the city, overlooks the Vegetable Market.
Follow Street 6131 to Street 6133,
take a right in the direction of the market
square and turn right on Street 6129, following it through the city market until it
hits Street 6120. Then turn left to reach
the Synagogue Church.
Synagogue Church
Enter the courtyard and turn left toward
an opening and seven steps leading
down into the arched, stone church hall.
The church was built in the twelfth century by the Crusaders and is believed to
be built upon a synagogue where Jesus
once prayed. It is said that after he delivered a sermon here, the people of
Nazareth attempted to throw him off a
nearby mountain. Until the eighteenth
century, the church was under the control of the Franciscans; then, in 1741,
Ottoman ruler Dahir al-Omar handed it
over to the Greek Catholic church. Today
the church belongs to the Melchite
Greek Catholics (Tel.: (04) 656-8488)
and their parish church built in 1887 is
adjacent to it. Visitors can enter the
Synagogue Church, light a candle, and
say a prayer.
The Church of the
Annunciation
From the Synagogue Church, proceed to
the Church of the Annunciation. It is the
parish church of Nazareth’s Greek
Orthodox community. Its name recalls
the event for which Nazareth has become
such a celebrated pilgrimage site.
Continue through the market to Street
6152 and then turn left onto Street 6133,
which leads to the White Mosque.
The White Mosque
The White Mosque is Nazareth’s historic
mosque and the only one in the town
until 1964. It is located in the Mosque
Quarter, in the centre of the market, and
is distinguishable by its pencil-shaped
minaret. Its name is said to derive from
its white limestone and from the purity
that it represents. The Turkish building
was built in 1812, during the reign of
Suleiman Pasha. There are claims that
the mosque was built even earlier, possibly in the days of Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar. During renovation work, a commemwww.walkwherejesuswalked.com | 15
„
Three Special
Holy Land Tours
OLD CITIES
orative plaque for an event in 1804 was
discovered on a wall.
Suleiman’s successor, Abdullah, handed over the mosque to Sheikh Amin alFahoum and today it belongs to the
Fahoum family religious trust. Sheikh
Abdullah’s tomb is in the mosque’s
courtyard. In 2000, it was restored by a
group of restoration students from
Venice under the auspices of Ataf
Fahoum, who is in charge of the
mosque’s religious foundation.
From the White Mosque, walk right
down Street 6134 toward Abu Ashraf.
Everyone welcome
Abu Ashraf (Deewan
al-Saraya)
In The Footsteps of Samson
On the right side, amidst the fruit and
vegetable shops, visitors will find
Deewan al-Saraya, otherwise known as
Abu Ashraf. This quirky café in the heart
of the Old City is renowned for its
kataifi, an Arabic sweet usually served
during Ramadan. The owner, Ali, prides
himself on making them all year round.
He prepares them every morning, filling
the pancakes with homemade sheep’s
cheese or crushed pistachios. In addition
to serving traditional hummus, falafel,
and baklava, Abu Ashraf also offers coffee, freshly roasted in a wooden oven at
the back of the shop. Ali often shows
guests his collection of some 1,500
antiques and tells them tales of the old
neighbourhood, his family, and the 300year-old building in which his café is
located.
3-10 November 2013
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Jeff Lucas leads a tour to Israel
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4-11 November 2013
Director of the Christian Families Ministries – Rev
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The Saraya
The saraya was the region’s governmental centre in Ottoman times; some of its
rooms were used as a prison. The small
square tower at the corner of the building is evidence of the Italian influence
on Nazareth’s architecture. City hall was
located here until 1972, when the municipality needed larger offices. The complex now is closed to visitors.
Follow Street 6135 until it meets elBishara Street and take a left and look
out for the Elbabour spices mill on the
right side.
Elbabour Galilee Mill
The Elbabour Galilee Mill is a familyrun business that has been operating in
Nazareth for over a century. Walk down
a stone staircase into an old mill factory,
where sacks and baskets filled with spices, herbs, oils, grains, teas, and seeds
line the rooms. Tony Kanaza and his
Operated by Travelink
Facing page: Nazareth offers a variety of delicacies from freshly shelled peas (top) to
multicoloured candy (bottom).
brother Jarjoura are the third generation
of the family to manage the store. The
250-year-old
building
originally
belonged to the German Templers. Upon
their departure, the brothers’ grandfather
opened the mill. The mill functioned as
a place to sell, buy, and grind crops. It
was hard to find a mill at the time and
farmers would travel from far and wide
to Elbabour, often spending a whole day
here. As a result, the backyard was used
for the farmers’ animals to rest, with a
well from which they would drink. The
mill originally was located outside
Nazareth, but the city developed around
it and it now is located in what is consid-
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ered the heart of the city. The name
derives from the word babour, which
means vapour and refers to the vapour
machines originally brought over from
Europe to dry the grains. Today, with
technological advances, the mill uses
compact machines run on electricity that
are less noisy. Elbabour sells over 1,500
varieties of spices, grains, and more,
making it a popular destination among
chefs. 0
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Sophie Conn-Taylor and Jamie Lee Avraham
Nachum contributed to this article.
This article is excerpted from the ERETZ
Magazine Guide to Nazareth (publication pending).
For more details call:
020 8931 8811 or 01938 561604
email: [email protected]
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ARCHAEOLOGY
ARCHAEOLOGY
New Palace Discovered
in Tel Hazor
The latest findings in Hazor heat up the alreadytorrid debate about the historical accuracy of the
biblical narrative. > by Yadin Roman
T
Above:
The pithoi
discovered in
Hazor containing
burnt grain.
