Editing Tiberias (section)

==History==
: ''See [[Diocese of Tiberias]] for [[Church history|ecclesiastical history]]''

===Biblical era===
Jewish tradition holds that Tiberias was built on the site of the ancient Israelite village of ''[[Rakkath]]'' or ''Rakkat'', first mentioned in the [[Book of Joshua]].<ref name=thedate />
<ref name="JewishEnc2">{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=205&letter=T|title=TIBERIAS – JewishEncyclopedia.com|website=www.jewishencyclopedia.com|access-date=2008-10-10|archive-date=2008-03-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328221848/http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=205&letter=T|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|Joshua|19:35}}</ref> In [[Talmud]]ic times, the Jews still referred to it by this name.<ref>Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Megillah 5b</ref>

===Roman period===
====Herodian period====
Tiberias was founded sometime around 18–20 CE in the [[Herodian Tetrarchy]] of Galilee and [[Perea]] by the Roman [[client state|client king]] [[Herod Antipas]], son of [[Herod the Great]].<ref name=thedate>John Everett Heath, ''The Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names'' (Oxford 2017) gives the date 18 CE in the entry for Tiberias. Geoffrey Bromiley in the ''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'' Vol 2, 1979 gives the date 20 CE. They both say it was built where the village of Rakkat used to be.</ref> Herod Antipas made it the capital of his realm in Galilee and named it after the [[Roman emperor]] [[Tiberius]].<ref name="JewishEnc2" /> The city was built in immediate proximity to a spa which had developed around seventeen natural mineral hot springs, [[Hammat Tiberias]]. Tiberias was at first a strictly pagan city, but later became populated mainly by Jews, with its growing spiritual and religious status exerting a strong influence on [[balneotherapy|balneological]] practices.<ref name="Erfurt-CooperCooper20092" />{{dubious|... and highly so. Judaism and balneotherapy do not mix.|date=August 2016}} Conversely, in ''[[Antiquities of the Jews]]'', the Roman-Jewish historian [[Josephus]] calls the village with hot springs Emmaus, today's Hammat Tiberias, located near Tiberias.<ref name="JAoJ2">Josephus, ''Antiquities of the Jews'' [[wikisource:The Antiquities of the Jews/Book XVIII#Chapter 2|XVIII.2.3]]</ref>{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}} This name also appears in his work ''[[The Jewish War]]''.<ref>Josephus, Flavius, ''The Jewish Wars'', translated by William Whiston, Book 4, chapter 1, paragraph 3</ref>

Under the [[Roman Empire]], the city was known by its [[Koine Greek]] name '''Τιβεριάς''' (''Tiberiás'', {{langx|el|Τιβεριάδα|Tiveriáda}}).{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

In the days of Herod Antipas, some of the most religiously orthodox [[Jews]], who were struggling against the process of [[Hellenisation]], which had affected even some [[Kohen|priestly groups]], refused to settle there: the presence of a [[cemetery]] rendered the site ritually unclean for the Jews and particularly for the priestly [[caste]]. Antipas settled many non-Jews there from rural Galilee and other parts of his domains in order to populate his new capital, and built a palace on the [[acropolis]].<ref name="MDotB2" />{{dubious|Acropolis usually implies a height, which is not the case for Tib.|date=August 2016}} The prestige of Tiberias was so great that the Sea of Galilee soon came to be named the Sea of Tiberias; however, the Jewish population continued to call it ''Yam HaKineret'', its traditional name.<ref name="MDotB2" /> The city was governed by a city council of 600 with a committee of ten until [[44 CE]], when a [[Procurator (ancient Rome)|Roman procurator]] was set over the city after the death of [[Herod Agrippa I]].<ref name="MDotB2" />

Tiberias is mentioned in {{bibleverse||John|6:23|NKJV}} as the location from which boats had sailed to the opposite, eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. The crowd seeking [[Jesus]] after the miraculous [[Feeding the multitude|feeding of the 5000]] used these boats to travel back to [[Capernaum]] on the north-western part of the lake.

