Beit Shearim

Beit She'arim (Hebrew: בית שערים‎), also (Hebrew: בית שריי‎),[1] Kh. Sheikh Abreiḳ (Arabic: شيخ ابريق‎), is a Roman-era Jewish village (now ruin) that thrived from the 1st-century BCE until its demise in the early 20th century.[2] The name of site is occasionally rendered as Bet She'arāyim (Hebrew: בּית שערַיִם, "House of Two Gates"). It is first mentioned by Josephus as Besara (Greek: Βήσαραν; Βησάρα), a place then serving as the administrative center of the estates of Queen Berenice (daughter of Agrippa I) in the Jezreel Valley. The village seemed to have been of agricultural importance, as it was being used to store the harvested grain of the neighboring towns and villages.[3][4] By the mid-2nd century, the village had become the seat of the rabbinic synod under Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi.[5][6] The site is situated on the spur of a hill about half a kilometer long and 200 meters wide, and lies in the southern extremity of the Lower Galilee mountains, facing the western end of the Jezreel Valley, east of Daliat el-Carmel, south of Kiryat Tivon, and west of Ramat Yishai. It rises 138 metres (453 ft) above sea level at its highest point.

For the necropolis, see Beit She'arim National Park.
Beit She'arim
Beit She'arayim
Ancient ruin of Beit Shearim in Lower Galilee
Shown within Israel
Alternative nameSheikh Abreiḳ
LocationIsrael
Coordinates32°42′08″N 35°07′45″E
History
FoundedHellenistic period
Abandoned20th-century
PeriodsHellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Early Arab
CulturesJewish, Graeco-Roman, Byzantine
Site notes
Excavation dates1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1953, 1954, 1955
ArchaeologistsBenjamin Mazar, Nahman Avigad
ConditionRuin
Public accessyes

Adjoining the village on its northwest side is a necropolis, situated in a valley, which rose to prominence largely due to Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi (compiler of the Mishnah) who was interred there.[7] In the 3rd and 4th centuries CE, Beit Shearim became a popular place for Diaspora Jews to send their dead for burial.[8][9][10] In 2015, the necropolis, known as the Beit She'arim National Park, was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site.[11]

Identification

For many years the ancient site of Beit Shearim remained obscure and nearly slipped into oblivion. Throughout the centuries, the village's Hebrew name was changed to Sheikh Abreik (Sheikh Bureik). Some historical geographers thought that Sheikh Abreiḳ was to be identified with Gaba Hippeum (Geba), the site mentioned by Josephus as being in the confines of Mount Carmel.[12] It was not until Alexander Zaïd in 1936 discovered a "new" catacomb among the known burial caves in the hill directly below Sheikh Abreiḳ and brought it to the attention of British Mandate archaeologist Benjamin Mazar and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi that priority was given to the site, which discovery prompted seven seasons of systematic excavations at Sheikh Abreiḳ and its necropolis between the years 1936–1940, and 1956, under the direction of Prof. Benjamin Mazar on behalf of the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society, and again in the years 1953–1958 under Nahman Avigad.[13] Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, looking at the evidence presented to him by Mazar, reached the conclusion that this was no ordinary find, but that it most certainly was the burial grounds of the Jewish Patriarchal family of the 2nd-century CE.

Although historical geographer Samuel Klein had argued as early as 1913 that Beth-Shearim and Besara were to be recognised as one and the same place, an opinion followed by C.R. Conder,[14] he was unable to pin-point its exact location. Only after the revelations of 1936 came to light, and Ben-Zvi's recognition that the necropolis at Sheikh Abreik belonged to a Patriarchal family, did Klein reach the conclusion that Sheikh Abreik was the ancient site of Beit Shearim.[15] Klein's identification was later corroborated by the discovery of a broken marble slab, from a mausoleum above Catacomb no. 11, containing a Greek inscription, in which the funerary epigram (written during the deceased person's lifetime) bears the words: "I, Justus, the son of [S]appho, of the family Leontius, have died and have been laid to rest...alas, [here] in [B]esar[a]" (Besara being the Aramaic dialect spoken in Galilee for Beit Shearim).[16]

Menorah and Sargophagus found at the Beit Shearim necropolis
Façade of burial cave at Beit Shearim necropolis (reconstructed)