(Courtesy of
Sharon Zuckerman)
el Hazor, in the Hula Valley, is at the heart of a
heated academic feud that has been simmering for
decades in the world of biblical archaeology. From
the 1830s, when Edward Robinson first came to the
Land of Israel, with the Bible in hand, and set out to
identify the sites mentioned in the scriptures biblical
archaeology has been about fitting the finds in the
field to the biblical record. When Yigael Yadin set out
to excavate Tel Hazor in 1955, he was at the helm of
the largest archaeological expedition ever fielded,
with abundant funding, with the goal of rediscovering
a great biblical citadel.
For Yadin, who was the most prominent of the classical archaeologists, the biblical description of
Joshua’s conquest of Hazor, which was referred to as
the “head of all the kingdoms” in the Book of Joshua,
was an event whose on-the-ground testimony was
waiting to be discovered, together with the grand
buildings that the Bible tells Solomon and Ahab had
constructed in Hazor.
During the excavations, Yohanan Aharoni, already
identified discrepancies between the findings and the
monolithic description of the conquest of Hazor in
the Book of Joshua and the subsequent Israelite settlement on the conquered city’s ruins. Surveys and
excavations that he conducted in the mountains
around Hazor indicated a different settlement pattern.
Instead of a conquest by warring tribes, Aharoni
found evidence of the creation of small settlements in
the mountains around Hazor. These small settlements
grew slowly and, after a lengthy period of time,
expanded to the ruins of Hazor – which had been
destroyed not by Joshua and the Israelites, but by
much bigger and more powerful forces.
Aharoni was from Tel Aviv University, while Yadin
was from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; the
battle lines of the great biblical archaeological feud
had been drawn. The classicists in Jerusalem more or
less supported the veracity of the biblical description:
conquest by the Israelite tribes; setting up of a united
monarchy by David and Solomon; the division into
the two Israelite entities of Samaria and Judea; the
fall of Samaria; the recreation of a united Israelite
entity with a capital in Jerusalem; and the final
demise and fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians. The
Tel Aviv camp, the revisionists, saw the Bible as a
political and cultic document written sometime in the
seventh century BC, about three centuries after the
time of David and Solomon. For the revisionists,
there was no monolithic conquest by a force of united
tribes; the grand kingdom of David and Solomon was
no more than a hilltop chieftainship in the area around
Jerusalem; and the vast territory of the kingdom, from
Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, was more
wishful thinking than fact.
Tel Hazor in the Galilee has been one of the last
grand strongholds of the classicists. For the past half
century, Prof. Amnon Ben-Tor, one of the foremost
representatives of this school of thought, has continued to dig at Hazor. In the last season of excavations,
a new find surfaced which might throw new light on
the decades-old argument. The excavation, headed by
Ben-Tor and Dr. Sharon Zukerman, both from the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has uncovered a
burned palace dated to the thirteenth century BC. In
the storerooms of the 3,400-year-old palace, the
archaeologists found 13 huge storage jars (called
pithoi) that contained burnt grain. The conflagration
coincides with the period during which Joshua was
meant to have conquered Hazor.
The palace, the second one discovered in Hazor,
was built of monumental stones, with cedar of
Lebanon wood interspaced between the layers to give
the walls elasticity during earthquakes.
“This is a very exciting find,” Ben-Tor says,
explaining that the burnt seeds found in the pithoi
enable the archaeologists to use carbon-14 dating to
determine when the fire occurred.
“The fire was set by nomads or semi-nomads,” he
says, “who would later be called Israelites.”
Zukerman, however, has a slightly different theory
regarding the fire. She attributes the burning of the
grand administrative palace to internal struggles in
the city.
“There is a gap of 100-150 years between the
destruction of Hazor and the settlement of the
Israelites in the city. Whoever destroyed the city
abandoned it. The Israelites settled on the site much
later,” she says.
Zukerman claims that the destruction of Hazor was
the culmination of a process. Some of the public
buildings were abandoned before the destruction,
parts of the buildings were dismantled, and it seems
that at the end there was no central government or
ruler in the city, she says.
The remains of a conflagration only have been
found in Hazor’s public buildings: the palaces,
administrative centres, and temples. Two years ago,
Zukerman excavated a private dwelling in the Lower
City of Hazor and there were no traces of a fire in it.
It seemed that the house had been abandoned in an
orderly fashion.
“It seems,” Zukerman says, “that the rulers and
elite of the city invested their wealth in the building
of magnificent structures, at the expense of the population, the simple folk, who paid taxes, laboured on
the construction of the palaces, and paid the price of
the aggrandizement of the rulers.”
The difference between the vast destruction of the
public buildings and the orderly abandonment of the
homes of the regular population of the city hints at a
different narrative than a conquest by an invading
force.
Ben-Tor feels that the great breakthrough is not
far off. The new evidence that has now come to light
might be the beginning of a new understanding of
the events that took place in Hazor 3,500 years ago
– and, maybe, finally end the grand biblical archaeological controversy.
And of course, there is still the archive. Tablets
from Hazor were found in the ancient archive of
Mari, in Syria, from the eighteenth century BCE.
This, of course, means that there was also a royal
archive in Hazor – that still is waiting to be discovered. The uncovering of a palace that was not known
before in the city gives hope that one day the archive
also will come to light, revealing a wealth of information on the grand city of the north, the “head of
all the kingdoms.” 0
Below:
Excavating the
city of Hazor.
(Yadin Roman)
GALILEE
A Dip in the Sources
The renowned Yardenit Baptismal Site on the Jordan River has expanded the experience it
offers pilgrims to include biblical meals and a dramatic film about life in the time of Jesus.
