powered by FreeFind	Sepphoris 180 pictures     4 minutes HQ video The hill of sepphoris, 289 meters (950 feet) high, is located in lower Galilee. among the chalk hills ranging between the sepphoris Stream, to the south and the Bet Netofa valley to the north. "Mona Lisa of the Galilee" Sepphoris is mentioned for the first time in the days of the Hashmonean king Alexander Yannai (103 B.C.E.), Although a few remains from the first Temple period (8-7 cent. B.C.E.) found in the vicinity of the site attest to the existence of a settlement there at that time. In 63 B.C.E. the Land of Israel was conquered by the Roman army led by Pompey, a veteran general. In 55 B.C.E. Gabinius, provencial governor of Syria, declared Sepphoris the capital of the Galilee District. Antipater, father of Herod the Great, was given Roman citizenship by Caesar in 47 B.C.E. and was appointed provencial governor of Judea. Herod made his political debut the same year, as Governor of Galilee. Six years later, he was appointed ruler of Galilee. In the civil war of 40 B.C.E., Herod fled to Rome, where he was named King of Judea by the Roman Senate. His actual reign began in 37 B.C.E., when he took back control of the country. Herod's army conquered Sepphoris at the height of a severe snowstorm! During the Herodian period, Sepphoris remained the capital of the Galilee. In 66 C.E., the Great Jewish Rebellion against Rome broke out. The people of Sepphoris, however, signed a pact with the Roman army, thus averting the destruction of their city. The role played by Sepphoris in the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-135 C.E.) is unclear, but during that time its name was changed to Diocaesarea, the Jewish leadership was ousted, and a Gentile administration appointed. At the beginning of the 3rd century, when the Town Council was returned to Jewish hands, Rabbi Yehudah Ha-Nassi and the .The Sanhedrin sat in Sepphoris until the middle of the third century, until its transfer to Tiberias by Rabbi Johanan, greatest of the Amoraim (Jewish scholars of c. 200-c. 500, whose hairsplitting arguments made the Gemara a treasury of information and comment). In 324 A.D.., the Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the official state religion - a step which marks the beginning of the Byzantine period. He supported a Jewish convert named Joseph, granted him the title of Friend of the Caesar (Lat. Comes), and permitted him to build a church in Sepphoris. In 351 C.E., a revolt broke out in Sepphoris against Gallus Casear, Governor of the Syrian Province. Ursicinus, the Chief of Cavalry, put down the uprising but did not destroy the city. Only a dozen years later, however, the Land of Israel was rocked by an extremely violent earthquake, and Sepphoris was completely laid waste - although it was very quickly restored and rebuilt. During this period, the city's Christian community grew apace; Sepphoris rose to the status of a bishopric and - as far as is known - a church was even built there. Nevertheless, the Jews represented the majority of Sepphoris's inhabitants. The city continued to exist in all its grandeur until the end of the Byzantine period, and fell from grace during the Islamic period. The Theater The Theater was built at the end of the first century C.E. of the beginning of the second, and was apparently in use until the Byzantine period. About 70 meters (230 feet) in diameter, it contained some 4,500 stone seats. The stone stage, floored with wood, was decorated along its entire length with square and semicircular niches. Behind it were found the remains of the scaena frons - an ornate structure often three stories high - which closed off the semicircular theater and provided background for the actors during the performance. The theater had five entrances: three entrances leading into the seating area, and two others at the ends of the stage. All the entrances were connected by a vaulted hallway around the circumference. Performances in the roman theater expressed a lifestyle which was superficial, hedonistic, and above all, idolatrous - a way of life which was totally antithetical to the Jewish modus vivendi. The existence of the theater, a symbol of paganism, in a Jewish city, aroused suspicion among Rabbis, which were expressed in Talmudic literature: "Rabbi Shimon Ben Pazi demanded: 'What is it that is said? Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful (Psalms 1:1) - meaning blessed is the man who does not go to the theaters and circuses of idolaters'" (Babylonian Talmud, Avoda Zara 18:b). Houses from the Second Temple, Roman and Byzantine These houses are from the (1st century B.C.E. - 6th century C.E.). There were working quarries here during the Hasmonean period (2nd-1st centuries B.C.E.).The houses erected subsequently - numerous, close-set and fronting on a paved street - existed continuously until the end of the Roman period, and were rebuilt during the Byzantine period. In this area, many cisterns and subterranean rooms were found. The ubiquity of ritual baths attests to the Jewish nature of life in Sepphoris. The Citadel The Citadel was erected during the Crusader period, above the ruins of an ancient building. Roman sarcophagi, some decorated with relief, were reused in the structure. The entranceway, its arch decorated with "pillows" - as well as the first-door wall to its right - were built in the 18th century by Dahar el-'Umar, Bedouin Governor of the Galilee. At the end of the 19th century, the building was renovated and used as a school for children of Saffuriyyeh (formerly an Arab village whose name is the Arabic cognate of "Sepphoris") until the War of Independence. Multimedia programs inside the Fortress present the brief history of the city, the mosaics of the Nile building and the sophisticated water system, the