Additional excavations were conducted at the site in 2006–2007 by archaeologist Yotam Tepper on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, during which season coins from the Roman and Byzantine periods were retrieved.[17]

Site description

The village site retains the stone foundation of what appears to be a large synagogue (35 × 15 m) and other public buildings in the northeastern quarter of the ruins.[18] A hall directly in front of the synagogue entrance was aligned with two rows of columns, each row containing eight pillars. One large structure (40 × 15 m) on the southwestern part of the hill is thought to have been a basilica which, under the Jewish custom of the time, buildings of such size were used primarily for kings holding court, or for baths, or for royal treasuries.[19] It was constructed of large, smooth-bossed ashlars that were coated with thick plaster. The basilica contained two rows of seven square pillars. Archaeologists have also identified a late Roman "stepped pool" in Beit Shearim, and three 3rd to 4th-century ritual baths (mikveh) on the ancient site.[20] Ancient stone-pavements, cisterns, and walls of hewn-stone can still be seen on the site. Byzantine mosaics have also been found at the site.[21] Remains of a gate and an oil press from the Byzantine period were discovered at the northern edge of the summit, but are thought to have been built in an earlier time.

Necropolis
Main article: Beit She'arim National Park

Based on the inscriptions found at the necropolis, Jews were being brought for burial at Beit Shearim from all neighboring places, such as from the Phoenician coast, Sidon, Beirut, and Byblos (in Lebanon), Palmyra (in Syria), Antioch (in Turkey), Mesene (in South Mesopotamia), and Himyar (in Yemen), among other places. The people of Himyar were buried in a single catacomb, in which 40 smaller rooms or loculi branched-off from a main hall.[22] The burial cave dates from the beginning of the 3rd-century CE. Twenty-one catacombs have thus far been discovered at the necropolis. When the catacombs were first explored by archaeologists in the 20th-century, the tombs had already fallen into great disrepair and neglect, and the sarcophagi contained therein had almost all been broken-into by grave-robbers in search for treasure. This pillaging was believed to have happened in the 8th and 9th centuries CE based on the type of terra-cotta lamps found in situ.[23] The robbers also emptied the stone coffins of the bones of the deceased. During the Mameluk period (13th-15th centuries), the "Cave of the Coffins" (Catacomb no. 20) served as a place of refuge for Arab shepherds.[24] Lieutenant C. R. Conder of the Palestine Exploration Fund visited the site in late 1872 and described one of the systems of caves, known as "The Cave of Hell" (Mŭghâret el-Jehennum).[25] While exploring a catacomb, he found there a coin of Agrippa, which find led him to conclude that the ruins date back to "the later Jewish times, about the Christian era."[26] Benjamin Mazar, during his excavations of Sheikh Abreik, discovered coins that date no later than the time of Constantine the Great and Constantius II.[27]

In wake of the excavations conducted under Nahman Avigad, Avigad remarked: "The fact that in one catacomb nearly one hundred and thirty sarcophagi were discovered, and that there had previously been many more, makes it one of the foremost catacombs of ancient times in so far as the use of sarcophagi is concerned."[28] Conservation work in the catacombs at Beit Shearim has being carried out over the years, in order to check the decay and to preserve old structures.

Early history

Pottery shards discovered at the site indicate that a first settlement there dates back to the Iron Age.[29] An anecdote about communal life in Beit Shearim has come down in the name of Judah ha-Nasi, who, after mentioning the place, alludes to the practice of its people being observant in the laws of Jewish ritual purity.[30] The Mishnaic sage, Rabbi Johanan ben Nuri, made his home in Beit Shearim.[31] During its Jewish settlement in the Second Temple period, the inhabitants of Beit Shearim are believed to have been occupied in husbandry, but when the village land became a popular burial ground for Diaspora Jews, many of the villagers are thought to have worked in funeral preparations (obsequies) and in stone-masonry. Some have speculated that Beit Shearim may have been destroyed in the general revolt under Gallus Caesar in 351/2 CE, during a time when many towns and villages in Galilee and Judea were assigned to the flames, including Sepphoris.[32][33][9] During this time, the necropolis fell into disuse. In any rate, the site shows signs of resettlement in the Byzantine period, all throughout the 6th-century, and into the early Arab period, although dwindling in importance.[32][34]