(Photographs courtesy of Yardenit/Ron Shelef)
A
baptismal ceremony in the Jordan
River has become one of the highlights of a visit to the holyland for many
pilgrims. The Yardenit Baptismal Site,
just south of where the Jordan River
exits the Sea of Galilee, provides pilgrims with everything they could desire
for this meaningful ceremony, from tranquil baptismal pools with pristine water
to comfortable dressing rooms, robes,
and towels to baptismal certificates.
Entry to the site, which welcomes over 600,000 visitors
from around the world each year,
even is free of charge.
Upon arriving at Yardenit, pilgrims encounter the “Wall of
New Life,” which runs from the
entrance to the river and then
continues along its banks.
Designed by Armenian artist
Hagop Antreassian, it consists
of ceramic panels featuring the
New Testament verses (Mark
1:9-11) that describe the baptism
of Jesus in over 70 languages
and dialects.
A new riverside promenade
was added to the site recently. It
is beautifully landscaped with
indigenous flora to facilitate a
contemplative stroll along the
Jordan River. The promenade
offers three new spots for small
gatherings and contemplation.
Yardenit also recently expanded its facilities to provide pil20 | Holyland Journal
grims with a better sense of what life
was like in the Galilee during the time of
Jesus. A new film with spectacular photography takes viewers back to the first
century AD and offers a peek into the
ancient way of life on the Jordan River
around the time of the ministry of Jesus
in the Galilee.
After watching the 17-minute film that
features a family enjoying a festive
Sabbath meal, guests are invited to the
Manna restaurant to continue the virtual
meal in real time. Staff in period costumes serve guests from the earthenware
dishes that appear in the film. The meal
is made from ingredients mentioned in
the Bible (“A land of wheat and barley
and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey”
[Deuteronomy 8:8]) and prepared to
please modern palates. Olive oil accompanies the entire meal, and the spirit of
King Solomon’s Song of Songs
imbues various dishes on the
menu. Tilapia, which later
became known as Saint Peter’s
fish, is a local fish and it naturally forms the foundation of the
meal. Diners also can enjoy
“fowl” or “a calf tender and
good” (Genesis 18:7).
Manna also relied on the
Jerusalem Talmud, which was
compiled during the first few
centuries AD, for information
on the food culture of the time.
Archaeological findings from
the area and from Rome as well
as the richly detailed cookbook
of the Roman gourmet, Apicius,
shed further light on the period’s
culinary habits. All this comes
together to enrich the Yardenit
experience. 0
ERETZ Staff
Yardenit Baptismal Site
www.yardenit.com
Tel.: (04) 675-9111
CAESAREA
The Promontory Castle
A conversation with Dr. Kathryn Gleason about Herod’s palace in Caesarea
Above: The
promontory
castle in
Caesarea. (Doron
Horowitz/ERETZ
Magazine archive)
T
he sandstone reef that projects into the sea to the
west of the theatre and hippodrome has attracted
the attention of those exploring the antiquities of
Caesarea from the day archaeological excavations
began there. The large square pool in the centre of the
reef that the original Arab population and the members of Kibbutz Sedot Yam referred to as Cleopatra’s
pool back in the old days was described as a fishermen’s pond that was related to fishing or to the “sea
villa.” Lee I. Levine and Ehud Netzer spent three seasons, starting in 1975, excavating Caesarea on behalf
of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem. At the end of the third season, they also explored the reef and uncovered the
remains of four rooms, three of which were paved
with mosaic floors. As the excavation progressed, it
became clear that this palace had been constructed in
several stages and that it had a flight of stairs in the
back that led to a second floor or to the rest of the
palace. Signs also were found of a huge conflagration
that may have destroyed the entire building.
The mosaic in the palace’s central room was an
imitation of an opus sectile marble floor. Similar
floors had been discovered in Herod’s third palace in
Jericho. Excavations around the pool revealed a net-
work of canals, from which it can be concluded that
the pool originally was filled with fresh water.
Netzer thought that this structure was Herod’s palace in Caesarea. At the time, Kathryn Gleason was
working with Netzer in Jericho and Herodium. She
and Barbara Burrel, of the University of Cincinnati,
were looking for a site that could be used to conduct
a study excavation for students. Netzer suggested that
they excavate the building on the reef, now termed
the promontory palace. The first excavation began in
1990 and continued for six seasons. The University of
Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and
Anthropology in Philadelphia, US, and the Institute
of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem sponsored it.
The excavations revealed that the palace had two
wings – a lower wing on the promontory and an upper
wing on the beach. The lower wing was built around
the pool at the heart of a handsome garden. The two
wings of the palace actually had two different purposes. The upper wing was the palace’s public section,
the lower wing was the private section that was
reserved solely for the king and his guests.
“It is not coincidence that Herod built his palaces
in dramatic locations,” Gleason says. “That was part
of his personality – to wrestle with nature, with the
environment and to make a mark on the landscape.”
“Pools are found at all of Herod’s palaces and in a
desert land, that is a demonstration of ability… of
being able to bring water from afar and use it to create a large, decorative pool surrounded by greenery,”
Gleason adds.
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Garden City
“One must pay attention to the complex of gardens at
Herod’s palaces,” Gleason says. “The Roman period
was the first time that gardens were built for decoration. These were not orchards in which fruit trees,
vegetables, and herbs were grown, but pleasure gardens.”
“The Roman garden filled an important purpose,”
Gleason says. “It was possible to stroll in them, to
walk alongside the pools and between the rows of
columns, and to converse. That was part of the
Roman cultural world, and part of the innovations
that Herod introduced to the land.”
It is hard to say who influenced whom – did Herod
influence the Roman gardens or did they influence
Herod – but it is clear that there was cross-fertilization between west and east, between the kingdom of
Judea and Rome. There was a reason that Marcus
Vipsanius Agrippa sent a team of architects and construction workers to Herod after his visit to the kingdom of Judea. This team did not come only to create
„
and build, but also to learn from Herod’s works.