In [[AD 61|61 CE]] [[Herod Agrippa II]] annexed the city to his kingdom whose capital was [[Banias|Caesarea Philippi]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

====Great Revolt and Bar Kokhba revolt====
During the [[First Jewish–Roman War]], the Jewish rebels took control of the city and destroyed Herod's palace, and were able to prevent the city from being pillaged by the army of [[Agrippa II]], the Jewish ruler who had remained loyal to Rome.<ref name="MDotB2" /><ref>Crossan, John Dominic (1999) ''Birth of Christianity: Discovering What Happened in the Years Immediately After the Execution of Christ''. Continuum International Publishing Group, {{ISBN|0-567-08668-2}}, p 232</ref> Eventually, the rebels were expelled from Tiberias, and while most other cities in the provinces of Judaea, Galilee and [[Edom|Idumea]] were razed, Tiberias was spared this fate because its inhabitants had decided not to fight against Rome.<ref name="MDotB2" /><ref>Thomson, 1859, vol 2, p. [https://archive.org/stream/landandbookorbi08thomgoog#page/n84/mode/1up 72]</ref> It became a mixed city after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE; with Judea subdued, the surviving southern Jewish population migrated to Galilee.<ref>Safrai Zeev (1994) ''The Economy of Roman Palestine'' Routledge, {{ISBN|0-415-10243-X}}, p 199</ref><ref name="ERBRiP2">Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/269/mode/1up 269]</ref>
[[File:The_Roman_Gate_-_Tiberias_(3).jpg|thumb|The Roman-Byzantine southern city gate]]
[[File:Tiberias-S-506.jpg|thumb|Remains of Crusader fortress gate with ancient lintel in secondary use]]

There is no direct indication that Tiberias, as well as the rest of Galilee, took part in the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]] of 132–136 CE, thus allowing it to continue to exist, despite a heavy economic decline due to the war. Following the expulsion of Jews from Judea after 135 CE, Tiberias and its neighbour [[Sepphoris]] (Hebrew name: Tzippori) became the major Jewish cultural centres.

====Late Roman period====
According to the Talmud, in 145 CE, [[Rabbi]] [[Simeon bar Yochai]], who was very familiar with Galilee, hiding there for over a decade, "cleansed the city of ritual impurity",{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} allowing the Jewish leadership to resettle there from the Judea, which they were forced to leave as fugitives. The [[Sanhedrin]], the Jewish court, also fled from Jerusalem during the [[First Jewish–Roman War|Great Jewish Revolt]] against Rome, and after several attempted moves, in search of stability, eventually settled in Tiberias in about 220 CE.<ref name="MDotB2">''Mercer Dictionary of the Bible'' Edited by Watson E. Mills, Roger Aubrey Bullard, Mercer University Press, (1998) {{ISBN|0-86554-373-9}} p 917</ref><ref name="ERBRiP2" /> It was to be its final meeting place before its disbanding in 425 CE. When [[Johanan bar Nappaha]] (d. 279) settled in Tiberias, the city became the focus of Jewish religious scholarship in the land and the so-named [[Jerusalem Talmud]] was compiled by his school in Tiberias between 230–270 CE.<ref name="ERBRiP2" /> Tiberias' 13 synagogues served the spiritual needs of a growing Jewish population.<ref name="MDotB2" /> Tombs of famous rabbis [[Yohanan ben Zakkai]], [[Rabbi Akiva|Akiva]] and [[Maimonides]] are also located in the city.

====Byzantine period====
In the 6th century Tiberias was still the seat of Jewish religious learning. In light of this, the ''[[Letter of Simeon of Beth Arsham]]'' urged the Christians of Palaestina to seize the leaders of Judaism in Tiberias, to put them to the rack, and to compel them to command the Jewish king, [[Dhu Nuwas]], to desist from persecuting the Christians in [[Najran]].<ref name="Jewish Encyclopedia: Tiberias2">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=205&letter=T#ixzz0RkgRIUUe |title=TIBERIAS |encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia|access-date=2008-10-10|archive-date=2008-03-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328221848/http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=205&letter=T#ixzz0RkgRIUUe|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 614, Tiberias was the site where, during the final [[Jewish revolt against Heraclius|Jewish revolt against the Byzantine Empire]], parts of the Jewish population supported the [[Sassanid Empire|Persian]] invaders; the Jewish rebels were financed by [[Benjamin of Tiberias]], a man of immense wealth; according to Christian sources, during the revolt Christians were massacred and churches destroyed. In 628, the Byzantine army returned to Tiberias upon the surrender of Jewish rebels and the end of the Persian occupation after they were defeated in the [[Battle of Nineveh (627)|battle of Nineveh]]. A year later, influenced by radical Christian monks, Emperor [[Heraclius]] instigated a wide-scale slaughter of the Jews, which practically emptied Galilee of most its Jewish population, with survivors fleeing to Egypt.{{Citation needed|date=May 2009}}

