TIBERIAS
Israel.
A city on the W shores of
the Sea of Galilee, founded ca. A.D. 18 by Herod Antipas,
who named the city after the reigning emperor. According to Josephus the city was established on the site of
an ancient necropolis, an act contrary to Jewish law,
which considers such a site ritually unclean (
AJ 18.36-38;
BJ 2.168). According to the same authority (
Vit.
69.134,278,296;
BJ 2.641), it had the status of a polis,
and had an archon, a Council of Ten, and a Senate of
Six Hundred. It soon developed into the most important
city of its district. After Herod Antipas' death Tiberias
became part of the domain of King Agrippa I, and later
of Agrippa II, who held it until his death. After crushing of the Revolt of A.D. 66, the Romans made Tiberias
autonomous and conferred on it the right of minting
coins. On its coins appears the title Tiberias Claudiopolis Syriae Palaestinae. According to Jewish sources and
others, Herod Antipas built a fortress at Tiberias and a
wall was later built around it. Within the city were a
stadium, a Hadrianeum, a forum, and numerous synagogues. An aqueduct conveyed water to the city from
springs 15 km away. A bridge connected Tiberias with
its S suburb Hamtha, or Hammath, where there were
hot springs (Plin.
HN 5.45). The Romans built a temple
dedicated to Hygieia, and the Jews built a synagogue
there. Tiberias was still a famous city in the 4th c. (Eus.
Onom. 16.1). The city is frequently mentioned by writers in the Byzantine period.
Tiberias was never abandoned, and for this reason the
remains of the earlier period lie deeply buried. Surface
survey has shown that the city of the Roman period
occupied an area of ca. 80 ha as against the 14 ha of
the mediaeval town. The perimeter of the walls was 4 km
and some remains of the wall and of one gate are still
seen today. Excavation of the S gate (1973-74) has not
yet been published.
During the last two decades excavations have uncovered remains of a Roman basilica, a bath, and buildings
of the Byzantine period. Between 1961 and 1963 the
synagogue of Hammath, close to the hot springs, was
excavated. The earliest remains found in that area were
of a building of the Hellenistic period, of which little
remained. Above this were remains of a large Early
Roman building, possibly a palaestra, or a gymnasium.
The earliest remains of a Jewish prayer house date from
the first half of the 3d c. A.D., when a basilican building
was constructed. In the early 4th c. this was replaced
by a basilica of four aisles, still with no apse. The floors
of the side aisles were decorated with mosaics of geometric pattern, while the floor of the second aisle from
the W was divided into three mosaic panels, in which
were depicted two lions standing at either side of several
dedicatory inscriptions, a zodiacal circle with Helios riding the celestial carriage in its center, and a Torah
Shrine flanked by two seven-branched candlesticks and
other Jewish symbols. The workmanship of this mosaic
pavement is by far the best in synagogual art. The synagogue was rebuilt in the Byzantine period and again in the Ommayad period.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
M. Avi-Yonah, “The Foundation of
Tiberias,”
Israel Exploration Journal 1 (1950-51) 160-69; id.,
The Holy Land from the Persian to the Arab
Conquests (536 B.C. to A.D. 640). A Historical Geography (1966); M. Dothan, “Hammath-Tiberias,”
Israel
Exploration Journal 12 (1962) 153-54.
A. NEGEV