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29/05/2013 15:12
CAESAREA
Above: Reconstruction of Herod’s palace in Caesarea. (Kevin Gill, Kathryn Gleason)
“Herod’s gardens are one of the most important
sources for understanding how gardens developed in
the Roman world and how they spread from there
throughout the western world in general,” Gleason
says. “It is interesting to note that after Augustus, it
actually was Vespasian and Titus who were the
emperors who built large gardens. Both of them had
been in Judea and were familiar with what Herod had
built.”
The excavation of the palace at Caesarea turned up
many finds that shed light on daily life, such as handsome sets of dishes, oil lamps, and more. The palace
was used for several hundred years and on into
Byzantine times. After the reign of Agrippa I, it
apparently was used by the Roman governor of Judea,
who resided in Caesarea. One of the interesting finds
from later times that was discovered there was the
“cursing well,” which was found to contain numerous
small lead tablets that each had a curse inscribed on
it. The curse that was thrown into this “well of Hell”
made its way into the depths of the earth where it
aroused the demons to act against those whose names
were inscribed on it.
The most dramatic use of Herod’s palace at
Caesarea, however, was long before that, during the
reign of Herod’s grandson, Agrippa I. At the end of
the third year of his reign over the entire kingdom of
Judea, Agrippa I arrived in Caesarea for the festivities
celebrating the anniversary of Augustus’ victory at
Actium. On the second day of the festivities, Agrippa
I dressed in clothing “made completely from silver,”
Josephus writes. He went to the theatre early in the
morning, when the first rays of sunlight shone on his
silvery clothing. Surrounded by the shouting masses,
the king suddenly felt ill. (“He felt pain in his heart
and suddenly pain roiled his intestines,” Josephus
writes.) When the pain grew, “he was quickly brought
to the palace and a rumour spread among all the people that Agrippa I was going to die very soon.” The
masses put on sackcloth and prayed to God to protect
the king.
Five days later, the king died at the age of 54, seven
years after he had been crowned king, first of the
Galilee and later over all of Judea. But the happenings in Caesarea did not end with Agrippa I’s death.
When they learned of the king’s death, soldiers that
were in Caesarea at the time raided the palace “and
stole the statues of the king’s daughters, setting them
up in a brothel where all sorts of disgraceful things
were done to them,” Josephus writes in Antiquities of
the Jews, (Chapter 19, 343-359). After the king’s
death, the Roman emperor appointed Claudius to
serve as the governor of Judea. When he arrived in
Caesarea, he punished the residents of the city and
the soldiers for the disrespect they had shown Agrippa
I and the lewd way they had treated his daughters. 0
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GALILEE
GALILEE
The King’s Stronghold
One of the only two communities in Israel that is home exclusively to Catholics, the village
of Mi’ilya in the Galilee is built around a twelfth-century fortress that reverberates with
tales of Crusader kings and dukes. Plus it has fine examples of traditional architecture,
talented artisans, and warm hospitality. > By ERETZ Staff Photography: Yadin Roman
local council building. Tall, thin, and energetic, he
served as the director of the National Insurance
Institute’s offices in Nahariyya until he retired a few
years ago. His family has been in Mi’ilya for generations, arriving there from Lebanon along with the
other Greek Christians in the seventeenth century.
Until the beginning of the British Mandate, most of
Mi’ilya’s residents were farmers who cultivated
olives on the village’s lands, which extended over
17,500 acres. During mandate times, they began to
study in Haifa and Beirut. New professions subsequently appeared in the village, such as accounting,
law, and engineering.
The restored ancient church of Mi’ilya is among
the most beautiful in the Galilee. The church was
built on the ancient tell of Mi’ilya, upon which the
Crusader fortress also was built. A major earthquake
in 1837 severely damaged it and it was repaired some
two decades later. The church has a handsome iconostasis that is several hundred years old with icons of
Greek saints, a reminder of the days when the Greek
Catholics were still part of the Greek Orthodox
church. The large pipe organ on the other side of the
hall, however, is a hint to its affiliation with the
Catholic church. The view from the edge of the
square surrounding the church is impressive. The
mountains and settlements of the Galilee are spread
out below. Older buildings peek out between the new,
offering glimpses of impressive columns, cornerstones, and long-sealed arched apertures.
The Duke from Edessa
A
Above:
The Crusader
fortress in the
centre of Mi’ilya.
winding road leads from the highway into the village of Mi’ilya in the western Galilee. As it
approaches the centre of the village, the number of
old stone houses standing alongside the road increases. Amazingly well preserved, they are the pride of
traditional Galilean architecture with their arched
double windows, sturdy stone walls, and external
staircases. Unlike the city houses, the traditional village home has three stories with a thatched roof and
no ceiling. The house’s lower floor usually is below
street level and until modern times, often was home
to a cow or two, chickens, a few goats and sheep, and
a donkey or mule. The second level is the main living
area. One corner usually has a hearth with a chimney
and a fire would be maintained in another corner for
kindling it. The smoke would escape through a hole
in the ceiling. At night, mats and bedding would be
removed from a storage niche in the wall and spread
on the floor. Food and seeds for the next agricultural
season would be stored in large bins built from mud
bricks along this floor’s walls.
High above the animals on the lower level is a
wooden gallery that is reached by ladder from the
residential level. The gallery traditionally was used to
store dried fruits and vegetables, to dry tobacco, and
to host guests. Older family members also would
sleep there – the owners of the house or their parents.
