Galilee Archives - Page 77 of 85

Two New Trails and 150 Restored Sites

Israel is planning to build two new trails in conjunction with the restoration of 150 historic sites. A number of sites on the list have been mentioned as in need of restoration here before, including Lachish, Hurvat Madras [Khirbet Midras], and the Sanhedrin Garden. We’re a big fan of a number of other sites on the list as well, though we see less need for restoration on some than for others.

Sometimes government involvement makes things worse not better, a case in point being the new Arbel National Park. Trails, however, are always good.

Haaretz reports:

The government is planning on spending NIS 500 million ($135 million) over five years to restore and preserve heritage sites across the country.
[. . .]
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu devoted a large part of his address at the Herzliya Conference to outlining the plan.
“The guarantee of our existence is dependent not merely on weapons systems or military strength or economic strength or our innovativeness, our exports, and all these forces which are indeed so vital to us,” he said. “It is dependent first and foremost on the intellectual capacity and the national feelings that we inculcate – from parents to children, and as a state, in our educational system.”
Netanyahu said that he plans to present a blueprint to the government on February 25 that will include, among other things, the inauguration of two trails, in addition to the existing Israel National Trail (“Shvil Yisrael”).
One is an historical trail connecting dozens of archaeological sites, and the second is an “Israeli Experience” trail linking up over 100 places important to the nation’s more recent history and will include buildings that are to be preserved, settlement sites, small museums and memorials.
[. . .]
At Tel Lachish, which Netanyahu referred to in his speech, the plan is to restore the gate into the city and the city walls, to prepare trails, to build an entrance hall and to add signposts, among other things.
Other sites marked for restoration are Neot Kedumim, Susya, Qumran, Jason’s Tomb in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin Garden, the Eshkolot Cave, Umm al-Amad, the Beit Shean antiquities, Tel Megiddo, Tiberias, Tel Arad, Tel Dan, Hurvat Madras, the park around the Old City of Jerusalem and the City of David.
There are another 109 heritage sites and projects earmarked for restoration and preservation. They are to be found throughout the country and include such sites as the Independence Hall in Tel Aviv, the Aronson farm and the signaling station at Atlit, the Emek train between Haifa and Tzemah and the Tzemah train station, the Old Courtyard Museum at Ein Shemer, the original homes of the settlers at Migdal in Ashkelon, the street of the Biluim and the winery in Gedera, the courtyard at Kinneret, the Montefoire [sic] quarter of Tel Aviv, the agricultural school at Mikveh Yisrael, the old Jerusalem train station and others.

You can read the article here.

HT: Paleojudaica

Lachish gate (foreground) and palace (top), in a state of neglect. These buildings date to the late Iron Age, a time when Lachish was the second most important city in Judah (after Jerusalem).

Tagged Galilee, Jerusalem, Shephelah, Tourism

Weekend Roundup

Five hikers were wounded when a mine exploded near Mount Avital in the Golan Heights.

Richard S. Hess has written an essay on the “Names in Genesis 11” at The Bible and Interpretation.

Professor Donald Wiseman passed away this week.

You can see and read more about the 1st century boat found at the Sea of Galilee at the new website entitled the “Jesus Boat Museum.” I can’t say I like the name they’ve chosen for marketing purposes, but they have some good photographs and explanations about an important archaeological discovery.

The Biblical Learning Blog has a post about “25 Open Courseware Classes about Early Christianity.” The title is a bit misleading, but you may find some subjects of interest here, including a Notre Dame course on Ancient Rome, a MIT course on Ancient Greece, or a Boise State course on the Crusades.

Tagged Galilee, Resources, Weekend Roundup

Fishing Banned on Sea of Galilee

From Arutz-7:

Minister of Agriculture Shalom Simchon has announced a ban on all fishing in the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret) for two years. The ban also extends to the part of the Jordan River that empties into the Sea of Galilee, and to all the other rivers that empty into the famous lake.
The authority to ban fishing is within the Minister of Agriculture’s authority according to the official Fishing Order, and the ban is set to take effect on March 1, 2010, extending until February 28, 2012. Minister Simchon has asked the Finance Ministry to allot NIS 15 million for enforcing the ban and compensating the fishermen who will be hurt by it.
Simchon explained that according to Agriculture Ministry statistics, the quantity of fish in the Sea of Galilee has plummeted in the past decade, and especially in the last two years, by tens of percentage points annually. It has now reached a critical level, he said, and these statistics mean that the sea may be facing an ecological disaster in which all its fish would die out.

The full story is here.

Fishing boats on Sea of Galilee, early 1900s

This photo is from the Traditional Life and Customs volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-07411).

