Places
Bethsaida-JuliasAlternative names: Tell El Araj, Julias, Beit-Saida, Iulias, Beth-Saida, Bethsaida, El `ArajPlace descriptionThere was a large Jewish fishing village in Gaulanitis at the point where the Jordan River emptied into the Sea of Galilee. The original northern shore of the Sea of Galilee was over a kilometer farther north than it is today because of heavy silting, so that the site is now inland (Arav 1995). In the first century CE the city was reconstructed by Herod Philip as a new city and was named Julias after Augustus’s wife Livia, who from 14 CE onwards was called Julia (Richardson 1996:302); Josephus incorrectly claims that it was named after Augustus’s daughter Julia (Antiquities 18.88), but this seems impossible given her banishment in 2 BCE. He correctly locates it at one side of Gaulanitis, “whose inhabitants are a mixture of Jews and Syrians” (War 3.57).<br>Its location has been controversial; the excavators of et-Tell (map location 2094.2574) have argued vigorously that this site was Bethsaida. They have surveyed wharves along the original shoreline below et-Tell, and uncovered finds related to the fishing industry. Although the site has been partly excavated, most of the remains so far have been Iron Age. The excavations have revealed few remains typical of a Roman city, few simple first-century CE houses, and little evidence of a flourishing city in the early first century. The excavators have identified the remains of one of the larger buildings as the foundations of a Roman temple, with a column and some other architectural fragments and small finds, and they have suggested that the synagogue at Chorazin may be built in part of fragments from this temple. A small figurine found in the excavations may be a replica of Livia; if so, it would confirm that the city was not named after Augustus’s daughter, as Josephus claims (Arav 1995:21). Images Bethsaida_ElAraj.C.M  Bethsaida_ElAraj.C.A  Bethsaida  Bethsaida, Julias  Bethsaida+Julias_TAr  Bethsaida plain aerial from northwest, tb Videostell_et_araj.gv |