Beit She'arim necropolis: Difference between revisions

Coordinates: 32°42′16.12″N 35°07′44.53″E / 32.7044778°N 35.1290361°E / 32.7044778; 35.1290361
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The [[Jerusalem Talmud]] cites Beit She'arim as the burial place of Rabbi [[Judah HaNasi]]. <ref>Kelaim 9, 32a-b</ref> His funeral is described as follows: "Miracles were wrought on that day. It was evening and all the towns gathered to mourn him, and eighteen synagogues praised him and bore him to Bet Shearim, and the daylight remained until everyone reached his home (Ketubot 12, 35a)." <ref>[http://www.jewishmag.com/97mag/betshearim/betshearim.htm Bet Shearim archaeology]</ref>The fact that Rabbi Judah was buried here is believed to be a major reason for the popularity of the necropolis in Late Antiquity. One of the catacombs (nr. 14) has been identified as his burial site.<ref> ''The Oxford encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East'', Volume 1, p. 309-11. For a more cautious view see M. Jacobs, ''Die Institution des jüdischen Patriarchen, eine quellen- und traditionskritische Studie zur Geschichte der Juden in der Spätantike'' (Tübingen 1995), p. 247, n. 59.</ref>
The [[Jerusalem Talmud]] cites Beit She'arim as the burial place of Rabbi [[Judah HaNasi]]. <ref>Kelaim 9, 32a-b</ref> His funeral is described as follows: "Miracles were wrought on that day. It was evening and all the towns gathered to mourn him, and eighteen synagogues praised him and bore him to Bet Shearim, and the daylight remained until everyone reached his home (Ketubot 12, 35a)." <ref>[http://www.jewishmag.com/97mag/betshearim/betshearim.htm Bet Shearim archaeology]</ref>The fact that Rabbi Judah was buried here is believed to be a major reason for the popularity of the necropolis in Late Antiquity. One of the catacombs (nr. 14) has been identified as his burial site.<ref> ''The Oxford encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East'', Volume 1, p. 309-11. For a more cautious view see M. Jacobs, ''Die Institution des jüdischen Patriarchen, eine quellen- und traditionskritische Studie zur Geschichte der Juden in der Spätantike'' (Tübingen 1995), p. 247, n. 59.</ref>

==Glassmaking industry==
In 1956, a bulldozer working at the site unearthed an enormous rectangular slab, 11×6.5×1.5 feet, weighing 9 tons. Initially, it was paved over, but it was eventually studied and found to be a gigantic piece of glass. An ancient [[glassmaking]] furnace was located here, which produced great batches of molten glass that were cooled and later broken into small pieces for crafting glass vessels.


==Recent discoveries==
==Recent discoveries==

Revision as of 09:25, 28 February 2010

Entrance of the Cave of Coffins, Beit She'arim National Park
Visitors at the Cave of Coffins, Beit She'arim National Park

Beit She'arim (Template:Lang-he-n), also known as Beth She'arim or Besara (Greek), is the archeological site of a Jewish town and necropolis. The site is part of the Beit She'arim National Park, which borders the town of Kiryat Tiv'on on the northeast and is located close to the modern moshav of Beit She'arim. It is situated 20 km east of Haifa in the southern foothills of the Lower Galilee. The park is managed by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

Two lions facing each other – A Greek mythological scene decoration on sarcophagus
Wall inscription (epitaph) in Greek: "The tomb of Aidesios, head of the council of elders, from Antiochia"

According to Moshe Sharon, following Kutcher, the name of the city was more correctly Beit She'arayim (the House (or Village) of Two Gates).[1]

History

Beit She'arim was founded at the end of the 1st century BCE, during the reign of King Herod. It was a prosperous Jewish town until destroyed by fire in 352, at the end of the Jewish revolt against Gallus.[2] After some time it was renewed as a Byzantine city.[2] From the early Arab period (7th century), settlement was sparse.[3] A small Arab village called Sheikh Bureik was located here in the late 16th century.[4]