Israelis, Arabs,
and Greek Catholics
Mi’ilya is a Greek Catholic village. It is one of the
only two communities in Israel whose residents are
exclusively Catholic. The village’s lands extend over
7,500 acres, a relatively large area in comparison to
its population, but most of the land is not used for
agriculture. Most residents are educated and work in
the free professions, earning a comfortable living. In
recent years, they have become interested in the village’s heritage and historic value, spurring the preservation of old houses and restoration of agricultural
and domestic tools that were in use only a generation
ago. The enthusiasm over tourism in Mi’ilya is less
about its economic potential and more about local
pride and a desire to preserve Galilean traditions that
have disappeared from many places as modernity
progressed.
We follow the steep highway up to the Crusader
fortress that is in the centre of the city and where the
village’s main church and the local council headquarters are. George Matta awaits us at the entrance to the
The fortress’s history is somewhat shadowy. It was
built at the beginning of the twelfth century by
Crusader royalty and known as Castlum Regum in
Latin and Chateau do Roi in French. In 1160, it was
the heart of a large agricultural estate that extended
over a large swath of the western Galilee and included 36 villages. Duke Joscelin III of Edessa built the
fortress whose remains dominate the centre of the village. Edessa was the largest of the Crusader kingdoms established after the First Crusade. It extended
over the land surrounding the city of Edessa, which
today is Sanliurfa in Turkey. However, Edessa fell in
1146 after a long battle and pirates captured Joscelin
II, the last duke of Edessa, as he was en route to
Antioch to seek help. The pirates sold Joscelin II to
Nur al-Din, his Moslem enemy, who took him to
Aleppo and blinded him before an applauding crowd.
The duke spent the next nine years, until his death in
1159, as a prisoner in the depths of an Aleppo fortress. His son, Joscelin III, then officially became the
duke of Edessa, but without a duchy.
Luck played into the hands of Joscelin III thanks to
his beautiful sister, Agnes of Courtenay. At 14, she
married Renaud of Marash, a local knight from
Edessa. After he fell in battle in 1149, she was
engaged – and some say married – to Hugh of Ibelin,
the richest noble in the Crusader Kingdom of
Jerusalem. Then, in 1157, Moslems captured Hugh of
Ibelin. While Agnes was waiting in Ibelin to learn his
fate, she was kidnapped by Amalric, the count of
Jaffa and Ashkelon, and the crown prince. When
Crusader King Baldwin II died suddenly in 1162,
Amalric should have inherited the throne. However,
the Crusader nobility objected to accepting Agnes as
their queen, not only because Edessa was no more,
but also and mainly because Amalric married her
while she was still involved with Hugh of Ibelin.
They couple decided to divorce. The divorce settlement awarded Agnes with Jaffa and her brother with
Mi’ilya.
Joscelin III rebuilt the fortress at Mi’ilya and
bought the surrounding land and estates. His Galilean
estate became one of the largest in the kingdom and
the children of Agnes and Amalric – Baldwin IV and
Sibylla – both sat on the throne of the Crusader
Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Today a paved stepped path leads from the heights of
the fortress to the houses of the village below. A large
khan hidden behind a lovely and impressive entrance
stands at the top of the slope. Salma Asaf and her husband acquired the building and are restoring it layer
by layer, room by room. The couple hopes to turn it
into a small boutique hotel.
On the slope of the fortress, some 200 meters to the
north, is Hanna Kasis’s home, one of the finest traditional stone houses in the village. The house still has
a traditional wood ceiling, double windows with a
column in the middle, and thick wooden doors.
Further down the street, Salim Araf and his wife
operate the village chocolate shop and cafe, where
they make pralines and sell Belgian chocolate. Mar
Elias Street, which means Saint George Street, is the
most beautiful street in Mi’ilya. It is lined with traditional stone buildings, most of which have been rehabilitated, and leads to what was the village centre in
the nineteenth century.
Mi’ilya does not yet have official tourism sites, but
it still is worthwhile to veer off the highway into the
village and drive up to the heights of the fortress visit
the church and stroll along the ancient alleys.0
Below: The
church and
fortress were
built upon the
ancient tell.
HIKE
HIKE
Hiking the Trail
Even though the trail can be walked along in segments, the real enjoyment of it comes from doing the
full four-day trek around the lake. The route is not
difficult: there are no mountains to climb (except one
tell) and there is no strenuous walking. To really
enjoy the experience, it is recommended to hike along
the trail for about four hours early in the morning (5
a.m. to 9 a.m.) and then spend the rest of the day
relaxing on one of the beaches.
Hiking shoes, hats, sunglasses, and sufficient water
is a must. In the summer, a bus service runs around
the lake, making every segment easily accessible.
Before setting out, it is recommended to contact
Asaban at [email protected] for guides,
updates, details on treks, and a trail map in
Hebrew - all free of charge. The Sea of Galilee
Trail is colour coded black, purple, and white.
Day One
Tiberias to Heptapegon – 9 miles
One of the most exciting hiking paths is now almost complete and open to the public: the
35-mile Sea of Galilee Trail, which goes around the Sea of Galilee, passing through some of
the most significant historic and spiritual landscapes in the Holy Land on the way.
> by Yadin Roman
A
decade ago, the Society for the Protection of
Nature in Israel (SPNI) started a campaign to
open the beaches and lakefront of the Sea of Galilee
to the public. Even though the law stipulates that seafronts and lakefronts must be open to the public, various bodies have sliced up portions of the Sea of
Galilee lakefront for private or commercial use for
many decades. The SPNI checked out the situation
around the lake and submitted an eye-opening report.
The SPNI found 190 fences along the Sea of
Galilee’s 35-mile shoreline that barred free access to
nearly all of the beaches along it. Many of the beaches had been taken over by private individuals or villages around the lake without any authorization; various structures, including entire buildings, were being
built around the lake without any building permits;
there was not even one beach open to the public free
of charge; and over 20 different government agencies
were responsible for the lake, operating not only
without coordination, but even in contradiction of one
another at times.