Panoramic view of region looking down from Beit She'arim

See also

Further reading
  • Maisler, B. (1952–1953). "Beth She'arim, Gaba, and Harosheth of the Peoples". Hebrew Union College Annual. Hebrew Union College Press. 24. JSTOR 23506482.CS1 maint: date format (link)
  • Mazar, Benjamin (1973). Beth She'arim: ha-Ḥevrah la-ḥaḳirat Erets Yiśraʼel ṿe-ʻatiḳoteha, Massada Press on behalf of the Israel Exploration Society and the Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem

References
  1. In the Jerusalem Talmud (Kila'im 9:3; Ketubbot 12:3 [65b]; Eruvin 1:1 [3a]), the town's name is written in an elided-consonant form, (Hebrew: בית שריי‎), which follows more closely the Greek transliteration in Josephus' Vita § 24, (Greek: Βησάραν).
  2. A population list from about 1887 showed that Sheikh Abreik had about 395 inhabitants; all Muslims. See: Schumacher (1888), p. 175
  3. Josephus, Vita § 24
  4. Beit She'arim, the Jewish Necropolis of the Roman Period
  5. Avigad, N. & Schwabe, M. (1954), p. 1
  6. Sherira Gaon (1988). The Iggeres of Rav Sherira Gaon. Translated by Nosson Dovid Rabinowich. Jerusalem: Rabbi Jacob Joseph School Press - Ahavath Torah Institute Moznaim. p. 88. OCLC 923562173.; cf. Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashana 31b, Rashi s.v. ומיבנא לאושא; Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 32b).
  7. Jerusalem Talmud (Ketubbot 12:3 [65b]); Babylonian Talmud (Ketubbot 103b–104a)
  8. Ilan, Zvi (1991), p. 198
  9. Freedman, D.N. (1992), p. 793
  10. Jerusalem Talmud (Mo'ed Katan 3:5 [14b]). There, when speaking about the rules of mourning, the question was asked: When does mourning actually begin for those who carry their deceased from place to place, such as those who are brought for burial at Beit Shearim?
  11. Shpigel, Noa; Feinberg Vamosh, Miriam (6 July 2015). "Second Temple-era Catacomb Beit She'arim Declared UNESCO World Heritage Site". Haaretz. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  12. An opinion held by Victor Guérin; see: Guérin, V. (1880), pp. 395–397; Conder & Kitchener (1881), p. 351
  13. Avigad, N. (n.d.), p. 1
  14. Conder, C.R. (1879), p. 181
  15. Mazar, B. (Maisler) (1957), p. 19
  16. Mazar, B. (Maisler) (1957), p. vii; Schwabe, Moshe (1940), pp. 5–7; Summary (reprinted from the Bulletin of the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society, vi–vii, 1939). The Greek epigram is, today, at the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem.
  17. Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel, Israel Antiquities Authority (JSTOR 26601250)
  18. Mazar, B. (Maisler), (1957), p. 20
  19. Cf. Babylonian Talmud (Avodah Zarah 16b)
  20. Miller, Stuart S. (2015), pp. 23, 207
  21. Vitto, Fanny (1996)
  22. Tobi, Y. & Seri, S. (2000), p. 37
  23. Avigad, N. (1958), p. 36
  24. Avigad, N. (1958), p. 37
  25. Conder & Kitchener (1881), pp. 325 - ff.
  26. Conder & Kitchener (1881), p. 351
  27. Mazar, B. (1957), p. vi (Introduction)
  28. Avigad, N. (1958), p. 29
  29. Negev, Avraham & Gibson, S. (2001), pp. 86–87
  30. According to Rashi, people descended from Aaron's lineage and living in Beit Shearim consumed of the priestly bread (Terumah) in a state of ritual purity (meaning, they made use of the ashes of the Red Heifer and immersed in a ritual bath, as required for ritual purity before consuming of the Terumah). See: Babylonian Talmud, Niddah 32a, Rashi s.v. קודם לאמה.
  31. Tosefta, Sukkah 2:2
  32. Avigad, N. (n.d.), p. 2
  33. Mazar, B. (1957), p. 18
  34. Leibner, Uzi (2009), p. 384

Bibliography
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