BETHARAMPHTHA
BETHARAMPHTHA (
Βηθαράμαφθον), a city of Peraea, which Herod Antipas encompassed with a wall, and changed its name to
JULIAS in honour of the wife of the emperor Tiberius. (
Ant. 18.2.1.)
It is certainly identical with that mentioned by Eusebius and St. Jerome as situated on the Jordan, originally named Betharamphta, and afterwards called Livias by Herod (
Onomast. s. v.), and certainly
not the same as the Julias which is placed by Josephus where the Jordan flows into the Sea of Tiberias (
B. J. 3.9.7), which was identical with Bethsaida. [
BETHSAIDA] But the names Julias and Livias are frequently interchanged, as are Julia and Livia.
A still earlier name of this town, according to Eusebius and St. Jerome, was Beth-haram, a city of the tribe of Gad (
Josh. 13.27), doubtless the same with Beth-haran (
Num. 32.36), which the Talmud also says was afterwards called
Bethrasmtha. (Reland, p. 642; comp. pp. 869, 870, s. v.
Julias Peraeae.) It is most probably only another form of the preceding
Betharamathum, i. e. the modern
Amata, near the Jabbok. [
AMATHUS]
[
G.W]
