BETH-SHEAN, BETH-SHAN . The site of this ancient stronghold, allotted to Manasseh, although in the territory of Issachar ( Joshua 17:11 ff., Judges 1:27 ), is marked by the great mound and village of Beisân , in the throat of the Vale of Jezreel, where it opens into the Ghôr . Manasseh failed to eject the Canaanites, but at a later date they were reduced to servitude. Here the Philistines dishonoured the bodies of Saul and his sons ( 1 Samuel 31:7 ff.). During the Greek period it was known as Scythopolis; but the ancient name again prevailed in the form of Beisân . After changes of fortune in the Maccabæn struggle, and in the time immediately succeeding, it attained considerable prosperity as a member of the Decapolis ( 1Ma 12:40 , Jos. [Note: Josephus.] Ant . XIV. V. 3, BJ III. IV. 7, etc.). There must always have been a strong admixture of heathen inhabitants (Jos. [Note: Josephus.] Vita , 6, Abhoda Zarah i. 4). It is now in the hands of a body of Circassians.
W. Ewing.