Beit Shearim

Beit She'arim (Hebrew: בית שערים‎ / Aramaic: בית שריי‎ / Bet Sharei)[1] or Besara (Greek: Βήσαρα)[2] was a Roman-era Jewish village from the 1st-century BCE until the 3rd-century CE which, at one time, was the seat of the Sanhedrin. It later became the village of Sheikh Bureik (Arabic: شيخ ابريق‎);[3] it was depopulated in the 1920s after the Sursuk family of Lebanon – who had bought the land from the Ottoman government in 1875 – sold the village to the Jewish National Fund.[4] It is today part of the Beit She'arim National Park.

Not to be confused with Beit She'arim (moshav).
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

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. It is first mentioned by Josephus as Besara where grain from the King's land was stored. [5]

In the mid-2nd century, the village briefly became the seat of the rabbinic synod under Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi (compiler of the Mishnah),[6][7] who was buried in the adjoining necropolis.[8]

Identification
Sheikh Bureik, Lajjun in the Survey of Palestine in 1942

For many years the ancient site of Beit Shearim remained obscure and nearly slipped into oblivion. 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.[9]

Justus the Leontide inscription at Sheikh Abreiq which includes the Greek letters "...ECAP..." (...esar...) interpreted to refer to Besara.

Historical geographer Samuel Klein argued in 1913 that Beth-Shearim and Besara were to be recognised as one and the same place, an opinion agreed to earlier by C.R. Conder,[10] but he was unable to pin-point its location. In 1936 Alexander Zaïd discovered what he thought was a "new" catacomb among the already known burial caves in the hill directly below Sheikh Abreiḳ, and brought the necropolis to the attention of archaeologist Benjamin Mazar and his brother-in-law Yitzhak Ben-Zvi; Ben-Zvi proposed that this was the burial grounds of the Jewish Patriarchal family of the 2nd-century CE. On this basis Klein proposed that Sheikh Abreik was the ancient site of Beit Shearim,[11] which was 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... ...esar......", where "...esar..." was interpreted to have been Besara.[12][13]

Arguably the most definitive pieces of evidence that helped scholars identify Sheikh Bureik with Beit Shearim is the Talmudic reference that the body of Rabbi Judah the Prince, after he had died in Sepphoris, was carried for burial at Beit Shearim,[14] during which funeral procession they made eighteen stops at different stations along the route to eulogize him. Josephus, when speaking about Besara in Vita § 24 (the Jewish-Galilean Aramaic dialect for Beit Shearim), places the village at 60 stadia (more than 11 km.) from Simonias, a distance corresponding with the site at Sheikh Bureik, where is situated the largest Jewish necropolis found in the Land of Israel. This prompted historian Ben-Zvi to suggest that the necropolis at Sheikh Bureik (Shêkh 'Abrêq) and the tombs found there were none other than that of the Patriarchal Dynasty belonging to Judah the Prince.[15]

These facts prompted seven seasons of systematic excavations at Sheikh Abreiḳ and its necropolis between the years 1936–1940, and 1956, on behalf of the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society, and again in the years 1953–1958 under Nahman Avigad.[16] 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]

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

Site description
Main article: Beit She'arim National Park

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.[22]

Necropolis

In the 3rd and 4th centuries CE, the Beit Shearim necropolis became a popular place for Diaspora Jews to send their dead for burial.[23][24][25] In 2015, the necropolis was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site.[26]

The cemetery forms the largest known Jewish necropolis in the Levant.[27]Based on the inscriptions found at the necropolis, Jews were being brought for interment at Beit Shearim from all throughout the Jewish Diaspora, such as Beirut, Sidon, Palmyra, Messene in Babylonia and Himyar. [28]The burial caves date from the beginning of the 3rd-century CE.

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."[29] 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
1944 excavations of Sheikh Abreik (Beit Shearim)

Pottery shards discovered at the site indicate that a first settlement there dates back to the Iron Age.[30]

Under Roman rule, it lay within the royal estate of the Herodian dynasty, where Berenice, the sister of Herod Agrippa II stored grain, and marked the border with Ptolemais.[5] The site Beit Shearim is mentioned in the Talmud, along with Yavne, Usha, Shefar'am and Sepphoris, as one of ten migratory journeys taken by the Sanhedrin when it uprooted from Jerusalem.[31] 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.[32] The Mishnaic sage, Rabbi Johanan ben Nuri (1st–2nd century), made his home in Beit Shearim.[33] 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 later 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.

