Overview

Bibliography

Beth She‘arim (“House of Gates”), is a culturally significant site located roughly 12 miles (20 km ) east of Haifa, at the western edge of the Jezreel valley in the Galilee. It was the home and burial place of the second-century patriarch Rabbi Judah I (ha-Nasi”), who is credited with editing the Mishnah. Because of Rabbi Judah’s prominence in the Late Roman Jewish community, the site expanded and became a necropolis, attracting the presence and burial of many other prominent Jews, especially following the expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem by the Roman emperor Hadrian.

The site was first excavated by Benjamin Mazar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem between 1936 and 1940, where he uncovered a synagogue, the city wall, and several burial complexes. Between 1953 and 1958, Nahman Avigad excavated numerous other burial complexes on the hill north of the city. During this period, Mazar returned for yet another season of excavation, at which time he excavated a large basilica and additional burial complexes.

Little attention has been given in the excavations to the city proper, and the necropolis is maintained by the Israel National Parks Authority. Still, a few significant structures have been uncovered, albeit barely mentioned in excavation reports. The synagogue Mazar uncovered is buried beneath a garden planted by the Israel National Parks Authority and is no longer visible, having by buried under a garden. Instead, the excavators’ attention has focused on the large necropolis consisting of multiple burial types including large catacombs. The Virtual World Project has recorded all that remains visible and accessible on the site, including the inside of the monumental Catacomb 20, with its nearly 130 large sarcophagi.

Most of the visible remains of the city and necropolis date to the Late Roman period, mid-second through third centuries, during the period of Rabbi Judah I (Phase III of the excavations). This city was destroyed during the latter days of the Gallus Revolt (350–353 CE). It was replaced by a much smaller, less significant Byzantine settlement.