Page 38 - Holyland Magazine - 2019 Edition

Stroll the streets and climb the ancient mound of Beit She’an, whose fabulous ruins are steeped in dramatic
biblical stories and the Christian history of the land.

YBy Miriam Feinberg Vamosh visitors will pause not only to consider the River, of which Beit She’an, located south of
our first view of Beit She’an will architecture of the amphitheater, one of the Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee, was the capital
literally take your breath away. From few that have been found in the region, or the and the largest. Perhaps it was even here that
an observation point at the entrance images of Charlton Heston’s “Ben-Hur” and Jesus healed “a man who was deaf and could
to the national park, the magnificent Russell Crowe’s “Gladiator” inevitably evoked hardly talk ...” (7:32) and where “people were
ruined colonnades and walls – some by the surroundings. They will also remember overwhelmed with amazement. ‘He has done
of which have been restored and others still the many lovers of God, both Christians and everything well,’” they said (7:37).
in the jumble left by the massive earthquake Jews, who could have been thrown to the lions
that shook the area on January 18, 749 CE – right here, and defended their faith to the death Another “Christian moment” in Beit She’an
stretch toward the biblical tel. In that mound when the land was under the heel of Rome. can be found in a location off the main walk
are the ruined walls on which the Philistines When the country became Christian, after the through the ruins, but well worth seeking
hung the bodies of Saul and his sons after rise of the Byzantines in the early 4th century, out. Behind the reconstructed bathhouse is
Saul’s defeat on nearby Mount Gilboa (1 Sam. the amphitheater, of course, was closed down. a small, white-plastered niche painted with
31:10). From earlier times are remains of a red cross, over a bath big enough for just
buildings built by the Egyptians. Recognizing After entering the national park and gazing over one person. It is probably a baptistery, one of
the strategic value of the region’s north-south the ruins of the Roman-Byzantine city, it is time the only Christian remnants in the Byzantine
road along the Jordan Valley, the Egyptians to open the New Testament. Beit She’an itself "downtown" of Beit She'an. Here is one of
ruled at Beit She’an from the 16th to the 12th is not mentioned in the Gospels; nevertheless, many places to consider Beit She’an as a point
centuries BCE, and made it northern Canaan’s Jesus may have visited the town. According where two very different lifestyles and value
regional capital. to Mark: "Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre systems coexisted. The city was founded in
and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Hellenistic times (the 3rd century BCE) as a
Not only do the ruins tell fascinating stories Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis” pagan town – its Greek name, which continued
of antiquity, they are also part and parcel of (7:31). Meaning “ten cities,” the Decapolis was to be used by the Christians, was Scythopolis,
Israel’s ability to find “its future in its past.” The an alliance of cities on both sides of the Jordan after the mythological Scythian guard that
ruins were first brought to light by a University
of Pennsylvania archaeological expedition Urban R
from 1921-1933. The theater and some of the
other remains were unearthed, but the rest of Gate to a Roman temple facing the street.
the city – which at its peak covered 400 acres Photo: Doron Nissim
and had a population of between 40,000 and
50,000 people – remained covered. It was only
in the early 1980s, when Israel faced serious
economic difficulties (especially in outlying
regions like Beit She’an), that the government
decided to embark on major excavations that
would employ the people of the modern town,
which was founded by new immigrants a year
after Israel was established.

Excavations have slowed down now, making
way for the essential and painstaking work of
cataloging and studying the remains that have
been revealed, and of reconstructing them for
visitors to enjoy. The results can be seen as
you visit the amphitheater and the theater, and
walk along the ancient town’s main streets,
whose temples, shops and mosaics showcase
a very important period in the Christian history
of the Holy Land.

Beit She’an has two important focal points for
Christians: the Byzantine city and the biblical
tel. Even before reaching the national park
entrance, you come across one important
monument: the amphitheater. In the 2nd
century CE, following the conquest of the
land by the Roman Emperor Hadrian, the
amphitheater was used to stage gladiatorial
contests. You can still see the limestone seats
where some of the 5,000 to 7,000 spectators
sat, the first row built atop a wall well out of the
way of the teeth and claws of the wild animals
let loose on the gladiators. Here, Christian

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