Bethsaida: A long-haired
rebel, invaders — and disciples
Was the long-haired rebel prince at Bethsaida? Maybe.
Were the Assyrians here? Definitely. They burned the city gate.
And the city is famous as the home of Philip, Andrew and Peter, disciples of Jesus.
Wait a minute! That’s three different stories from three different times — just what happens when you dig down layer by layer, as archaeologists do.
Bethsaida (Beth SY ah dah) means “house of the hunt.” It’s about 20 kilometers* north of the Concordia University excavation at Hippos.
LONG HAIR
Let’s start with the rebel prince. His name was Absalom (AB sah lum), the son of King David of Israel. Absalom was a handsome young man who wore his hair long — but cut it every year.
How do we know so much about him? His story is in the book of the Bible called 2 Samuel.
The long-haired prince got in trouble with his father the king. Absalom ordered the death of a prince named Amnon, Absalom’s half-brother. Amnon had raped Absalom’s sister Tamar.
After Absalom’s men killed Amnon, Absalom fled to his mother’s homeland of Geshur, north and east of the Sea of Galilee.
We’re not positive, but we think Bethsaida was the capital of the land of Geshur. If so, nearly 3,000 years ago Absalom entered the city through the very gate we can still walk through today — the biggest gate of Bible times that archaeologists have found so far in all Israel.
BAD END
The gate is between two massive towers. The western tower, excavated first, is 10 x 8 meters. A 30-meter walkway paved with flat stones leads to a four-room inner gatehouse.
In the stone threshold of the gate, you can still see the holes in the rock that served as sockets for the hinges on which the great doors turned.
If Absalom fled here, he eventually walked or rode out of that big gate again and returned to his father in Jerusalem, about 175 kilometers to the south — a few days’ travel in those times.
Absalom wanted to be king himself but came to a bad end. He led a rebellion against his father. King David’s army defeated Absalom’s soldiers. Absalom, fleeing on a mule, caught his head in the branches of a great oak tree. The mule ran away, leaving Absalom hanging in the tree. One of David’s soldiers speared him to death.
When King David found out, he wept. “Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” David cried.
‘WE LOVE DESTRUCTION’
About 250 years after Absalom, Bethsaida was destroyed by invading Assyrians under their king Tiglath Pileser (TIG lath pie EASE er) II. The year was 734 BCE**. Assyrians came from the country now called Iraq.
At Bethsaida, archaeologists found arrowheads, burned bricks and pieces of the burned wooden gate. Wood usually decays and leaves no sign after a few hundred years. But burned wood lasts much longer. “We love destruction,” says archaeologist Carl Savage, who is working at Bethsaida, “because it preserves.”
Outside the gate, excavators found an incense burner and a stele (STELL eh) — a stone plaque — broken in five pieces. The carving on the 1.15-meter-high stele shows a man with the head of a bull holding a sword or dagger. This was probably a holy place where people prayed.
The bull is Haddad (had dad), the chief god of the people who lived here. The bull stele now is in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. You can find out more about the stele here.
The stone on which the bull is carved was probably broken on purpose by the Assyrians. Inside the gate, in an area with another incense burner, pottery had been broken and scattered — again as though people were deliberately trying to make a mess.
The city was well prepared to wait out the Assyrian attack. In rooms inside the gate, excavators found 1.5 tons of grain. Digging deeper, they found grain at earlier levels too. In peacetime, farmers delivered grain to the city gate and paid their taxes there.
FISHING VILLAGE
The Assyrians destroyed the city — but fast-forward 765 years: By the time of Jesus around 25 CE **, Bethsaida was was the site of a fishing village on the Sea of Galilee. One of the miracles Jesus performed near Bethsaida was feeding of 5,000 people with just two fishes and five loaves (Luke 9).
The ruins of Bethsaida now are 1.5 kilometers from the Sea of Galilee. What happened? Scientists think that earthquakes caused silt from the Jordan River to build up over the centuries so that now the shoreline is much further away.
A rebel prince, Assyrians, miracles, earthquakes — old Bethsaida has been through a lot. Thanks to hard-working archaeologists, however, you can still walk through its city gate. — Marc Hequet
________
* To change from kilometers to miles and to make other metric conversions, you can use this site from the state of Washington: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Metrics/factors.htm
** BCE means “before common era.” It’s the same as “before Christ.” CE means “common era.” It’s the same as A.D., which means “anno Domini,” Latin for “in the year of our Lord.”