Benjamin Mazar described the village as a prosperous Jewish town that was eventually destroyed in the first half of the 4th century (ca. 351/2 CE),[5] at the end of the Jewish revolt against Gallus, during which time many towns and villages in Galilee and Judea were assigned to the flames, including Sepphoris.[34][35][24] After some time it was renewed as a Byzantine city.[36] More recent research shows that the Gallus revolt had a much lesser impact on the town.[37] The Galilee earthquake of 363 is said to have damaged Beit Shearim, although its damages thought to have been limited.[38]

During the late Byzantine era, the necropolis fell into disuse, notwithstanding signs of human occupancy during the Byzantine period, all throughout the 6th-century, and into the early Arab period, although dwindling in importance.[34][39]

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: 75–84. JSTOR 23506482.
  • 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. The name of site is occasionally rendered as Bet She'arāyim (Hebrew: בּית שערַיִם, "House of Two Gates").
  2. 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).
  3. A population list from about 1887 showed that Sheikh Abreik had about 395 inhabitants; all Muslims. See: Schumacher (1888), p. 175
  4. Sir John Hope Simpson,PALESTINE Report on Immigration, Land Settlement and Development,' His Majesty's Stationery Office I October 1930:'of 688 Arab families which cultivated in the villages in the Vale of Esdraelon which were purchased and occupied by the Jews, only 379 are now cultivating the land. Three hundred and nine of these families have joined the landless classes. In the cases described as " died " it is not the family that is extinguished, but the head of the family who has died. Presumably, the descendants are still alive and earning their bread in some other walk of life than agriculture. It is also to be recorded that the number, 688, does not by any means include all the families who were displaced. According to the records of the Area Officers at Nazareth and Haifa, the number of " farmers " displaced from those villages was 1,270, nearly double the number accounted for in the Memorandum,...The Jewish authorities have nothing with which to reproach themselves in the matter of the Sursock lands. They paid high prices for the land, and in addition they paid to certain of the occupants of those lands a considerable amount of money which they were not legally bound to pay. It was not their business, but the business of the Government to see to it that the position of the Arabs was not adversely affected by the transaction. In Article 6 of the Mandate it is the duty of the Administration of Palestine to ensure that the rights and position of the Arabs are not prejudiced by Jewish immigration. It is doubtful whether, in the matter of the Sursock lands, this Article of the Mandate received sufficient consideration.'
  5. Steven Neil Mason, ed. Life of Josephus, in Flavius Josephus, Translation and Commentary Brill BRILL 2001 ISBN 978-9-004-11793-8 p.182
  6. Avigad, N. & Schwabe, M. (1954), p. 1
  7. 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).
  8. Jerusalem Talmud (Ketubbot 12:3 [65b]); Babylonian Talmud (Ketubbot 103b–104a)
  9. An opinion held by Victor Guérin; see: Guérin, V. (1880), pp. 395–397; Conder & Kitchener (1881), p. 351
  10. Conder, C.R. (1879), p. 181
  11. Mazar, B. (Maisler) (1957), p. 19
  12. 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.
  13. Zaharoni (1978), pp. 38, 42
  14. Cf. Babylonian Talmud Kettubot 103a-b; Bava Metzia 85a; Pesachim 49b; Jerusalem Talmud, Kelaim 9:3, 32a-b.
  15. Benjamin Mazar (Maisler), Report on the excavations during 1936–1940, vol. I: Catacombs 1–4, pp. 7–8
  16. Avigad, N. (n.d.), p. 1
  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. Steinsaltz, A., ed. (1997). Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli) (in Hebrew). 28 (part II). Jerusalem: The Israel Institute for Talmudic Publications. p. 288. OCLC 741218941., s.v. Baba Bathra 67b (photo and illustration)
  23. Ilan, Zvi (1991), p. 198
  24. Freedman, D.N. (1992), p. 793
  25. 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?
  26. 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.
  27. Karen L. Stern, Working Women? Professions of Jewish Women in the Late Ancient Levant, in Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Nathaniel DesRosiers, Shira L. Lander, Jacqueline Z. Pastis, Daniel Ullucci, A Most Reliable Witness: Essays in Honor of Ross Shepard Kraemer, SBL Press, 2015 ISBN 978-1-930-67596-4 pp.263-273 p.271.
  28. Karen B. Stern, Writing on the Wall: Graffiti and the Forgotten Jews of Antiquity, Princeton University Press, 2020 ISBN 978-0-691-21070-4 pp.85ff., p.88
  29. Avigad, N. (1958), p. 29
  30. Negev and Gibson, 2001, pp. 86–87.
  31. Babylonian Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 31a–b)
  32. According to Rashi, people descended from Aaron's lineage and living in Beit Shearim partook 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.
  33. Tosefta, Sukkah 2:2
  34. Avigad, N. (n.d.), p. 2
  35. Mazar, B. (1957), p. 18
  36. Mazar (1957), p. 19
  37. Negev and Gibson (2001), pp. 86–87
  38. Negev and Gibson (2001), pp. 86–87
  39. Leibner, Uzi (2009), p. 384

Bibliography
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