===Early Muslim period===
Tiberias, or Tabariyyah in Arab transcription, was "conquered by (the Arab commander) [[Shurahbil ibn Hasana|Shurahbil]] in the year 634/15 [CE/AH] by capitulation; one half of the houses and churches were to belong to the Muslims, the other half to the Christians."<ref>Le Strange, 1890, p. [https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/340/mode/1up 340], quoting [[Yaqut al-Hamawi|Yakut]]</ref> Since 636 CE, Tiberias served as the regional capital, until [[Beit She'an]] took its place, following the [[Rashidun Caliphate|Rashidun]] conquest.{{clarify|reason=Nonsensical, unless Beth She'an was captured a few years after Tiberias. Rashidun conquest = Muslin conquest, and in Palestine it started in the 630s, ending un 641.|date=September 2021}} The Caliphate allowed 70 Jewish families from Tiberias to form the core of a renewed Jewish presence in Jerusalem and the importance of Tiberias to Jewish life declined.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} The caliphs of the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad]] Dynasty built one of its square-plan palaces on the waterfront to the north of Tiberias, at [[Khirbat al-Minya]]. Tiberias was revitalised in 749, after Bet Shean was destroyed in an earthquake.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} An imposing mosque, {{convert|90|m|ft|abbr=off}} long by {{convert|78|m|ft|abbr=off}} wide, resembling the [[Umayyad Mosque|Great Mosque]] of [[Damascus]], was raised at the foot of [[Mount Berenice]] next to a Byzantine church, to the south of the city, as the eighth century ushered in Tiberias's golden age, when the multicultural city may have been the most tolerant of the Middle East.<ref name="Hasson2">Nir Hasson, [http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/in-excavation-of-ancient-mosque-volunteers-dig-up-israeli-city-s-golden-age.premium-1.458874 'In excavation of ancient mosque, volunteers dig up Israeli city's Golden Age,'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120817051950/http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/in-excavation-of-ancient-mosque-volunteers-dig-up-israeli-city-s-golden-age.premium-1.458874 |date=2012-08-17}} at ''Haaretz'', 17 August 2012.</ref> Jewish scholarship flourished from the beginning of the 8th century to the end of the 10th, when the oral traditions of [[Biblical Hebrew|ancient Hebrew]], still in use today, were codified. One of the leading members of the Tiberian [[Masoretes|Masoretic community]] was [[Aaron ben Moses ben Asher]], who refined the oral tradition now known as [[Tiberian Hebrew]]. Both the [[Codex Cairensis]] and the [[Aleppo Codex]] were written in Tiberias as well as the [[Tiberian vocalization]] was devised here.
[[File:Tiberias-2-073.jpg|thumb|Remains of Roman theatre]]
[[File:Hamat-Tiberias-119.jpg|thumb|[[Hamat Tiberias|Hammat Tiberias]] synagogue floor]]

The Arab geographer [[al-Muqaddasi]] writing in 985, describes Tiberias as a hedonistic city afflicted by heat: "For two months they dance; for two months they gobble; for two months they swat; for two months they go about naked; for two months they play the reed flute; and for two months they wallow in the mud."<ref name="Hasson2" /> As "the capital of Jordan Province, and a city in the Valley of Canaan. ... The town is narrow, hot in summer and unhealthy...There are here eight natural hot baths, where no fuel need be used, and numberless basins besides of boiling water. The [[mosque]] is large and fine, and stands in the market-place. Its floor is laid in pebbles, set on stone drums, placed close one to another." According to Muqaddasi, those who suffered from scab or ulcers, and other such diseases came to Tiberias to bathe in the hot springs for three days. "Afterwards they dip in another spring which is cold, whereupon ... they become cured."<ref>Muk. p.161 and 185, quoted in Le Strange, 1890, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/334/mode/1up 334]- [https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/337/mode/1up 337]</ref>

