Language:
English
Year of publication:
2021
Titel der Quelle:
Novum Testamentum
Angaben zur Quelle:
63,2 (2021) 143-158
Keywords:
Archaeological site location
;
Excavations (Archaeology)
;
Bethsaida (Extinct city) (Israel) History
Abstract:
The authors present the results of four years of investigation (2016–2019) in their search for Bethsaida-Julias. They bring historical, geographical, and archaeological evidence to argue that Khirbet el-Araj should be considered the leading candidate for the New Testament home of the Apostles. Unlike the remote location of the alternate candidate at et-Tell, their excavations at el-Araj have demonstrated a significant Roman period settlement on the lake shore of the Sea of Galilee, a much more likely location for a fishing village. In addition, their discovery in 2017 of a Roman bathhouse at el-Araj is characteristic of Herod Philip’s urbanization of the village of Bethsaida, which Josephus reports was transformed from a village into the polis of Julias. After the Roman period, the site was abandoned for two centuries (4th–5th cent. CE), and then resettled with a monastery and Byzantine basilica, reportedly built over the house of Peter and Andrew.
Abstract:
The authors present the results of four years of investigation (2016–2019) in their search for Bethsaida-Julias. They bring historical, geographical, and archaeological evidence to argue that Khirbet el-Araj should be considered the leading candidate for the New Testament home of the Apostles. Unlike the remote location of the alternate candidate at et-Tell, their excavations at el-Araj have demonstrated a significant Roman period settlement on the lakeshore of the Sea of Galilee, a much more likely location for a fishing village. In addition, their discovery in 2017 of a Roman bathhouse at el-Araj is characteristic of Herod Philip’s urbanization of the village of Bethsaida, which Josephus reports was transformed from a village into the polis of Julias. After the Roman period, the site was abandoned for two centuries (4th–5th cent. CE), and then resettled with a monastery and Byzantine basilica, reportedly built over the house of Peter and Andrew.
Note:
On the identification of Khirbet el-Araj with Bethsaida-Julias.
DOI:
10.1163/15685365-12341710
URL:
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