GENNESARET, jen-nestsa-ret, LAKE or. A body of water in Palestine. through which flows the River Jordan. The old Hebrew name was Chinnereth or Chinneroth (see Num. xxxiv. 11; Joshua xii. 3, xiii. 27), also used of a city (Joshua xix. and of a district (I. Kings xv. 20), both in the neighborhood of the lake. The name Gennesaret, or, more correctly, Gennesar, from the `Land of Gennesaret' (q.v.) on the northwest shore of the lake, was ih use certainly as early as the first century B.C. ( I. Mace. xi. 67). This is the name used almost without ex ception in Josephus. In the Gospels `Sea of Galilee' is the usual designation. After Herod Antipas built the city of Tiberias on its shore it became known as the Sea of Tiberias, which is the basis of the modern name Bahr Tabariyeh. The lake is 13 miles long by 7 miles wide, irregularly oval in shape, widest at the northern •end. It lies in a deep basin in the great cleft which extends from the Lebanon to the Red Sea. The surface is 680 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. Its greatest depth is not over 200 feet. It is completely encircled by a, beach, the surrounding hills in no case touching the water's edge. Along the eastern shore the beach is but a narrow strip about half a mile wide, be yond which the hills rise abruptly to a height of nearly 2000 feet above the lake. To the south is the low, rapidly descending Jordan Valley, as wide as the lake itself. From the exit of the Jordan to Tiberias, on the west, a mile or so from the water, lies a black and barren ridge of the Gali lean hills, while north of this, extending nearly to the entrance of the Jordan, is the broad and fertile plain of Gennesaret. The water of the lake is sweet, except in the neighborhood of the hot springs near Tiberias, and somewhat warm. The hot springs are evidence that the volcanic activ ity, which in ages past wrought such great changes in this locality, has not entirely ceased. The surface of the plateau east of the lake is the overflow of volcanoes once active in the Hauran. Shut in by high hills except to the south, the lake is subject to sudden and severe winds which, rushing down the ravines, often lash the waters into dangerous fury (cf. Mark iv. 37; Luke viii.
23). The neighborhood of the lake once teemed with population. Several of the great trade routes of Southwestern Asia converged here. Com inunication with the whole world was frequent and easy. The waters abounded in fish and were covered with sailing craft, many of which were used in the extensive fishing industry. The fertile western shore was highly cultivated and yielded its products through all the months of the year. Around this small sheet of water were clustered some nine or ten flourishing cities, each, it is said, with not less than 15,000 inhabitants: Chorazin, on the slopes west of the Jordan's en trance; Capernaum and Magdala in the plain of Gennesaret; on the western shore, Tiberias with its famous and popular baths, and Tariehiea with its great fish-curing industry, whence the fish of Galilee were exported throughout the Roman world; Hippos and Gamala on the east ern plateau, with Gadara a few miles southeast; Bethsaida at the entrance of the Jordan, and Sinnabris at its exit; and Homonrea, two miles down the valley. At present all these, except Tiberias, have passed away, the sites of some cannot be identified, the soil is cultivated in but few spots, boats are rarely seen, and the hills are treeless and deserted.
It was about the northern part of this sea that Jesus passed the greater part of His public ministry. Four of the first disciples were Gali lean fishermen (Matt. iv. 18-22; Mark i. 16-20), and the miracles of the walking on the water (Matt. xiv. 22-33), the miraculous draught of fishes (Luke v. 4-7), the stilling of the tempest (Matt. viii. 23-27; Mark iv. 35-41; Luke viii. 22-25), the feeding of the multitude (Matt. xiv. 13-21; xv. 29-39; Mark vi. 31-44; viii. 4-9; Luke ix. 10-17; John vi. 1-14), and many other miracles and events in the life of Jesus are closely associated with the lake. Consult: Mer rill, Galilee in the Time of Christ (New York, 1891) ; id., East of the Jordan (New York, 1881) ; George Adam Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land (London, 1894).