Tiberias was plagued by incursions by the radical [[Shi'ite]] [[Qarmatians]] at the beginning of the tenth century. During that period, the Academy of Eretz Israel left Tiberias for Jerusalem. Later in the same century, the region came under the control by the [[Fatimid Caliphate]].<ref name=":1" /> By this time, Tiberias had experienced its last period of prosperity; dried fruit, oil, and wine had been exported to [[Cairo]] via the [[Via Maris]], and the city was also known for its mat industry.<ref name=":1" />

In 1033 Tiberias was again [[1033 Jordan Rift Valley earthquake|destroyed by an earthquake]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} A further earthquake in 1066 toppled the great mosque.<ref name="Hasson2" /> [[Nasir Khusraw|Nasir-i Khusrou]] visited Tiberias in 1047, and describes a city with a "strong wall" which begins at the border of the lake and goes all around the town except on the water-side. Furthermore, he describes
: <blockquote>numberless buildings erected in the very water, for the bed of the lake in this part is rock; and they have built pleasure houses that are supported on columns of [[marble]], rising up out of the water. The lake is very full of fish. [] The Friday Mosque is in the midst of the town. At the gate of the mosque is a spring, over which they have built a hot bath. [] On the western side of the town is a mosque known as the Jasmine Mosque (Masjid-i-Yasmin). It is a fine building and in the middle part rises a great platform (dukkan), where they have their [[mihrab]]s (or prayer-niches). All round those they have set [[jasmine]]-shrubs, from which the mosque derives its name.<ref>Le Strange, 1890, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/336/mode/1up 336]-7</ref></blockquote>

===Crusader period===
[[File:Keverambam.jpg|thumb|The tomb of [[Maimonides]]]]

During the [[First Crusade]] Tiberias was occupied by the [[Franks]] soon after the capture of [[Jerusalem]]. The city was given in fief to [[Tancred, Prince of Galilee|Tancred]], who made it his capital of the [[Principality of Galilee]] in the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]]; the region was sometimes called the Principality of Tiberias, or the Tiberiad.<ref>Richard, Jean (1999) ''The Crusades c. 1071-c 1291'', Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|0-521-62369-3}} p 71</ref> In 1099 the original site of the city was abandoned, and settlement shifted north to the present location.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} [[St. Peter's Church, Tiberias|St. Peter's Church]], originally built by the Crusaders, is still standing today, although the building has been altered and reconstructed over the years.

In the late 12th century Tiberias' Jewish community numbered 50 Jewish families, headed by rabbis,<ref>"Journey of [[Benjamin of Tudela]] in Palestine and Syria, {{circa|1170}}" in Yaari, p.[https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=36832&st=%D7%98%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%94&pgnum=43&hilite= 44] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200304001907/https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=36832&st=%D7%98%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%94&pgnum=43&hilite= |date=2020-03-04 }}</ref> and at that time the best manuscripts of the [[Torah]] were said to be found there.<ref name="Jewish Encyclopedia: Tiberias2" /> In the 12th-century, the city was the subject of negative undertones in Islamic tradition. A ''[[hadith]]'' recorded by Ibn Asakir of Damascus (d. 1176) names Tiberias as one of the "four cities of hell."<ref name="LaiouMottahedeh20012">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YTAhPw3SjxIC&pg=PA63 |title=The Crusades from the perspective of Byzantium and the Muslim world |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-88402-277-0 |page=63 |quote=This hadith is also found in the bibliographical work of the Damascene Ibn ‘Asakir (d. 571/1176), although slightly modified: the four cities of paradise are Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem and Damascus; and the four cities of hell are Constantinople, Tabariyya, Antioch and San'a.|author1=Angeliki E. Laiou |author1-link=Angeliki Laiou |author2=Roy P. Mottahedeh |author2-link=Roy Mottahedeh |access-date=17 October 2010 |archive-date=22 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722054810/http://books.google.com/books?id=YTAhPw3SjxIC&pg=PA63 |url-status=live}}</ref> This could have been reflecting the fact that at the time, the town had a notable non-Muslim population.<ref name="Gil19972">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M0wUKoMJeccC&pg=PA175|title=A history of Palestine, 634–1099|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1997|isbn=978-0-521-59984-9|page=175; ft. 49|author=Moshe Gil|access-date=17 October 2010|archive-date=22 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622004720/http://books.google.com/books?id=M0wUKoMJeccC&pg=PA175|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1187, [[Saladin]] ordered his son [[Al-Afdal ibn Salah ad-Din|al-Afdal]] to send an envoy to Count [[Raymond III of Tripoli|Raymond of Tripoli]] requesting safe passage through his fiefdom of Galilee and Tiberias. Raymond was obliged to grant the request under the terms of his treaty with Saladin. Saladin's force left [[Caesarea Philippi]] to engage the fighting force of the [[Knights Templar]]. The Templar force was destroyed in [[Battle of Cresson|the encounter]]. Saladin then [[Siege|besieged]] Tiberias; after six days the town fell. On 4 July 1187 Saladin defeated the Crusaders coming to relieve Tiberias at the [[Battle of Hattin]], {{convert|10|km|0|abbr=off}} outside the city.<ref>Wilson, John Francis. (2004) Caesarea Philippi: Banias, the Lost City of Pan I.B.Tauris, {{ISBN|1-85043-440-9}} p 148</ref> However, during the [[Third Crusade]], the Crusaders drove the Muslims out of the city and reoccupied it.

Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, ([[Maimonides]]) also known as Rambam, a leading Jewish legal scholar, philosopher and physician of his period, died in 1204 in [[Egypt]] and was later buried in Tiberias. His tomb is one of the city's important pilgrimage sites. [[Yaqut al-Hamawi|Yakut]], writing in the 1220s, described Tiberias as a small town, long and narrow. He also describes the "hot salt springs, over which they have built [[Turkish bath|Hammams]] which use no fuel."

===Mamluk period===
In 1265 the [[Crusaders]] were driven from the city by the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Egyptian Mamluks]], who ruled Tiberias until the Ottoman conquest in 1516.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

===Ottoman period===
[[File:1822 Burckhardt sketch of Tiberias.png|thumb|[[Johann Ludwig Burckhardt]]'s sketch of Tiberias, published in 1822. Burckhardt noted that the a quarter of the population was Jewish, and had originated in Poland, Spain, North Africa and other parts of Syria.<ref>{{cite book|last=Burckhardt|first=Johann Ludwig<!--  |coauthors=Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa-->|title=Travels in Syria and the Holy Land|year=1822|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R9N70FsNRNYC|publisher=J. Murray|isbn=9781414283388 |quote=There are about four thousand inhabitants in Tabaria, one-fourth of whom are Jews… The Jews of Tiberias occupy a quarter on the shore of the lake in the middle of the town, which has lately been considerably enlarged by the purchase of several streets: it is separated from the rest of the town by a high wall, and has only one gate of entrance, which is regularly shut at sunset, after which no person is allowed to pass. There are one hundred and sixty, or two hundred families, of which forty or fifty are of Polish origin, the rest are Jews from Spain, Barbary, and different parts of Syria.|access-date=2020-09-17|archive-date=2021-05-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518182703/https://books.google.com/books?id=R9N70FsNRNYC|url-status=live}}</ref>]]

[[File:Francis_Frith._Tiberias,_from_the_South.jpg|thumb|Tiberas, 1862]]

During the 16th century, Tiberias was a small village. Italian Rabbi [[Moses ben Mordecai Bassola|Moses Bassola]] visited Tiberias during his trip to Palestine in 1522. He said on Tiberias that "it was a big city ... and now it is ruined and desolate". He described the village there, in which he said there were "ten or twelve" Muslim households. The area, according to Bassola, was dangerous "because of the Arabs", and in order to stay there, he had to pay the local governor for his protection.<ref>Yaari, pp.[https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=36832&st=%D7%98%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%94&pgnum=154&hilite=155] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200226095847/https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=36832&st=%D7%98%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%94&pgnum=154&hilite=155|date=2020-02-26}}–156</ref>

