Philip’s City From Bethsaida to Julias Fred Strickert A Michael Glazier Book LITURGICAL PRESS Collegeville, Minnesota www.litpress.org A Michael Glazier Book published by Liturgical Press Cover design by David Manahan, OSB. Photo courtesy of Mr. Rami Arav, chief archaeologist of the Bethsaida Excavations Project. Portions of this work were previously published under the title Bethsaida: Home of the Apostles (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1998). Unless otherwise noted, all photographs are from the author or the Bethsaida Excavation Project. Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. © 2011 by Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, microfilm, microfiche, mechanical recording, photocopying, translation, or by any other means, known or yet unknown, for any purpose except brief quotations in reviews, without the previous written permission of Liturgical Press, Saint John’s Abbey, PO Box 7500, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321-7500. Printed in the United States of America. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Strickert, Frederick M. Philip’s city : from Bethsaida to Julias / Fred Strickert. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8146-5752-2 — ISBN 978-0-8146-8008-7 (e-book) 1. Bethsaida (Extinct city)—History. 2. Philip, the Tetrarch, d. 34. 3. Bible. N.T.—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 4. Bethsaida (Extinct city)—Antiquities. I. Title. BR133.I753B488 2010 933—dc22 2010031063 Contents List of Illustrations, Photographs, and Maps v Introduction xi Chapter 1 Sources 1 Chapter 2 The Iron Age City of Tzer 15 Chapter 3 Resettlement in the Hellenistic Age 29 Chapter 4 Home of the Apostles 47 Chapter 5 Across the Sea . to Bethsaida 61 Chapter 6 Fishing Village 79 Chapter 7 Farming and Flax Production 97 Chapter 8 Houses of Fishermen and Others 103 Chapter 9 Jews and Gentiles in Bethsaida 113 Chapter 10 Philip as Ruler 125 Chapter 11 Philip’s Marriage 143 Chapter 12 The Founding of Bethsaida as Julias 163 Chapter 13 The Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes 189 Chapter 14 The Healing of the Blind Man 201 Chapter 15 Woe Saying against Bethsaida 211 Chapter 16 The Early Church, a Communal Meal, and the Sayings of Jesus 221 Chapter 17 John 12:24 and Livia Karpophoros 235 iii iv Contents Chapter 18 The Destruction of Bethsaida 257 Index of Ancient Sources 279 Index of Persons 287 Index of Places 290 Illustrations, Photographs, and Maps Introduction Photo 1: Et-Tell in 1988 xii Photo 2: Discovery of Incense Shovel in 1996 xiii Chapter 1 Photo 1: Aerial photo of et-Tell from the west 11 Figure 1: Topographical map of et-Tell 12 Figure 2: Site plan of et-Tell 13 Chapter 2 Map 1: Sea of Kinneret with fishing towns 16 Photo 1: Walls of Bit Hilani 19 Photo 2: Seven clay figurines 20 Photo 3: Iron-age oil lamps 20 Photo 4: Looking from plaza into gate area 21 Photo 5: Gate chamber used for grain storage 22 Photo 6: Pottery vessels from Chamber 4 restored 22 Photo 7: Stele with Bull Figure 23 Photo 8: Stepped High Place 23 Photo 9: Three-legged cup 23 Photo 10: LSHEM inscription 24 Photo 11: Sacrificial high place 25 Photo 12: Arrowheads from destruction 26 Photo 13: Broken pottery in chamber 4 27 Photo 14: Stele discovered broken in pieces 27 v vi Philip’s City Chapter 3 Figure 1: Drawing of Neo-Assyrian cylinder seal 29 Figure 2: Drawing of Persian cylinder seal 30 Photo 1: Ptolemaic coin 33 Photo 2: Rhodian Amphora 34 Photo 3: Stamped Rhodian handle 35 Photo 4: Seleucid Coin 36 Photo 5: Aerial photo of residential sections B and C 36 Photo 6: Gold earring 37 Photo 7: Fine ware pottery 37 Photo 8: Black Athenian pottery 38 Figure 3: Plan of sacred area 39 Figure 4: Reconstruction of Seleucid Temple 40 Photo 9: Four fragments of pregnant women figurines with hand on belly 40 Photo 10: Hasmonean coin 42 Chapter 4 Figure 1: Plan of Peter’s House in Capernaum 51 Chapter 5 Map 1: Josephus and cities around the lake 62 Map 2: Harbors on the Sea of Galilee 63 Map 3: Road system in Rabbinic period 66 Map 4: The Battle of Julias—67 CE 67 Map 5: Geological fault lines in the northern Jordan valley 70 Photo 1: Aerial photo of et-Tell and Beteiha Plain 71 Photo 2: Flood gravels over black mud 72 Photo 3: Pool at base of tell and stone wall 73 Map 6: Three maps showing geological changes at et-Tell over 5,000 