Tagged American Colony Photos, Galilee

Christians Leaving Traditional Cana

From the AP:

KUFR KANA, Israel – In this small Galilee town where tradition says Jesus turned water to wine, an ambitious priest hopes to perform his own miracle — revive a shrinking flock. Father Masoud Abu Hatoum, nicknamed "the bulldozer" for his enthusiasm, has come up with a few ideas, like re-enacting the New Testament story of Jesus transforming the water for guests at a wedding in the Galilee hamlet of Cana, now this northern Israeli town of Kufr Kana. "We have to attract people," said Abu Hatoum, who looks as much rock star as priest with his trim beard and large wrap-around sunglasses. But he will have a tough time slowing the hemorrhage of Christians from this bleak, economically depressed town, as the young move away to cities like nearby Nazareth, which offer bigger Christian communities, more jobs and better marriage prospects. "Our youths leave the village, they tell us: ‘We don’t want to die here.’ We get old, and they leave," said 65-year-old Said Saffouri, a parishioner whose two sons have moved out of town. Migration and low birth rates have diminished Christian populations across the Middle East. Israel’s community of 123,000 Arab Christians is one of the few in the region whose numbers have held steady — it grew slightly by 2,000 in 2009. But it does face a problem of rural flight to big cities, which leaves traditional small Christian towns like Kufr Kana to waste away. Kufr Kana was entirely Christian at the beginning of the 20th century, but Muslims began settling in the village first as traders, and then as refugees fleeing fighting during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, locals said. Now the village is home to 16,000 Muslims and 4,000 Christians.

The story continues here. The Cana where Jesus changed water into wine is more likely at Khirbet Kana. For an analysis of the options, see this chapter from the dissertation of J. Carl Laney.

Tagged Galilee

Tiberias Gate and Theater

One of the sites in Israel with the most productive excavations in the last two years is Tiberias.

Founded in AD 19 by Herod Antipas and named after the Roman emperor, the city of Tiberias quickly became an important center on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Its significance continued through the first millennium with the production of the Masoretic Text here.

Unfortunately, most visible remains in the city have been from the medieval period and later. Recent excavations, however, have revealed substantial remains of the south gate and bridge, as well as the Roman theater. The origins of these structures date to the 1st century.

Biblewalks.com has excellent descriptions and photographs of these recent discoveries. If you’ve been to Tiberias but not seen these latest finds, you can do no better than spend a few minutes browsing the pages about Tiberias, the south gate, and the theater.

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Galilee

First-Century House Excavated in Nazareth

The Israel Antiquities Authority announced today that for the first time archaeologists have found a building in Nazareth from the time of Jesus. The residential dwelling was revealed in excavations adjacent to the Church of the Anunciation and dates to the Early Roman Period (40 BC – AD 70).

According to the excavation director, Yardenna Alexander:

The discovery is of the utmost importance since it reveals for the very first time a house from the Jewish village of Nazareth and thereby sheds light on the way of life at the time of Jesus. The building that we found is small and modest and it is most likely typical of the dwellings in Nazareth in that period. From the few written sources that there are, we know that in the first century CE Nazareth was a small Jewish village, located inside a valley. Until now a number of tombs from the time of Jesus were found in Nazareth; however, no settlement remains have been discovered that are attributed to this period.

The full press release is here (temporary link), and it includes a couple of photographs (zip).

The AP reports:

The dwelling and older discoveries of nearby tombs in burial caves suggest that Nazareth was an out-of-the-way hamlet of around 50 houses on a patch of about four acres (1.6 hectares). It was evidently populated by Jews of modest means who kept camouflaged grottos to hide from Roman invaders, said archaeologist Yardena Alexandre, excavations director at the Israel Antiquities Authority.
[. . .]
At the site, Alexandre told reporters that archaeologists also found clay and chalk vessels which were likely used by Galilean Jews of the time. The scientists concluded a Jewish family lived there because of the chalk, which was used by Jews at the time to ensure the purity of the food and water kept inside the vessels.
The shards also date back to the time of Jesus, which includes the late Hellenic, early Roman period that ranges from around 100 B.C. to 100 A.D., Alexandre said.
The absence of any remains of glass vessels or imported products suggested the family who lived in the dwelling were “simple,” but Alexandre said the remains did not indicate whether they were traders or farmers.
[. . .]
Work is now taking place to clear newer ruins built above the dwelling, which will be preserved. The dwelling will become a part of a new international Christian center being constructed close to the site and funded by a French Roman Catholic group, said Marc Hodara of the Chemin Neuf Community overseeing construction.
Alexandre said limited space and population density in Nazareth means it is unlikely that archeologists can carry out any further excavations in the area, leaving this dwelling to tell the story of what Jesus’ boyhood home may have looked like.

Expect a media frenzy with the timing of this story a few days ahead of Christmas. A minor sidenote: this discovery should put to rest the theory of at least person who has claimed that since Nazareth is mentioned in the first century only in the New Testament, the city did not exist at that time. It is true that Nazareth is not mentioned in Josephus and other contemporary sources, but that is only an indication of how insignificant the town was.

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Galilee