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Tiberias

Tiberias

For over twenty years excavations of ancient Tiberias have been underway.  This section contains photos of some of the structures excavated.  The City Gate and Theater have a special section.

Herod Antipas was the son of Herod the Great who ruled Galilee from 4 BC to AD 39, beheaded John the Baptist, and before whom Jesus appeared in Jerusalem before his crucifixion.  He built Tiberias from AD 18 to 22 naming the city after the Roman Emperor Tiberius (r. AD 14–37).  Then he moved his capital from Sepphoris to Tiberias.

At the time of the First Revolt (AD 66-70) Tiberias surrendered to the (then) general Vespasian.  The gate to the city was too small for his troops to enter so Vespasian made a breach in the city wall for the purpose (War iii.453–461 [9.8]).  But to date (August 2012) no city wall from the first century AD has been found.

For the excavations at Tiberias, see:  Hirschfeld, Yizhar, Gideon Forester, and Fanny Vitto.  "Tiberias." Pages 1464-73 in The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. Edited by Ephraim Stern, Ayellet Lewinson–Gilboa, and Joseph Aviram. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society and Carta, 1993 and Hirschfeld, Yizhar, and Oren Gutfeld.  "Tiberias." Pages 2048-54 in The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land — vol. 5 — Supplementary Volume. Edited by Ephraim Stern, Ayellet Lewinson–Gilboa, and Joseph Aviram. Jerusalem and Washington, DC: Israel Exploration Society and Biblical Archaeological Society, 2008.