breathtaking view from the roof of the building allegorizes the name of Zippori, which "…perches on top of the mountain like a bird (Heb. Zippor)." (Babylonian Talmud, Megillah, 6:a). Luxurious Roman Residence with mosaic Floor. Built early in the 3rd century C.E. and apparently destroyed in a severe earthquake in 363 C.E. the villa has an interior courtyard surrounded by columns on three sides. On the northern side the living quarters have been preserved, including the dining hall (triclinium). The rooms of the house were covered with colorful mosaics. Prominent among them is that of the triclinium, depicting scenes from Dionysos' life and cult. Within a frame of medallions surrounding the central section of the floor, is the portrait of a woman of rare beauty, known as the "Mona Lisa of the Galilee". Network of Streets East of the hill, a grid of streets was discovered from the Roman period, parallel and at true right angles to each other, and most likely built in the second century C.E. Between them were insulae ("islands") on which various structures were built. In the center, two colonnaded streets formed a cross, with its upright (cardo) along the north-south axis and its transom (decumanus) along the east-west line. The roadbeds were paved with hard limestone, while the colonnaded walkways (stoae) along their verges had mosaic floors. The small streetside shops were part of the lower market mentioned in the Talmud. Ruts made by the wheels of myriad wagons passing by over many years are easily discernible in the paving stones of the central colonnaded street. On one such stone a seven-branched candelabrum has been carved. At the sides of the streets various buildings were found. Discoveries from the Roman period included a spacious building (No. 10 below), bathhouses and remains of homes and ritual baths. Additional buildings were erected here during the Byzantine period, many on the ruins of Roman structures; among them, a church contiguous with the colonnaded street on the west, the Nile mosaic building (No. 9, below), dwellings (one with a mosaic floor), and a few industrial buildings. During the Byzantine period some of the streets were repaired. The most important of the changes was the renovation of the intersection of the colonnaded streets carried out during the reign of Bishop Eutropius. This event was perpetuated in several Greek inscriptions integrated into the mosaic flooring of the stoae. The "Nile Mosaic" Building The "Nile Mosaic" Building is located east of the cardo and takes up a major part of its insula. The building was erected at the beginning of the 5th century and was in use until the end of the Byzantine period. On the pavement between the cardo and the western facade of the building, a mosaic floor was unearthed with an eight-line inscription referring to the mosaic artists. The building has three main wings connected by corridors. In the center of the western wing a basilica was found - a hall containing two rows of columns and various adjacent rooms. Additional rooms surrounding an open courtyard are found in the building's eastern wing. The southern wing, now mostly in ruins, included a toilet among its rooms. All of the building's floors are paved with colored mosaics. The largest of these floor comprises a fascinating work of art which depicts Egyptian festivals celebrating the high-water peak of the Nile, alongside various hunting scenes - a most unusual combination. mosaics from The "Nile Mosaic" Building Public Building A Public Building in use during the 1st-4th centuries C.E., and which apparently housed Sepphoris' open-air market, the Forum. It measures 40 x 60 meters (131 x 197 feet), and it was entered from the colonnaded street on its east. In its center was a courtyard surrounded by columns, and rooms with colored mosaic floors, decorated with geometric patterns and animals. Synagogues, Tabernacle menorah (mosaic) According to ancient literary sources, there were many synagogues in Sepphoris; one of them was recently unearthed in the northern part of the site. It is an elongated building, in the center of which is a rectangular hall measuring 7 x 15 meters (23 x 49 feet), with several rooms adjoining it to the south. The Ancient Reservoir The Ancient Reservoir is part of the water supply system originating in several springs in the Nazareth Hills. Two aqueducts - one carved into the bedrock, the other constructed - once carried the water to Sepphoris. The major aqueduct leads into an enormous reservoir measuring 260 meters (850 feet) long, 2-4 meters (6-13 feet) wide and about 10 meters (33 feet) deep. The actual capacity of the reservoir is some 4'300 cube meters (1'140'000 US gallons). At the end of the reservoir was a gate valve enabling regulation of the water flow, which passed into the city through a tunnel 235 meters (770 feet) long. the northern branch of the aqueduct leads into a pool measuring 14 x 21 meters (46 x 69 feet), which was located at the edge of town and apparently used for swimming. The water supply from the reservoir entered the town at approximately 270 meters (885 feet) above sea level (about 20 meters [65 feet] lower than the fortress), and provided water to most parts of the city. The reservoir appears to have been built in two stages: one during the 2nd century C.E., the other during the 4th. It was in use until the 7th century, In the higher levels of the town, many household cisterns were found, in which rainwater was collected for use by residents of the city not served by the water supply system. The townsfolk also made use of the Sepphoris Springs which, although not conveniently located (they welled up from the valley floor), nevertheless had a plentiful and steady flow rate of some 110 cubic meters (29,000 US gallons) per hour. Back to Israel Index