PHILOTERIA
or Sennabris (Khirbet el-Kerak) Israel.
A town built by Ptolemy II on part of the mound
of Khirbet el-Kerak (Talmudic Beit Yerah) on the SW
shore of the Sea of Galilee. Josephus (
BJ 3.447;
5.445）
called it Sennabris.
The fortified town built in the Hellenistic period had
an area of ca. 125 ha and a wall ca. 1.6 km around,
built on a socle of basalt 4.5-6.3 m wide and 3.6 m high,
with mud brick above. The wall was strengthened by
alternating rectangular and round towers. Some private
houses have also been found. Close to the lake was a
Roman fort (54 x 54 m), with corner towers and a
gate on the S protected by two towers. Within the fort
were remains of a synagogue, built when the fort was
in ruins. It was a basilica (30.6 x 19.8 m), with a niche
in its S wall, facing Jerusalem. The nave had a mosaic
pavement, with designs of plants and lions. On one of
the column bases Jewish symbols were engraved. A
bath was found in another area. The latest building on
the site was a Christian basilican church, built in the
5th c., rebuilt in A.D. 528-29, and destroyed at the beginning of the 7th c.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
F. M. Abel,
Géographie de la Palestine
II (1938) 284; B. Maisler et al.,
IEJ 2 (1952) 165-73;
P. Bar-Adon, ibid. 3 (1953) 132; 4 (1954) 128-29; 5
(1955) 273; P. Delougaz & R. C. Haines,
A Byzantine
Church at Khirbat al-Karak (1960); M. Avi-Yonah,
The
Holy Land (1966) 37, 70, 138.
A. NEGEV