As the [[Ottoman Empire]] expanded along the southern Mediterranean coast under Sultan [[Selim I]], the ''Reyes Católicos'' ([[Catholic Monarchs]]) began establishing [[Inquisition]] commissions. Many [[Converso|''Conversos'']], ([[Marrano|''Marranos'']] and [[Morisco|''Moriscos'']]) and [[Sephardi Jews]] fled in fear to the Ottoman provinces, settling at first in [[Constantinople]], [[Salonika]], [[Sarajevo]], [[Sofia]] and [[Anatolia]]. The Sultan encouraged them to settle in Palestine.<ref>Toby Green (2007). ''Inquisition; The Reign of Fear''. Macmillan Press {{ISBN|978-1-4050-8873-2}} pp. xv–xix.</ref><ref name= alfassa2>{{cite web |last= Alfassá |first= Shelomo |title= Sephardic Contributions to the Development of the State of Israel |date= 17 August 2007 |website= Alfassa.com |url= http://www.alfassa.com/contributions.pdf |access-date= 14 January 2015 |url-status= usurped |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071012042245/http://www.alfassa.com/contributions.pdf |archive-date= 2007-10-12}}</ref> In 1558, a Portuguese-born [[marrano]], [[Doña Gracia]], was granted tax collecting rights in Tiberias and its surrounding villages by [[Suleiman the Magnificent]]. She envisaged the town becoming a refuge for Jews and obtained a permit to establish Jewish autonomy there.<ref>Schaick, Tzvi. [http://www.donagracia.com/DonaGracia/DonaHouse/english/donagratzia.htm Who is Dona Gracia?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510235707/http://www.donagracia.com/DonaGracia/donahouse/english/donagratzia.htm |date=2011-05-10 }}, The House of Dona Gracia Museum.</ref> In 1561 her nephew [[Joseph Nasi]], Lord of Tiberias,<ref>Naomi E. Pasachoff, Robert J. Littman, ''A Concise History of the Jewish People'', [[Lanham, Maryland|Lanham]], Rowman & Littlefield, 2005, p.163</ref> encouraged Jews to settle in Tiberias and rebuild the city.<ref name="Gordon2">Benjamin Lee Gordon, ''New Judea: Jewish Life in Modern Palestine and Egypt'', [[Manchester, New Hampshire]], Ayer Publishing, 1977, p.209</ref> Securing a ''[[firman]]'' from the Sultan, he and [[Joseph ben Adruth]] rebuilt the city walls and lay the groundwork for a textile ([[silk]]) industry, planting [[Mulberry|mulberry trees]] and urging craftsmen to move there.<ref name="Gordon2" /> Plans were made for Jews to move from the [[Papal States]], but when the Ottomans and the Republic of Venice went to war, the plan was abandoned.<ref name="Gordon2" />

At the end of the century (1596), the village of Tiberias had 54 households: 50 families and 4 bachelors. All were [[Muslim]]s. The main product of the village at that time was wheat, while other products included barley, fruit, fish, goats and bee hives; the  total revenue was 3,360 [[akçe]].<ref>Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 188</ref>

