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| Park Entrance Sign |
Today we left our hotel in Tiberius and headed
south on #90 to one of the most impressive Roman and Byzantine sites in Israel!
It is also one of the hottest places in Israel but it was only around 12
degrees Celsius and light rain during our visit. With the walking and the climb
up the very, very high mound known as a “tel”; I thought the weather and
temperature was perfect.
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| Looking towards the "tel" with Scythopolis in the foreground |
Archaeological excavations of Bet She’an have revealed no less than 18 communities one built upon the other which have created the very high “tel” or mound you can see in the background of the picture on the left.
When the Romans under Alexander the Great came onto the scene at Bet She’an, they shifted the town centre from the summit of the “tel” to the bottom of its slopes. The Roman city was called Scythopolis and was the leading city of the Decapolis which was a loose confederation of the ten cities with the other nine built on the other side of the Gilead Mountains in present day Jordan.
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| Map showing the city layout |
Now Bet She’an has historically had a very
important role because of its geographical location where the Jordan River
Valley and the Jezreel Valley come together. It also would have been a place
that Jesus would have passed through on His journeys.
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| Theater view looking towards the "tel" |
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| Palladius or Main St which Romans always built North - South |
Palladius street is sloped from the center to allow water to flow to the curbs and away. Both sides of the street would have various shops selling their wares just like any main street today.
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| Standing by a fallen colunm |
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| Looking Down Sylvanus Street (secondary main street running east - west) |
From the above two pictures you can see that I have a head phone on my right ear! This was a most excellent part of the tour because I could always hear our guide Shimon talking as long as I was within a couple of hundred feet of his location. All of us on the tour would be able to hear him as he talked. With my hearing impairment it made the tour "first class"! I must also say that Shimon was most knowledgeable and entertaining at the same time. He really made the tour come alive and his passion was above and beyond!
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| Looking up Northern Street |
In 749 AD an earthquake destroyed Scythopolis and it was never rebuilt. You can see from the above picture how the earthquake brought down the columns in an orderly fashion.
You need to realize that all that is shown in the above pictures except for the "tel" were buried! Archaeologists only started digging in 1921! Everything, including the theater were not visible but all underground!
I cannot express what I felt as I walked through Bet She’an national park. It is the largest archaeological dig in Israel. It’s just unbelievable as to how large it is and what it would have looked like in Biblical times. There is so much here that I have not shown or spoke about....just an amazing place to go. Oh yes, I did climb the "tel" and wow is it ever high!