years 73 Map 7: El Araj and later sites 75 Map 8: Beteiha Plain with Rivers on northeast of lake 76 Chapter 6 Photo 1: Large anchors and weights 82 Illustrations, Photographs, and Maps vii Photo 2: Lead net weights 83 Figure 1: Cast net 84 Figure 2: Seine net 85 Photo 3: Basalt ring weights 86 Figure 3: Common Fish in the Sea of Galilee 87 Photo 4: Fish hook 88 Figure 4: Seal of hippos boat with two fishermen 89 Photo 5: Seal of hippos boat with two fishermen 90 Chapter 7 Photo 1: Pruning hook 98 Photo 2: Sickle 98 Photo 3: Bone weaving shuttle 100 Photo 4: Hellenistic loom weights 101 Chapter 8 Figure 1: The two-room house 104 Photo 1: The Roman two-room house 105 Photo 2: Roman era pottery 105 Figure 2: Reconstruction of Fisherman’s House 107 Figure 3: Plan of Fisherman’s House 107 Photo 3: Hellenistic cooking pot 108 Photo 4: Street passing Winemaker’s House 109 Figure 4: Plan of Winemaker’s House 109 Photo 5: Wine cellar jars in situ 110 Figure 5: Restoration of Winemaker’s House 111 Figure 6: Roman key 111 Photo 6: Gold earring 111 Chapter 9 Figure 1: Philip coin 30 CE with image of Livia (2 sides) 115 Photo 1: Dressed basalt lintel with meander motif 116 Photo 2: Limestone vessel fragments 121 Photo 3: Hellenistic lamp with Erotes motif 122 Photo 4: Herodian oil lamp 123 viii Philip’s City Chapter 10 Figure 1: Philip coin 30 CE with image of Philip (2 sides) 125 Photo 1: Philip coin 30 CE with image of Philip (2 sides) 127 Map 1: The territory of Philip 130 Figure 2: Pedestal from Si with Philip inscription 133 Figure 3: Coin of Philip 30 CE with image of Tiberius and KTIS epigraph (2 sides) 134 Figure 4: Coin of Philip 30 CE with image of Livia (2 sides) 134 Chapter 11 Chart: Herod’s Family Tree 150 Chapter 12 Photo 1: Coin of Gratus 17 CE with Julia epigraph (2 sides) 170 Photo 2: Coin of Pontius Pilate 29 CE (2 sides) 170 Photo 3: Tribute Penny of Tiberius (2 sides) 171 Photo 4: Coin of Philip 30 CE with image of Livia (2 sides) 172 Figure 1: Coin of Philip 30 CE with image of Livia (2 sides) 172 Photo 5: Coin of Philip 30 CE with image of Tiberius (2 sides) 174 Photo 6: Coin of Philip with images of Augustus and Livia (2 sides) 174 Chart 1: City names used in first-century sources 176 Photo 7: Velleia statue of Livia (Madrid museum) 179 Chart 2: Literary structure of Antiquities 18.27-28 180 Figure 2: Reconstruction of Roman Temple of Bethsaida 182 Figure 3: Plan of Roman Temple of Bethsaida 182 Photo 8: Dressed stones from temple 183 Photo 9: Incense shovel 184 Photo 10: Threshold 184 Photo 11: Handle of second incense shovel 185 Photo 12: Patera 186 Photo 13: Clay female figurine 186 Photo 14: Pottery from Favisa in situ 187 Photo 15: Pottery from Favisa 187 Chapter 13 Map 1: The feeding episode 195 Illustrations, Photographs, and Maps ix Chapter 14 Photo 1: Paved road leading north from gate 206 Photo 2: Small bottle 208 Chapter 15 Map 1: The evangelical triangle 215 Chapter 16 Figure 1: Cruciform etching on pottery 231 Chapter 17 Figure 1: Philip coin 30 CE with image of Livia and grain imagery (2 sides) 241 Photo 1: Philip coin 30 CE with image of Livia and grain imagery (2 sides) 242 Photo 2: Tiberius denarius Tribute Penny (2 sides) 246 Photo 3: Ceres Borghese “Portrait de l’Impératrice Livie figurée en Cérès, éspouse d’Octave-Auguste en 38 av. JC” (Paris, Musée du Louvre) 247 Photo 4: “Livia on sardonyx” (Museo Archeologico, Florence) 247 Photo 5: “Velletri Livia,” Wells (Norfolk), Holkham Hall 248 Photo 6: “Cameo of Livia,” Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum 248 Photo 7: Coin of Gratus 17 CE (2 sides) 250 Photo 8: Coin of Pontius Pilate 29 CE (2 sides) 251 Photo 9: “Livia with Augustus and the bust of a young man on a sardonyx” (St. Petersburg, Hermitage) 252 Photo 10: Coin of Agrippa 1 42 CE (2 sides) 253 Photo 11: Coin of Claudius 42 CE Diva Augusta (2 sides) 254 Chapter 18 Photo 1: Gold coin of Antonius Pius 138 CE—discovered in 2010 260 Chart 1: Coin distribution at Bethsaida by era and excavation areas 261 Photo 2: Earthquake destruction in Winemaker’s house 263 Map 1: Later sites near Bethsaida 276 Photo 3: Pilgrim’s jar 277 Photo 4: Bedouin coins and jewelry 277 Introduction In 1995, I first decided to write an introduction to the city of Bethsaida, known best from the first century ce descriptions in the gospels as a place frequented by Jesus and his disciples.