Beit She'arim (; / Bet Sharei),The name of site is occasionally rendered as Bet She'arāyim (). also Besara (),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, (), which follows more closely the Greek transliteration in Josephus' Vita § 24, ().Rogers (2021), p. 534 was a Jewish village located in the southwestern hills of the Lower Galilee, during the Roman period, from the 1st century BCE to the 3rd century CE. At one point, it served as the seat of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court.
Josephus mentions Beit She'arim in the late Second Temple period as a royal estate belonging to Berenice, near the border of Acre. In the mid-2nd century CE, it flourished as a town under the leadership of Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi, the compiler of the Mishnah, when it became a center of rabbinic scholarship and literary activity.Avigad, N. & Schwabe, M. (1954), p. 1Sherira Gaon (1988), p. 88Cf. Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashana 31b, Rashi s.v. ומיבנא לאושא; Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 32b). After Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi's death around 220 CE, he was laid to rest in the adjoining necropolis.Jerusalem Talmud (Ketubbot 12:3 [65b]); Babylonian Talmud (Ketubbot 103b–104a) This necropolis, a vast network of underground tombs, transformed Beit She'arim into a central burial ground for Jews from both the Land of Israel and diaspora communities across the Middle East.
Beth She'arim underwent a crisis in the 4th century and a continued decline by the 5th century, transforming from an urban center back into a rural village. Byzantine-period remains from the 6th and 7th centuries indicate a very limited presence at the site. Later this was the site of Sheikh Bureik, a village depopulated in the early 1920s due to the Sursock Purchase.
It is today part of the Beit She'arim National Park.
Location 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 above sea level at its highest point. It is first mentioned by Josephus as Besara where grain from the King's land was stored.
Identification
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.An opinion held by Victor Guérin; see: Guérin, V. (1880), pp. 395–397; Conder & Kitchener (1881), p. 351
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,Conder, C.R. (1879), p. 181 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,Mazar, B. (Maisler) (1957), p. 19 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.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.Zaharoni (1978), pp. 38, 42
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,Cf. Babylonian Talmud Kettubot 103a-b; Bava Metzia 85a; Pesachim 49b; Jerusalem Talmud, Kelaim 9:3, 32a-b. 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, and only "20 stadia (3.7 km.) from Geba of the Horsemen," thought by Mazar to be Ḫirbet el-Ḥârithîye.Zaharoni (1978), p. 38Mazar (1957), p. 19 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.Benjamin Mazar (Maisler), Report on the excavations during 1936–1940, vol. I: Catacombs 1–4, pp. 7–8 ]ΚΕΙΜΑΙΛΕΟΝΤΕΙΔΗϹΝΕΚΥϹΑΦ[...]ϹΤΟϹ[ ]ΟϹΠ[...]ΗϹϹΟΦΙΗϹ[...]ΡΕΨΑΜΕΝΟϹ[...]Ν[ ]ΛΕΙΨ.ΦΑΟϹΔΕΙ[...]ΝΕΑϹΑΚΑ[...]ΥϹΑΙΕ[ ]ΑΥΤΟΚΑϹΙΓΝΗΤΟΥϹΕΟΙΜΟΙΕ[...]ΕϹΑΡ[ ]ΚΑΙΓΕΛΘ[...]ΕΙϹΑΔΗΝΙΟΥϹΤΟ[...]ΤΟΘΙΚΕΙΜ[ ]ϹΥΝΠΟΛΛΟΙϹΙΝΕΟΙϹΕΠΙΗΘΕΛΕΜΟΙΡΑΚΡΑΤΑΙΗ[ ]ΘΑΡϹΕΙΙΟΥϹΤΕΟΥΔΕΙϹΑΘΑΝΑΤΟϹ[Justus the Leontide inscription at Sheikh Abreiq which includes the Greek letters "...ECAP..." (...esar...) interpreted to refer to Besara.Schwabe (1939), pp. 105–114
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.Avigad, N. (n.d.), p. 1 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.Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel, Israel Antiquities Authority ()
Site description
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.Mazar, B. (Maisler), (1957), p. 20 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.Cf. Babylonian Talmud (Avodah Zarah 16b) 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.Miller, Stuart S. (2015), pp. 23, 207 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.Vitto, Fanny (1996) 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., s.v. Baba Bathra 67b (photo and illustration)
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.Ilan, Zvi (1991), p. 198Freedman, D.N. (1992), p. 793Jerusalem 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? In 2015, the necropolis was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.Shpigel (2015)
The cemetery forms the largest known Jewish necropolis in the Levant.Stern (2015), pp. 263-273 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.Stern (2020), pp. 85ff., p.88 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."Avigad, N. (1958), p. 29 Conservation work in the catacombs at Beit Shearim has been carried out over the years, in order to check the decay and to preserve old structures.
History
Pottery shards discovered at the site indicate that a first settlement there dates back to the Iron Age.Negev and Gibson, 2001, pp. 86–87.
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. 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.Babylonian Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 31a–b) Beit She'arim was also the home and final resting place of Rabbi Judah the Prince (Judah Ha-Nasi), compiler of the Mishnah and Head of the Sanhedrin. An anecdote about communal life in Beit Shearim has come down in his name and alludes to the practice of its people being observant in the laws of Jewish ritual purity.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. The Mishnaic sage, Rabbi Johanan ben Nuri (1st–2nd century), also made his home in Beit Shearim.Tosefta, Sukkah 2:2 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, from nearby Phoenicia to far away Himyar in Yemen,Hirschberg (1946), pp. 53–57, 148, 283–284 many of the villagers are thought to have worked in funeral preparations (obsequies) and in stone-masonry.Zaharoni (1978), p. 43
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),Mason (2001), p. 182 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.Avigad, N. (n.d.), p. 2Mazar, B. (1957), p. 18 After some time it was renewed as a Byzantine city.Mazar (1957), p. 19 More recent research shows that the Gallus revolt had a much lesser impact on the town.Negev and Gibson (2001), pp. 86–87 The Galilee earthquake of 363 is said to have damaged Beit Shearim, although its damages thought to have been limited. The presence of buildings and mosaics dated to the 6th century seem to indicate that there was a renewal of the settlement to some extent during this time, though it did not return to its former prosperity.