Bible Dictionaries
Tiberias

Holman Bible Dictionary

(ti buhr' ih uhss) Mentioned only in John 6:23 (compare John 6:1; John 21:1 ), Tiberias is a city located on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee encompassing today what was in ancient times two separate cities, Tiberias and Hammath, each surrounded by its own wall. Once a mile apart (Palestinian Talmud, Megillah 2.2), they were combined into a single city, apparently in the first century after Christ (Tosefta, Erubin 7.2,146). At this time, about A.D. 18, Herod Antipas ( Luke 3:1 ) built the larger city on a major trade route connecting Egypt with Syria, to replace Sepphoris as the capital of Galilee (Josephus, Antiquities 18.36). It remained the capital until A.D. 61 when it was given to Agrippa II by Nero (Antiquities 20.159). It was paganized by Hadrian after the second Jewish revolt in A.D. 132-135, but became the center of Jewish learning after A.D. 200. The Mishnah, which was compiled in Sepphoris by Judah haNasi, took its final shape in Tiberias as did the Talmud and the Massoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible.

Excavations by N. Slouschz in 1921 and M. Dothan in 1961 at Hammath-Tiberias, near the warm baths, revealed several superimposed synagogues dating from about 300 to 800, some having beautiful mosaic floors. In 1973,1974 G. Foerster, digging just south of this area, found the southern gate of the city, having two round towers and dating to the founding of Tiberias before A.D. 100.

John McRay