_____
Marc Hequet writes about Concordia University’s excavation at Hippos and other digs as well. Students, teachers and families are welcome to make use of the material as part of a curriculum. Contact Marc with questions via mhequet@sprintmail.com
________
WHAT DOES THAT WORD MEAN?
Here’s a list of words from the story about Bethsaida.
Hippos is the ancient city where an American team is helping excavate.
Rebels seek to overthrow a government by force with a rebellion.
Assyrians (ah SEAR ee uhns) from the powerful empire of Assyria conquered much of the ancient Near East.
Excavators (EKS kah vay ters) dig up archaeological sites — also called excavations or digs.
Israel (IS ray el) was a nation in ancient times — and still is.
Stele (STELL lee). A carved stone designed to stand upright.
________
CAN YOU DIG IT?
Take this quiz to find out what you learned about Bethsaida:
1. In what year did the Assyrians invade the area around Bethsaida?
2. How do we know the city at Bethsaida was attacked?
3. Why was grain stored near the city gate?
4. Which three disciples of Jesus were from Bethsaida?
5. Why do scientists think the ancient fishing village of Bethsaida is so far from the Sea of Galilee?
________
MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE
Here’s what was happening elsewhere on the planet about the time the Assyrians were attacking Bethsaida in 734 BCE:
The Old Testament book of Hosea was written. In dangerous times, with the Assyrians so close, it nevertheless describes God as a loving father.
In North America, people from the Fort Ancient culture built the Great Serpent Mound, near modern Hillsboro, Ohio. The low snake-like earth structure is 0.4 kilometers long.
On the Mediterranean island of Sicily, Greeks founded Syracuse (SEER ah kyoos). It became one of the most powerful cities of the ancient Greek world.
Homer’s epic poems Iliad (ILL ee add) and Odyssey (ODD ih see) were written down. The poems are about the Greek attack on the city of Troy and the adventures of the warrior Odysseus (oh DISS ee us) on his way home.
Information in “Meanwhile, Elsewhere” is from World Book Encyclopedia and other sources.
Were the Assyrians here? Definitely. They burned the city gate.
And the city is famous as the home of Philip, Andrew and Peter, disciples of Jesus.
Wait a minute! That’s three different stories from three different times — just what happens when you dig down layer by layer, as archaeologists do.
Bethsaida (Beth SY ah dah) means “house of the hunt.” It’s about 20 kilometers* north of the Concordia University excavation at Hippos.
LONG HAIR
Let’s start with the rebel prince. His name was Absalom (AB sah lum), the son of King David of Israel. Absalom was a handsome young man who wore his hair long — but cut it every year.
How do we know so much about him? His story is in the book of the Bible called 2 Samuel.
The long-haired prince got in trouble with his father the king. Absalom ordered the death of a prince named Amnon, Absalom’s half-brother. Amnon had raped Absalom’s sister Tamar.
After Absalom’s men killed Amnon, Absalom fled to his mother’s homeland of Geshur, north and east of the Sea of Galilee.
We’re not positive, but we think Bethsaida was the capital of the land of Geshur. If so, nearly 3,000 years ago Absalom entered the city through the very gate we can still walk through today — the biggest gate of Bible times that archaeologists have found so far in all Israel.
BAD END
The gate is between two massive towers. The western tower, excavated first, is 10 x 8 meters. A 30-meter walkway paved with flat stones leads to a four-room inner gatehouse.
In the stone threshold of the gate, you can still see the holes in the rock that served as sockets for the hinges on which the great doors turned.
If Absalom fled here, he eventually walked or rode out of that big gate again and returned to his father in Jerusalem, about 175 kilometers to the south — a few days’ travel in those times.
Absalom wanted to be king himself but came to a bad end. He led a rebellion against his father. King David’s army defeated Absalom’s soldiers. Absalom, fleeing on a mule, caught his head in the branches of a great oak tree. The mule ran away, leaving Absalom hanging in the tree. One of David’s soldiers speared him to death.
When King David found out, he wept. “Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” David cried.
