Archaeology
Mount NitaiMt. Arbel, Arbel caves, Arbela, Arbel, Kh. `IrbidPlace descriptionThe village identified as Arbel (Khirbet Irbid), west of Tiberias, is located in a
geographical position that did not allow any fortification. Early Roman pottery and
coins were found at the site, as well as excavated remains of a Late Roman period
synagogue. The fortifications mentioned by Josephus were in fact placed north of the
village, where there were caves in the high cliffs on both sides of an impressive cleft
in the rock face. On the west side of the gorge, above the caves, a massive wall with
towers was surveyed, and Early Roman period pottery was found in the caves of Mount
Nitai. It seems that the fortified site of Arbel, or “the caves around the Sea of
Galilee,” was built out of some groups of caves on the northwest side of the Kinneret.
The wall on Mount Nitai was probably the strongest part of the fortification. |