In 1624, when the Sultan recognized [[Fakhr-al-Din II]] as Lord of [[Mount Lebanon Emirate|Arabistan]] (from Aleppo to the borders of Egypt),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.angelfire.com/az/rescon/mgcdruze.html|title=The Druze of the Levant|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309141551/http://www.angelfire.com/az/rescon/mgcdruze.html|archive-date=2012-03-09}}</ref> The [[1660 destruction of Tiberias]] by the [[Druze]] resulted in abandonment of the city by its Jewish community,<ref>Joel Rappel, History of Eretz Israel from Prehistory up to 1882 (1980), Vol.2, p.531. 'In 1662 Sabbathai Sevi arrived to Jerusalem. It was the time when the Jewish settlements of Galilee were destroyed by the Druze: Tiberias was completely desolate and only a few of former Safed residents had returned..."</ref><ref>Barnay, Y. The Jews in Palestine in the eighteenth century: under the patronage of the Istanbul Committee of Officials for Palestine (University of Alabama Press 1992) {{ISBN|978-0-8173-0572-7}} p. 149</ref> Unlike Tiberias, the nearby city of [[Safed]] recovered from its [[1660 destruction of Safed|destruction]],<ref>Sidney Mendelssohn. ''The Jews of Asia: Especially in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century''. (1920) p.241. "Long before the culmination of Sabbathai's mad career, Safed had been destroyed by the Arabs and the Jews had suffered severely, while in the same year (1660) there was a great fire in Constantinople in which they endured heavy losses ..."</ref> and was not entirely abandoned,<ref>Gershom Gerhard Scholem (1976-01-01). ''Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, 1626–1676''. Princeton University Press. p. 368. {{ISBN|978-0-691-01809-6}}. "In Safed, too, the [Sabbatai] movement gathered strength during the autumn of 1665. The reports about the utter destruction, in 1662 {{sic}}, of the Jewish settlement there seem greatly exaggerated, and the conclusions based on them are false. ... Rosanes' account of the destruction of the Safed community is based on a misunderstanding of his sources; the community declined in numbers but continued to exist."</ref> remaining an important Jewish center in Galilee.
[[File:PikiWiki_Israel_11910_leaning_tower_in_tiberias.jpg|thumb|"Leaning tower" at SE corner of [[Zahir al-Umar]]'s walls, part of Greek Orthodox Monastery of the Twelve Apostles]]
In the 1720s, the Arab ruler [[Zahir al-Umar]], of the [[Al-Zayadina|Zaydani clan]], fortified the town and made an agreement with the leader [[Nasif al-Nassar]] of the [[El Assaad Family|Al Saghir clan]] to prevent looting. Accounts from that time tell of the great admiration people had for Zahir, especially his war against bandits on the roads. [[Richard Pococke]], who visited Tiberias in 1727, witnessed the building of a fort to the north of the city, and the strengthening of the old walls, attributing it to a dispute with the Pasha of Damascus.<ref>Pococke, 1745, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009339611#page/n99/mode/1up 68]–70</ref> Under instructions from the [[Ottoman Porte]], [[Sulayman Pasha al-Azm]] of Damascus [[Sieges of Tiberias (1742–1743)|besieged Tiberias in 1742]], with the intention of eliminating Zahir, but his siege was unsuccessful. In the following year, Sulayman set out to repeat the attempt with even greater reinforcements, but he died en route.<ref>{{cite book|title=Palestine in the 18th Century|publisher=Magnes Press|year=1975|isbn=1-59045-955-5|pages=34–36|author=Amnon Cohen}}</ref>
[[File:Jewish House In Tiberias, 1893.jpg|thumb|Jewish house in Tiberias, 1893]]

Under Zahir's patronage, Jewish families were encouraged to settle in Tiberias.<ref>Moammar, Tawfiq (1990), ''Zahir Al Omar'', Al Hakim Printing Press, Nazareth, p. 70.</ref> He invited Rabbi [[Chaim Abulafia]] of [[Smyrna]] to rebuild the Jewish community.<ref name="JS2">Joseph Schwarz. [http://www.jewish-history.com/palestine/tiberias.html Descriptive Geography and Brief Historical Sketch of Palestine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720195032/http://www.jewish-history.com/palestine/tiberias.html |date=2018-07-20}}, 1850</ref> The synagogue he built still stands today, located in the Court of the Jews.<ref>''The Jews in Palestine in the Eighteenth Century: Under the Patronage of the Istanbul Committee of Officials for Palestine'', Y. Barnay, translated by Naomi Goldblum, University of Alabama Press, 1992, p. 15, 16</ref><ref>''The Jews: Their History, Culture, and Religion'', Louis Finkelstein, Edition: 3 Harper, New York, 1960, p. 659</ref>

