Tiberius -- Oct 17 Old city Sites.

It was a mostly pleasant 2 hour + or so drive to Tiberias. There was some traffic congestion near the city of Afula and we had some difficulty locating the tourist center but eventually did.


The first image is of the tourist center. The sign has some Tiberias history. The town was named for the Roman Emperor of that name by Herod Antipas (a son of Herod the Great). A later ruler, Agrippa, built the walls around the town. The Sanhedrin was there for many years and the Palestinian Talmud was mostly compiled there. Later it became a center of the Samaritan sect. It was also the center of the work of the Masorites (who compiled the vowelized version of the Hebrew Bible). Following the Roman period and during the various empires (Byzantine, Arab, Crusader, Arab, Mameluke, Ottoman, British) it was a mostly provincial town (by the 11th century there were only 40 or so Jewish families in town). It is considered the 4th holiest place in Judaism (after Jerusalem, Hebron and Safed).



The second image is of the remnants of the south wall which used to surround the old city. It was built in the Roman era. During that time the old city was only about the equivalent of 12 city blocks right near the Lake.


The third image is Ann and Beth at the lakefront. The sign is for boat rentals. The rocks in the background are a man made structure which hosts a restaurant.