The SPNI’s report spurred the public to action. The
government responded to the lobbying by creating a
single agency, the Sea of Galilee Drainage and River
Authority, to coordinate the activities of all agencies
involved with the lake and to return the lake to the
public. The government also enacted the Sea of
Galilee Trail Law, which called for the creation of a
hiking trail around the lake.
During the last 10 years, over 5,000 volunteers,
together with coordinated legal action, have changed
the situation completely. Fences have been taken
down, beaches have been cleaned up, and dozens of
public beaches have been opened to visitors.
The Sea of Galilee Trail, a 35-mile hiking route
around the lake, is the centrepiece of all these activities. Nisim Asaban was put in charge of creating it.
This involves not only hacking a path through the
undergrowth and vegetation along the shores, but also
getting the beaches, hotels, and villages along the
lake to cooperate and support the initiative. Today, 10
years later, nearly all 35 miles of the hiking trail have
been opened and marked. There are only four small
sections where detours had to be made, but even they,
Asaban says, already have been marked and will open
to the public in a few weeks.
This segment of the path goes through the remains of
ancient Migdal, the town of Mary Magdalene, and
continues to the foot of the Mount of Beatitudes and
the site of the miracle of the multiplication of the
loaves and the fishes.
Hiking Route
Start the hike at Dekel Beach, right by the northern
exit from Tiberias along Route 90. When the level of
the lake rises in winter, some segments of the path at
this point will be submerged under a few inches of
water.
A short 600-yard hike leads to Peniel-by-Galilee,
the Tiberias YMCA. The path runs along the beach in
front of it. It was constructed for Dr. Archibald Harte,
who was the general secretary of the Jerusalem
YMCA in the 1920s and oversaw the building of the
Jerusalem YMCA, across the road from the King
David Hotel. After Harte’s death, it became one of the
YMCA’s guesthouses with 13 guest rooms.
The Valley of Gennesareth
Leading out of the shadow of Mount Arbel, the path
arrives in the Valley of Gennesareth, where the town
of Migdal was situated. Not merely the home of Mary
Magdalene, Migdal was the most important Jewish
town along the Sea of Galilee during the time of
Jesus. It was a major Jewish stronghold during the
rebellion against Rome in the first century CE; a
bloody sea battle was fought here between the Jewish
fishermen of Migdal and the Roman army. The
remains of ancient Migdal are in the plot recently
acquired by the Legionaries of Christ to build a retreat
centre. Recent excavations there have uncovered the
remains of an impressive synagogue from the Roman
period. Modern Migdal, founded in 1910, stands to
the west of the beach.
A little further on, a large house surrounded by a
fence stands near the shore. This was the house of Sir
Alfred Mond, the second Baron Melchett, a British
industrialist, financier, and politician. In his later life,
he became an active Zionist. In 1921, he visited the
Land of Israel and subsequently made large contributions to various Jewish organizations. (He was the
first president of the Technion and the founder of the
town of Tel Mond.) The baron’s son, Henry Ludwig
Mond, built this house on the Sea of Galilee. A few
year ago, the house was sold and has passed through
a few phases of trying to become a high-class tourist
„
accommodation. It is currently empty.
Rakkat
Opposite the guesthouse stands the ancient mound of
Tel Rakkat, which is mentioned once in the Bible
(Joshua 19:35) as one of the cities in the land of the
tribe of Naftali. A little further on, the path passes a
small Russian monastery and then reach the springs
of Ein Rakkat, four springs that flow into a series of
pools. The waters of the northernmost spring fill a
small round pool, which probably dates to the Roman
period.
Anthill
Continuing north, the slope of Mount Arbel towers
over the trail, leaving a narrow strip of beach between
the mountain and the sea. There is a big rock in the
water here that is known as the “anthill” (Sela
Hanemala) and associated with a variety of ancient
legends.
HIKE
HIKE
The path now runs alongside a line of venerable
eucalyptus trees to the riverbed of Nahal Zalmon,
which it crosses on a small metal bridge before entering Kibbutz Ginnosar.
Ginnosar
Kibbutz Ginnosar’s name comes from the ancient
Jewish name for the valley: the Valley of Ginnosar,
which means the gardens of the kings’ minister. The
kibbutz was founded in 1937 and operates a museum
dedicated to the history of the Galilee. The exhibitions include a first-century fishing vessel, which was
found in the mud on the Migdal shore.
Follow the lakeshore through the kibbutz and exit
at the northern end. The path crosses the riverbed of
Nahal ’Ammud and reaches the Karei Deshe Guest
House of the Israel Youth Hostel Association. On the
other side of Karei Deshe are the ruins of Minnim,
the impressive remains of a palatial farmhouse from
Umayyad times (the eighth century CE). Next to it
are the remains of a caravansary from the eighteenth
century.
The trail now approaches one of the few sections of
the shore that it does not yet run through and so a
detour is in order. At the fence of the Sappir Pumping
Station (the beginning of the Israel National Water
Carrier), follow the road along the fence until Route
90. Another long hiking route, “The Jesus Trail,” runs
along the eastern side (the sea side) of Route 90.
Follow the trail along the road and up the hill of Tel
Kinrot. At the top of the hill, the trail turns right, following a road to the top of Tel Kinrot, which offers a
beautiful view of the Sea of Galilee.
Tel Kinrot
During biblical times, Kinrot, or Kinneret, was the
largest city around the Sea of Galilee; this is the site
that gave the Sea of Galilee its Hebrew name,
Kinneret. The city is mentioned seven times in the
Bible as well as in early Egyptian sources.