‘WE LOVE DESTRUCTION’
About 250 years after Absalom, Bethsaida was destroyed by invading Assyrians under their king Tiglath Pileser (TIG lath pie EASE er) II. The year was 734 BCE**. Assyrians came from the country now called Iraq.
At Bethsaida, archaeologists found arrowheads, burned bricks and pieces of the burned wooden gate. Wood usually decays and leaves no sign after a few hundred years. But burned wood lasts much longer. “We love destruction,” says archaeologist Carl Savage, who is working at Bethsaida, “because it preserves.”
Outside the gate, excavators found an incense burner and a stele (STELL eh) — a stone plaque — broken in five pieces. The carving on the 1.15-meter-high stele shows a man with the head of a bull holding a sword or dagger. This was probably a holy place where people prayed.
The bull is Haddad (had dad), the chief god of the people who lived here. The bull stele now is in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. You can find out more about the stele here.
The stone on which the bull is carved was probably broken on purpose by the Assyrians. Inside the gate, in an area with another incense burner, pottery had been broken and scattered — again as though people were deliberately trying to make a mess.
The city was well prepared to wait out the Assyrian attack. In rooms inside the gate, excavators found 1.5 tons of grain. Digging deeper, they found grain at earlier levels too. In peacetime, farmers delivered grain to the city gate and paid their taxes there.
FISHING VILLAGE
The Assyrians destroyed the city — but fast-forward 765 years: By the time of Jesus around 25 CE **, Bethsaida was was the site of a fishing village on the Sea of Galilee. One of the miracles Jesus performed near Bethsaida was feeding of 5,000 people with just two fishes and five loaves (Luke 9).
The ruins of Bethsaida now are 1.5 kilometers from the Sea of Galilee. What happened? Scientists think that earthquakes caused silt from the Jordan River to build up over the centuries so that now the shoreline is much further away.
A rebel prince, Assyrians, miracles, earthquakes — old Bethsaida has been through a lot. Thanks to hard-working archaeologists, however, you can still walk through its city gate. — Marc Hequet
________
* To change from kilometers to miles and to make other metric conversions, you can use this site from the state of Washington: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Metrics/factors.htm
** BCE means “before common era.” It’s the same as “before Christ.” CE means “common era.” It’s the same as A.D., which means “anno Domini,” Latin for “in the year of our Lord.”
_____
Marc Hequet writes about Concordia University’s excavation at Hippos and other digs as well. Students, teachers and families are welcome to make use of the material as part of a curriculum. Contact Marc with questions via mhequet@sprintmail.com
________
WHAT DOES THAT WORD MEAN?
Here’s a list of words from the story about Bethsaida.
Hippos is the ancient city where an American team is helping excavate.
Rebels seek to overthrow a government by force with a rebellion.
Assyrians (ah SEAR ee uhns) from the powerful empire of Assyria conquered much of the ancient Near East.
Excavators (EKS kah vay ters) dig up archaeological sites — also called excavations or digs.
Israel (IS ray el) was a nation in ancient times — and still is.
Stele (STELL lee). A carved stone designed to stand upright.
________
CAN YOU DIG IT?
Take this quiz to find out what you learned about Bethsaida:
1. In what year did the Assyrians invade the area around Bethsaida?
2. How do we know the city at Bethsaida was attacked?
3. Why was grain stored near the city gate?
4. Which three disciples of Jesus were from Bethsaida?
5. Why do scientists think the ancient fishing village of Bethsaida is so far from the Sea of Galilee?
________
MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE
Here’s what was happening elsewhere on the planet about the time the Assyrians were attacking Bethsaida in 734 BCE:
The Old Testament book of Hosea was written. In dangerous times, with the Assyrians so close, it nevertheless describes God as a loving father.
In North America, people from the Fort Ancient culture built the Great Serpent Mound, near modern Hillsboro, Ohio. The low snake-like earth structure is 0.4 kilometers long.
On the Mediterranean island of Sicily, Greeks founded Syracuse (SEER ah kyoos). It became one of the most powerful cities of the ancient Greek world.
Homer’s epic poems Iliad (ILL ee add) and Odyssey (ODD ih see) were written down. The poems are about the Greek attack on the city of Troy and the adventures of the warrior Odysseus (oh DISS ee us) on his way home.
Information in “Meanwhile, Elsewhere” is from World Book Encyclopedia and other sources.
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