BEISAN, a town situated on a low tableland where the vale of Esdraelon stoops down to the Jordan valley; pop. 1,5oo, almost entirely Muslim (Hebrew Beth-Shan [Shan], "house of Tran quillity"; in classical times bore the name of Scythopolis and on coins Nys[s]a). The area of the ancient town enclosed within walls was extensive and at some time was subdivided into walled quar ters. The modern town occupies the southern quarter only. A mound, mainly artificial, rising 2 5of t. above the bed of the river Jalud and now known as Tell Husn formed the acropolis of the early city. Under British mandate (192 2) Beisan is in the Nazareth area of the northern district of Palestine.
Thutmose III. crushed a confederacy of tribes in the plain of Esdraelon in 1479 B.c. and the name of Beth-shan appears in a list of his conquests. From the time of Seti I. 0314 B.c.) to that of Ramses III. (1198) Egypt controlled its destinies. Ref erence, too, is made to the city in the Papyrus Anastasi of the period of Ramses II. It sustained a Canaanite enclave in Israelite territory long after the occupation (Judg. i. 27, Josh. xvii., 11), and it was possibly not till the time of David (c. 1,000 B.c.) that this stronghold fell into the hands of the Israelites. After the battle of Gilboa (c. 1020 B.C.) the bodies of Saul and his sons were ex hibited on its walls (I. Sam. xxxi., 12). Sheshonk of Egypt returned to plunder it in 926 B.C. and from then till the last quarter of the 7th century it was in the hands of Assyria. The name Scythopolis suggests that the Scythian invasion (626 B.c.) in its ebb had left here a settlement, although other derivations have been suggested. From 301-198 B.c. Beisan was tributary to the Ptolemies, there after coming under Seleucid rule as a result of the conquests of Antiochus III. It fell into the hands of John Hyrcanus (107 B.c.). Pompey dispossessed the Jews in 65 B.C. and Scythopolis became eventually autonomous and the chief city of Decapolis. Greatly extended at this time it was equipped with temples, theatre, hip podrome, aqueducts, colonnaded streets, etc., and surpassed Jeru salem in population and commerce. The seat of a bishop it became also a centre of monasticism in the 4th century. When the Mus lims overran Syria (A.D. 636) one of the decisive battles of the campaign was fought in its neighbourhood. The crusaders found in it a city far advanced in decay. They made no effort to re fortify it, and it was taken at the second attempt by Saladin, who consigned it to the flames (1187) . With the rest of the land it came under the power of the Ottoman Turks (A.D. 1517) . Beisan was occupied by the 4th Cavalry Division of the Egyptian Expe ditionary Force on Sept. 20, 1918, with little resistance offered.
In the year 1921 the University Museum of Philadelphia began excavations on an extensive scale on the Tell, and have obtained results of great interest and value. The initial cutting to test stratifications showed that the levels descended be yond the i6th century B.C. without reaching virgin soil. Eight levels have been distinguished ranging from the 19th century A.D. back to the i6th century B.C. and beyond. Two churches and four brick temples have been discovered. Two of the latter are re ferred to in the Old Testament, viz., the House of Ashtaroth (I. Sam. xxxi., 10) and the Temple of Dagon (I. Chron. x., 10) . Both were in use until at least l000 B.C. Amongst the discoveries are stelae of Seti I. and Ramses II. (the stele of Ramses con tains a reference to the town of Ramses in Egypt) (Ex. i, 11), a magnificent Hittite battle-axe, Syro-Hittite cylinder seals, the mode! of a throne of Minoan type, pots of gold and silver ingots and jewellery, and a wide variety of cult objects. The cemeteries to the north of the mound have also been investigated and have yielded a number of large anthropoid sarcophagi of the 12th cen tury B.C. and also the sarcophagus of Antiochus, cousin of Herod the Great. From tombs of the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods have come alabaster, glass, pottery and bronze objects in astonishing wealth and variety. A find of special interest has been a cubical pottery die marked like our modern dice with points from one to six.
See G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land (1897, etc.) ; G. J. H. Ovenden, "Notes on Excavations at Beisan," Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Stat., i47 sqq., 1923 ; A. Rowe, "The New Discoveries at Beth-Shan," Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Stat. 67 sqq., 1927.
