TIBERIAS, a town on the western shore of the Sea of Gali lee, attractively situated on a narrow strip of land between the high ground and the water, 68o ft. below sea-level (mod. Taba riyeh); pop. c. 7,000. The old city lay to the south of the modern. Not much of archaeological interest remains visible, but excavations on the site of the old town are being conducted by the Jewish Exploration Fund.
was built about A.D. 21 by Herod Antipas, and was so called after the emperor Tiberius. Herod made it his capital and developed its life on Greek lines. The town was built on an ancient site, probably Rakkath (Josh. xix. 35), and in the course of construction a graveyard was disturbed. In con sequence the Jews, fearful of uncleanness, refused to live there, and Herod had to resort to compulsion to people his town (Jo seph. Antiq. xviii. 2, 3). No mention is made of Tiberias in the gospels, except the casual reference in John vi. 23. The city was of too recent date and too Hellenistic in outlook to invite atten tion; and it is unlikely that Christ ever visited it. It flung open its gates to Vespasian and his legions to earn consideration and favour. Hadrian sought to implant paganism by erecting a tem
ple, but with no marked success. Towards the close of the 2nd century, the Sanhedrin transferred itself thither from its first Gali lean home at Sepphoris. From the rabbinic school at Tiberias came Judah hak-Kadhosh, the collector and editor of the Mishnah (c. 220). The Talmud was there edited 200 years later. The Jew ish philosopher, Maimonides, and Rabbi 'Akiba are buried there.
Christianity found in Tiberias no congenial soil, and not until the 4th century could it make headway. In the 5th century there was a bishop of Tiberias, who subscribed to the acts of the Council of Chalcedon. In 637 came the Arabs. When the crusaders established their kingdom of Jerusalem, Tancred was appointed ruler in Galilee; Tiberias became his capital and was in part rebuilt on a new site farther north. In 1187, before the battle of Hattin, it fell into the hands of Saladin. In the 18th century, Dhahir el-Amir fortified the town ; and in their advance on Damas cus, British troops seized it in Oct. 1918. (E. Ro.)