Tiberias

Tiberias (/taɪˈbɪəriəs/; Hebrew: טְבֶרְיָה, Tveria, Tiveria  (audio) ; Arabic: طبرية‎, Ṭabariyyah; Ancient Greek: Τιβεριάς Tiberiás) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee (called "the Kinneret" in Hebrew), Lower Galilee. Established in 20 CE, it was named in honour of the emperor Tiberius.

Tiberias was venerated in Judaism from the middle of the 2nd century CE and since the 16th century has been considered one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Hebron and Safed. In the 2nd–10th centuries, Tiberias was the largest Jewish city in the Galilee and the political and religious hub of the Jews of Israel. It has been known for its hot springs, believed to cure skin and other ailments, for thousands of years.

History

Roman period

Tiberias was founded sometime around 20 CE in Herodian Tetrarchy of Galilee and Peraea by the Roman client king Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. Herod Antipas made it the capital of his realm in the Galilee and named it for the Roman Emperor Tiberius. The city was built as a spa and developed around 17 natural mineral hot springs (Hamat Tiberias). It was populated mainly by Jews, with its growing spiritual and religious status exerting a strong influence on balneological practices. The Jewish oral tradition holds that Tiberias was built on the site of the Israelite and later Jewish village of Rakkat, first mentioned in the Book of Joshua. In Talmudic times, the Jews still referred to it by this name. Conversely, in The Antiquities of the Jews, the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus calls the village with hot springs Emmaus, located near Tiberias. This name also appears in The Wars of the Jews.