Today we left our hotel in Tiberius, which is built along the Sea of Galilee and traveled north to the Golan Heights of Israel. First, a bit about Tiberius. Tiberious was built by King Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, and named for his benefactor, Tiberious, the Roman emporer. The city is one of the most important cities in Israel but was never the site of anything important in the Bible.
The Sea of Galilee is about 600 feet below sea level and is fed by the Jordan river. The Jordan river is fed by three springs in the Golan Heights and today we visited two of them. The city of Dan was the site of King Soloman's kingdom. Here we visited the archeological dig which showed the ancient Caananite entrance to the city, which features 3 arches over the gate. While a little hard to see in this picture, this gate to the city dates from about 1500 years BC.
Right near the city is a national park and nature reserve. Here is a spring which flows quite rapidly and develops into one of the streams feeding the Jordan river. This area is very close to Lebanon and at one point prior to the 1967 6 day war, was being threatened for diversion by Israel's neighbors to the north. Today it is a babbling brook with crystal clear water surrounded by bamboo and other lush vegitation.
Another spring feeding the Jordan is located at Banias. This area was once known as Caesarea Phillipi and was named by Herod Philip, the other son of King Herod, the brother of Herod Antipas. About 300 ad Alexander the Great had built 3 temples into the hillside where the local people had worshiped the god "Pan." The city was then name Panias, but the Moslems that later invaded the area couldn't pronounce the P in Panias and called it Banias. Caesarea Philippi is mentioned many times in the Bible because its inhabitants were not Jewish and worshiped the god Pan.
The Golan Heights and Mt Hermon tower about 7500 feet above sea level and borders Lebanon and Syria, two traditional enemies of Israel. Some of the cities in this area were attacked a few years ago by missles fired by Hezbollah in Lebanon. The area is well fortified and we saw some areas where there were mine fields left behind by Syria after the 6 day war in 1967. I might add that we all felt quite safe, even though we heard machine gun firing in the hills as the Israeli army had maneuvers in the area.
At Banias we also walked along the river until we came to the Road to Damascus (Syria). It was somewhere along this road that the apostle Paul was struck blind before he began his ministry.
As we traveled back down toward the Sea of Galilee we stopped at Chorazin, which was a town with an ancient synagogue. I should mention that Israel lies on several geological faults and many of the cities were destroyed by earthquakes over the years. It is only in the last 100 years that archeolgists have started picking up and putting the pieces back together.
On our way back to the sea with stopped along a trail which ran into the hillside. This trail was the road from Nazareth to Magdal (now called Migdal) which was the home of Mary Magdaline. It was very moving to stand on this road knowing that this was the actual road that Jesus walked 2000 years ago as he journeyed from Nazareth to the Sea of Gallilee.
In Migdal we toured a museum where they have a 2000 year old fishing boat. It was discovered a few years ago when the water in the Sea of Galilee receded. It was buried in mud at the bottom of the lake and it was a long process to bring up the boat. First they encased in in foam, to hold it together while they lifted it from the mud. Then it was placed in a vat of lake water and fish were introduced to eat the bateria that were in the wood. Finally, once the bacteria were gone the wood was gradually preserved and introduced to the air. It was quite a museum.
After leaving the museum we boarded a boat and journeyed out into the Sea of Galilee. It was a warm afternoon on the lake, maybe about 85 with high humidity and a full moon rising over the mountains to the east. We cruised for about 30 minutes back to Tiberius where our bus driver met us and took as back to our hotel.
Another fantastic day.
You are doing a great job with the blog. Your 1st day post was hilarious. I hope your computer continues to cooperate.
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