TARI´CHEAE
TARI´CHEAE or
TARICHAEAE (
Ταριχέαι,
Strab. xvi. p.764; Joseph.
Vita, 32, 54, 73;
Ταριχαῖαι, Joseph. B. J. 3.10. §, et alibi;
Ταριχέα,
Steph. B. sub voce Taricheae,
Suet. Tit. 4; Tarichea,
Plin. Nat. 5.15: Eth.
Ταριχεάτης), a city in Lower Galilee situated below a mountain at the southern end of the lake of Tiberias, and 30 stadia from the city of Tiberias itself. (Joseph.
B. J. 3.10.1.)
It derived its name from its extensive manufactories for salting fish. (Strab.
l.c.) It was strongly fortified by Josephus, who made it his headquarters in the Jewish war; and it was taken by Titus with great slanghter. (Joseph.
B. J. 3.10. § § 1--6.) Its ruins stand upon a rising ground, called
Kerak, where at present there is a Muslim village, at the southern end of the lake.
The river Jordan, in issuing from the lake, runs at first south for about a furlong, and then turns west for half a mile.
The rising ground
Kerak stands in the space between the river and lake, and was a place easily defensible according to the ancient mode of warfare. (Robinson,
Bibl. Res. vol. ii. p. 387, 2nd ed.)
