powered by FreeFind	Bet She'arim 152 pictures     4 minutes HQ video The Bet She'arim National Park, 75 hectares in area, is located in Lower Galilee within the city limits of the town of Kiryat Tivon. Discovered at this site were the remains of the ancient Jewish city of Bet She'arim, built at the top of the hill, and of the underground Jewish cemetery dug into its slopes. In the 2nd century A.D., the Sanhedrin conducted its deliberations here until the beginning of the 3rd century, when it moved to Sepphoris. Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi, head of the Sanhedrin, was buried here. The desire to be laid to rest near him turned 3rd-4th century Bet She'arim into the main cemetery for Jews from both Land of Israel and abroad. History of the Site During the Second Temple period, Bet She'arim was one of many small Jewish settlements in Lower Galilee. After the Bar-Kokhva Revolt (132-135 A.D.), the center of Jewish life passed from Judea to the Galilee. The Sanhedrin - The highest judicial and ecclesiastical council of the Jews in the Land of Israel - wandered from Yavneh to Shfaram, from Shfaram to Usha and from Usha to Bet She'arim. At the head of the Sanhedrin stood Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi, who taught in the religious school and educated an entire generation of followers who became sages. Illness forced him to relocate in Sepphoris, and the Sanhedrin went with him. When he died in 220 A.D., his body was returned to Bet She'arim for burial. The city acquired a reputation throughout the Jewish world, from Babylon to Phoenicia, from Anatolia to Arabia. The city reached its zenith in the 3rd-4th centuries A.D. In 351 A.D., a revolt erupted against Gallus, the local Roman governor. While suppressing the revolt, Roman soldiers destroyed Bet She'arim. Although the city recovered during the 5th-6th centuries, it never returned to its former glory, and was eventually abandoned and forgotten. Archaeological Excavations More than 30 burial caves were excavated - among the most splendid in Israel. These caves, hewn from the bedrock of the hill, constitute a huge City of the Dead (necropolis). The entrance to every cave is an impressive facade designed in the style of classical architecture. In the center of each fa?ade, one or more stone doors, pivoting on hinges, lead to the subterranean burial chambers, hewn in various sizes and containing burial shelves or large stone coffins (sarcophagi). "The Cave of Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi" Large cave comprising three units: a courtyard, the cave itself and an upper building. Its impressive facade comprises three arched doorways. This place is considered to be the putative tomb of Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi, who in his will requested to be buried in Bet She'arim. On the walls are written the names of Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi's two sons, Rabbi Gamliel and Rabbi Shimon, as well as that of Rabbi Hanina the Lesser, in Hebrew and Greek. Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi commanded that he be buried in the ground, and not in a sarcophagus and indeed, in the floor of the hindmost chamber a special grave for a couple has been hewn from the bedrock, surrounded by a wall of well dressed stones. "Cave of the Coffins" The largest and most interesting of the caves so far unearthed in Bet She'arim, Seventy-five meters in both length and width, it includes two long corridors from which many rooms branch off. In the cave, 135 coffins were found. Twenty of them bear remarkable decorations, mostly taken from the living world: bull heads, eagles, lions, birds, fish and more. On one of the coffins appear - surprisingly - two figures of Nike, Greek goddess of victory. Some call this cave the "Cave of Rabbis" because of the many inscriptions recalling the names of rabbis. "Cave of Itzak Zaira Son of Shimon" A tomb group typical of Bet She'arim. The main components are most conspicuous: a courtyard reached by descending a flight of stairs, a facade with an impressive stone door in it, imitating a wooden door with reinforcing strips and studs made of metal. The original metal door-handle still exists. On the left there is a chamber with a demolished ceiling which permits one to glance into the interior of the cave. Four rectangular burial platforms are visible. "Cave of the Head of the Sidonian Synagogue" A tomb group notable for the basalt door in its facade. "Sarah's Cave" A cave with four orderly chambers surrounding a central court. On the basalt lintel of the right-hand chamber, there is an inscription in Greek: "The burial place of Theodosia, also called Sarah, from Tyre". This name and others apparently attest to Phoenician origins. "Cave of the Lone Sarcophagus" A cave comprising three parts: a courtyard, a cave and an upper building (no longer visible). In the front wall was an arch. The original plan called for coffin burials (one decorated coffin was found in the cave); later burial places were added and arcades were hewn into the wall. At the left end is a breach with a view to the Cave of the Coffins . Cave with two chambers. On the lintel is inscribed: "Lord, remember Thy servant Sarcadus". On the arches of the innermost chamber, two palm fronds are engraved. "Cave of the Loved One Rests Here" Cave with three chambers. The door to the large chamber is decorated with two rosettes, and part of the metal door handle remains. An inscription in Greek, above a burial place at the right end of the chamber, says: "The Loved One Rests Here". "Cave of the Cloth Merchant" A three-chambered cave with six inscriptions. One of them is inscribed in Greek letters filled with red paint: "Benjamin son of Julius the cloth merchant, son of the most excellent Macrobius." The lintel of the right-hand chamber is decorated with a head and candelabrum, and the inscription "Of Socrates". "Cave of the Syrian Jews" and "Cave of the Curses (Maledictions)" A cave with four chambers, on the walls of which are carved seven branched candelabra, the image of a vulture, and twelve inscriptions in Greek and Aramaic. Some of the inscriptions contain curses like "Whoever opens this tomb will eventually die a bad death". Another inscription, in Greek, reads: "The vault [i.e., tomb] of Edysius, head of the Council of Elders, a man of Antioch". "Cave of the Ascents" This cave comprises twelve rooms, hewn with a narrow cross-section, and on two levels. In the cave are about twenty inscriptions in Greek and Hebrew. The most important of them is written in red, and in Hebrew: "This is the last resting place of Yodan son of Levy, Levy is in Eternity, at peace, may the grave remain worthy of Yodan son of Levy". Back to Israel Index