The Roman Jewish historian Josephus Flavius referred to the city as Besara, the administrative center of the estates of Queen Berenice in the Jezreel Valley. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, the Sanhedrin (Jewish legislature and supreme council) moved to Beit She'arim. [5]Rabbi Judah HaNasi, head of the Sanhedrin, lived there. In the last seventeen years of his life, he moved to Sepphoris for health reasons, but planned his burial in Beit She'arim on land he received as a gift from his friend, the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. The most desired burial place for Jews was the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, but in 135 CE, when Jews were barred from the area, Beit She'arim became an alternative.[6]

The archaeological importance of the site was recognized in the 1880s by the Survey of Western Palestine, which explored many tombs and catacombs but did no excavation.[7] The Arab village of Sheikh Bureik was located on the hill until the 1920s, when the land was purchased by the Jewish National Fund. In 1936, Alexander Zaïd, employed by the JNF as a watchman, reported that he had found a breach in the wall of one of the caves which led into another cave decorated with inscriptions.[8] In the 1930s and 1950s, the site was excavated by Benjamin Mazar and Nahman Avigad.

Most of the remains date from the 2nd to 4th century CE. A large number of individuals was buried in the more than twenty catacombs of the necropolis. Geographical references in inscriptions on the walls of the catacombs reveal that the necropolis was used by people from the town of Beit She'arim, from elsewhere in Galilee, and even from cities as far away as Palmyra and Tyre.[9]

The Jerusalem Talmud cites Beit She'arim as the burial place of Rabbi Judah HaNasi. [10] His funeral is described as follows: "Miracles were wrought on that day. It was evening and all the towns gathered to mourn him, and eighteen synagogues praised him and bore him to Bet Shearim, and the daylight remained until everyone reached his home (Ketubot 12, 35a)." [11]The fact that Rabbi Judah was buried here is believed to be a major reason for the popularity of the necropolis in Late Antiquity. One of the catacombs (nr. 14) has been identified as his burial site.[12]

Glassmaking industry

In 1956, a bulldozer working at the site unearthed an enormous rectangular slab, 11×6.5×1.5 feet, weighing 9 tons. Initially, it was paved over, but it was eventually studied and found to be a gigantic piece of glass. An ancient glassmaking furnace was located here, which produced great batches of molten glass that were cooled and later broken into small pieces for crafting glass vessels.

Recent discoveries

In October 2009, two new caves were opened to the public. They contain a relief of a seven-branched menorah. [13]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bet Shearim.
  1. ^ Sharon, Moshe (2004), Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, Vol. III, D-F; page XXXVII [1]
  2. ^ a b Benjamin Mazar, Beth She'arim : Report on the Excavations during 1936-1940, Vol. I, p19.
  3. ^ Mazar, p20.
  4. ^ Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (1977), Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband, Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft, p. 158.
  5. ^ Beit She'arim
  6. ^ The Holy Land: An Oxford archaeological guide, From earliest times to 1700, Jerome Murphy-O'Connor
  7. ^ Survey of Western Palestine, Vol. I, pp. 325-328 and 343-351. [2]
  8. ^ Mazar, p27.
  9. ^ The Oxford encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East considers Beth She'arim of international importance (Volume 1, p. 309-11); Tessa Rajak considers its importance regional ("The rabbinic dead and the Diaspora dead at Beth She’arim" in P. Schäfer (ed.), The Talmud Yerushalmi and Graeco-Roman culture 1 (Tübingen 1997), p. 349-66); S. Schwartz however, in Imperialism and Jewish society, 200 B.C.E. to 640 C.E. (Princeton 2001), p. 153-8, plays down the importance of Beth She'arim.
  10. ^ Kelaim 9, 32a-b
  11. ^ Bet Shearim archaeology
  12. ^ The Oxford encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, Volume 1, p. 309-11. For a more cautious view see M. Jacobs, Die Institution des jüdischen Patriarchen, eine quellen- und traditionskritische Studie zur Geschichte der Juden in der Spätantike (Tübingen 1995), p. 247, n. 59.
  13. ^ 2,000 year-old 'Menorah' burial caves in Beit Shearim

External links

32°42′16.12″N 35°07′44.53″E / 32.7044778°N 35.1290361°E / 32.7044778; 35.1290361

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