Excavations have revealed the site was inhabited
from the Early Bronze Age (third millennium BCE)
until the times of the kings of Israel. Assyrian king
Tiglath Pileser III destroyed the city in 734-732 BCE.
A trail marked in red leads down from the lookout
point through the area belonging to the German
Pilgerhaus hospice and to the Galilee Trail on the
shore. Follow the trail north out of the Pilgerhaus
property and then along the road to the junction that
leads to Tabgha in the Valley of the Seven Springs,
known as Heptapegon in Greek.
Day Two
Heptapegon to Dugit Beach – 9 miles
The Valley of the Seven Springs
After visiting the Church of the Multiplication of the
Loaves and Fishes and the Church of the Primacy of
Peter, follow the road past the bus parking area in
front of the Church of the Primacy of Peter. Take the
steps down to the shore of the lake to see the small
structure known as the “well of Job,” a pool built over
one of the seven springs of this valley. As its water
are warm and contain a touch of sulphur, they have
been said to have therapeutic qualities over the ages.
At the shore is a small waterfall; The purplemarked Galilee Trail now turns east as it continues
along the shore.
From Heptapegon to Capernaum
The trail along the shore leads by olive and mango
groves and through little bays and small outcrops into
the sea, affording beautiful views of the lake and
secluded spots to watch the waterfowl, rock rabbits,
terns, and kingfishers that abound here.
At the restaurant at the end of the trail, near the
entrance to the site of Capernaum, is the “town of
Jesus.” Take the approach road to the entrance to the
site to check out the ruins of Roman Capernaum.
Take the approach road back to the road along the
lake and follow the pedestrian walkway east to the
entrance to the Capernaum National Park. Turn right
at the first junction and the road will lead to the Greek
Orthodox Church of the Twelve Apostles (it is the
building with the red dome) standing on the lakeshore. The church’s eighteenth-century wall paintings
have recently been restored.
The trail starts at the entrance to the church, leading along the lakeshore through the natural brush and
undergrowth that was familiar to Jesus and his disciples. Once through the eucalyptus grove, the trail
reaches Amnun Bay, runs through the grounds of the
resort, and continues east along the lake, finally
reaching the outlet of the Jordan River into the Sea of
Galilee.
Arik Bridge and Beithsaida Valley
If you were crossing this bridge 2,000 year ago, you
would have been crossing the border from the tetrarchy of Herod Antipas to the tetrarchy of Herod
Philip. After carefully crossing the bridge (it is a
main road), take the dirt track marked in red that
leads off towards the lake (south) immediately after
the bridge. The trail leads into the Beithsaida Valley,
an area of flowing water, streams, and lagoons replete
with wildlife and vegetation.
Follow the red-marked track to an old house on the
lakeshore; it once was the house of the bek, the local
Turkish governor. Follow the red-marked track to its
end, at the mouth of Nahal Meshushim, a brook with
many lagoons. From here, a dirt track marked in
green leads up the stream, makes a U-turn while
crossing the brook, returns to the lagoon, and leads to
a junction with the purple-marked Sea of Galilee Trail
and another track marked in blue. At the junction,
take the Galilee Trail that leads back to the lakeshore,
crosses over another brook (the Majrasa), and then
runs south along the shore. It soon reaches a series of
shoreline campgrounds and a hotel. Kinnar, Duga
and, further south, Dugit beaches, make a good place
to end the second day.
Day Three
Along the Eastern Shore – 9 miles
Start the day by checking out the large rock with fishes and loaves of bread carved on it that stands on the
beach at Dugit. The rock marks the site of a second
feeding of the multitudes and healing of the Gentiles,
following the description in Matthew 15:31, “When
these Gentiles saw the dumb speaking, the maimed
whole, the lame walking and the blind seeing, they
glorified the god of Israel.” An old Byzantine manuscript enumerating the various Christian sites around
the lake mentions a hill called Dodekatronon, the hill
of the 12 seats, where Christ sat down and taught and
where he also multiplied the seven loaves to feed the
four thousand. The most likely spot for this is Tel
Hadar, the small hill with the rock on top of it. In
1981, the memorial stone was set up to mark the spot.
Nearly a decade later, the site was excavated and a
prominent circle of stones was unearthed on it,
together with the remains of a Canaanite city
destroyed in the eighth century BCE. The current
stone was set up in 1991.
Further south is the Kursi beach, which is located
at the site of ancient village of Kursi, where the
Gerasene Demoniac was healed. Kursi has been
shown since the Byzantine Era as the site where this
miracle happened and a large Byzantine monastery
was discovered about 500 yards from the beach.
Further south is Kibbutz Ein Gev, at the small harbour with restaurants clustered around it.
From Ein Gev to Ha’on
Follow the road from the restaurant to the main road
around the lake and walk along the bicycle track that
runs parallel to the road. The track passes the Ein Gev
campground. A mile further down, the road and bicycle track move away from the beach and the Galilee
Trail markings appear again, running right along the
lakeshore to Kibbutz Ha’on.
Day Four
Back to Tiberias – 9 miles
Follow the track through Kibbutz Ha’on along the
shore to Kibbutz Ma’agan. From here, a slight detour
is needed – return to the road along the lake and walk
along the promenade for a short distance to the
Kinneret College, from where the Galilee Trail leads
back to the shore and along the lake.
About two miles later, the trail reaches the outlet of
the Jordan River from the lake. Follow the trail to the
bridge over the Jordan River and cross the river carefully (this is the main road).
A small detour along the road to Kibbutz Kinneret
leads to the Yardenit baptismal site. The trail continues along the northern bank of the Jordan River and
runs around Ohalo College and by the oldest archaeological site on the lakeside, Tel Beit Yerah. On the
tell’s northern slope, the trail runs through the cemetery of Deganiyyah, the first kibbutz. Many of the
early Zionist pioneers are buried here. One of the
most-visited tombs is that of the poetess Rahel. A
book of her poems lies in a box next to her tombstone.
The trail now continues north along the shore for
the last leg of the journey; the beaches and springs
along the way make for a wonderful respite. It finally
arrives at the end of the Tiberias lakeshore promenade, which leads back into the town and the place
where the hike around the Sea of Galilee began. 0
The publishers of this article disclaim any responsibility for the conditions of the roads, trails, and sites described herein. Visitors following the
routes described in this article do so at their own risk. The map and route descriptions must be supplemented by the following: a map of the
region (SPNI Hiking Trail Map, number 1, 2008 edition); proper hiking equipment; updated information on weather and trail conditions.
BIBLICAL LANDSCAPES
Special Pilgrimages
‘Christian Tours’
55 - 57 Queens Road,
Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS1 1LT
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   
Above and below: Along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. During the summer months, when the water level of the lake recedes, it is possible to
walk along the piers of the ancient fishing villages of the Sea of Galilee.
The Shores of the Lake
J
esus’ ministry in Galilee evolved
around the Sea of Galilee, which actually is a 170-square-kilometre lake. The
livelihood of the population residing
around it during the time of Jesus
depended upon the many fish that
teemed the lake. Along its shores, over
16 ancient harbours have been discovered, constructed to provide safe mooring facilities during the sudden storms
that blow up on the lake. Fishing installations were built on the piers: holding
tanks for the storage of live fish and
areas to mend nets.
A large non-Jewish population resided
on the southern and eastern shores of the
lake. Greek towns like Hippos, Gergesa,
Gadara, and Philoteria flourished from
the Hellenistic period onwards. The
Jewish population of the lake clustered
along its northwestern shores from the
town of Magdala eastwards to the town
of Capernaum, and from there to the
inlet of the Jordan River into the lake. It
was a community comprised of poor
fishermen and farmers who worked the
small valleys around the shores, wealthy
merchants, fishmongers, landowners,
and Roman officials.
Even though the New Testament was
written two to three generations after the
events that it describes occurred, it still
portrays, with amazing accuracy, the
nature of the lake. The two main fishing
methods on the lake – fishing with drag32 | Holyland Journal
nets and fishing with cast nets – are
amply described in the Scriptures.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a
net which was thrown into the sea and
gathered fish of every kind; when it was
full, men drew it ashore and sat down
and sorted the good into vessels but
threw away the bad” (Matthew 13:4748), is an exact description of dragnet
fishing on the lake. Similar depictions
appear in Mark and Matthew’s account
of Jesus’ arrival at the lake: “And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw
Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon
casting a net in the sea; for they were
fishermen” (Mark 1:16). A third system
of fishing, using a multi-sectioned net
called a trammel net, is mentioned in
Luke 5:1-7.
While fishing methods similar to these
were probably in use everywhere around
the Mediterranean, the Gospels have also
retained descriptions of natural phenomena unique to the Sea of Galilee, especially the lake’s sudden changes of
weather. One of the most famous New
Testament accounts, of Jesus walking on
the water, retains a precise description of
the sudden strong winds that lead up to
storms on the lake. Another storm event
occurs on the voyage from Capernaum
to Kursi that Jesus takes with his disciples. Jesus is asleep in the boat when a
sudden squall blows up. As the boat fills
with water, the frightened disciples wake
him: “And he awoke and rebuked the
wind and the raging waves; and they
ceased” (Luke 8:24). The episode is an
accurate geographical and climatological
description of a Sea of Galilee eastern
storm.
The present-day water level of the Sea
of Galilee is about 1.5 meters higher than
it was during the time of Jesus, but during late summer, when the water level
recedes, and especially in drought years,
the ancient harbours, sea promenades,
and installations of the Sea of Galilee can
still be seen along the shore. 0
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BIBLICAL LANDSCAPES
The Town of Jesus
J
esus made Capernaum the centre of
his messianic work. Dwelling there in
Peter’s house, he healed, prayed, taught,
gave sermons at the synagogue, and outlined the message of the kingdom to
come.
Today Capernaum is an archaeological site, but in the time of Jesus it was a
relatively large town on the shores of the
Sea of Galilee, situated on one of the
main Roman roads in Galilee, near the
border between the kingdoms of Herod
Antipas and Philip, his brother. Most of
the ancient town has not yet been
unearthed, but the finds in the area that
has already been excavated include a
large synagogue, Peter’s house, remains
of houses and streets, and an eight-hundred-metre-long waterfront promenade.
The most impressive building is the
fourth-century synagogue. Underneath
its floor, a second floor constructed of
large basalt slabs was discovered. Too
extensive to belong to a private dwelling, it is probably the remains of an earlier synagogue dating to the time of
Jesus.
Thirty metres from the synagogue, a
structure that originally stood on the
shores of the lake has also come to light.
It contains the layered evidence of three
stages of construction: an octagonal
church from the fifth century; a domus
ecclesia – sacred house – from the
fourth century, covered with graffiti of
pilgrims from the period; and the
remains of a house from the first century. These remnants, together with the
description of the domus ecclesia left by
a fourth-century pilgrim, prove that by
the fourth century the house was a place
of worship identified as the house of
Peter.
Today the remains of Capernaum are
divided between the auspices of the
Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox
Church. The northwest shore of the lake
has been declared a national park. 0
Above (top): A synagogue decoration, perhaps depicting the Holy Temple or a Torah ark.
Above (bottom left): A capital from the ancient synagogue of Capernaum, decorated with a menorah and other motifs from the Temple.
Above (bottom right): The ancient synagogue of Capernaum.

Trekking the Sea of Galilee

Transcription

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