In 1775, [[Jazzar Pasha|Ahmed el-Jazzar]] "the Butcher" brought peace to the region with an iron fist.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} In 1780, many Polish Jews settled in the town.<ref name="JS2" /> During the 18th and 19th centuries it received an influx of [[rabbis]] who re-established it as a center for Jewish learning.<ref>Parfitt, Tudor (1987) ''The Jews in Palestine, 1800–1882''. Royal Historical Society studies in history (52). Woodbridge: Published for the Royal Historical Society by Boydell</ref> An essay written by Rabbi [[Joseph Schwarz (rabbi)|Joseph Schwarz]] in 1850 noted that "Tiberias Jews suffered the least" during an Arab rebellion which took place in 1834.<ref name="JS2" /> Around 600 people, including nearly 500 Jews,<ref name="JS2" /> died when the town was devastated by the [[Galilee earthquake of 1837|1837 Galilee earthquake]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} An American expedition reported that Tiberias was still in a state of disrepair in 1847/1848.<ref>Lynch, 1850, p. [https://archive.org/stream/narrativeunited02lyncgoog#page/n304/mode/1up 154]</ref> Rabbi Haim Shmuel Hacohen Konorti, born in Spain in 1792, settled in Tiberias at the age of 45 and was a driving force in the restoration of the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.haaretz.com/1.4705492|title=Crumbling Tiberias Synagogue to Regain Its Former Glory|first=Eli|last=Ashkenazi|date=27 December 2009|website=Haaretz|access-date=11 February 2018|archive-date=12 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212143609/https://www.haaretz.com/1.4705492|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Zoltan Kluger. Tiberias.jpg|thumb|Tiberias 1937, Dr. Torrance's hospital centre of photograph]]

===British Mandate===
[[File:Abbud26C.jpg|thumb|Postcard of Tiberias, by [[Karimeh Abbud]], ca 1925]]
[[File:חמי טבריה 1924.jpg|thumb|Hot springs in Tiberias 1924, Younes & Soraya Nazrian library, University of Haifa digital collections]]
[[File:1928הרחוב הראשי של טבריה. אוסף קרוזו מתוך האוספים הדיגיטליים של ספריית יונס וסוראיה נזריאן, אוניברסיטת חיפה.jpg|thumb|Tiberias main road, 1925, Younes & Soraya Library digital collections, University of Haifa]]
In the [[1922 census of Palestine]] conducted by the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate authorities]], Tiberias had a population of 6,950 inhabitants, consisting of 4,427 Jews, 2,096 Muslims, 422 Christians, and five others.<ref name=Barronp6>Barron, 1923, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n8/mode/1up 6]</ref> Initially the relationship between Arabs and Jews in Tiberias was good, with few incidents occurring in the [[1920 Palestine riots|Nebi Musa riots]] in 1920 and the Arab riots throughout [[1929 Palestine riots|Palestine in 1929]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Śegev |first1=Tom |title=One Palestine, complete: Jews and Arabs under the British mandate |date=2001 |publisher=Holt |isbn=978-0-8050-6587-9 |edition=1. Owl Books |series=An Owl book |location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Hillel |title=Year Zero of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1929 |date=2015 |publisher=Brandeis University Press |isbn=978-1-61168-812-2 |series=The Schusterman series in Israel studies |location=Waltham, Massachusetts |translator-last=Watzman |translator-first=Haim}}</ref> The first modern spa was built in 1929.<ref name="Erfurt-CooperCooper20092" />

The landscape of the modern town was shaped by the great flood of 11 November 1934. Deforestation on the slopes above the town combined with the fact that the city had been built as a series of closely packed houses and buildings – usually sharing walls – built in narrow roads paralleling and closely hugging the shore of the lake. Flood waters carrying mud, stones, and boulders rushed down the slopes and filled the streets and buildings with water so rapidly that many people did not have time to escape; the loss of life and property was great. The city rebuilt on the slopes and the British Mandatory government planted the [[Swiss Forest]] on the slopes above the town to hold the soil and prevent similar disasters from recurring. A new seawall was constructed, moving the shoreline several yards out from the former shore.<ref>Mandated landscape: British imperial rule in Palestine, 1929–1948, Roza El-Eini, (Routledge, 2006) p. 250</ref><ref>''The Changing Land: Between the Jordan and the Sea: Aerial Photographs from 1917 to the Present'', Benjamin Z. Kedar, Wayne State University Press, 2000, p. 198</ref> In October 1938, Arab militants [[1938 Tiberias massacre|murdered 19 Jews]] in Tiberias during the [[1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1938.htm|title=United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine|format=.JPG|access-date=2007-11-29|archive-date=2019-06-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608153227/http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1938.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Between 8–9 April 1948, sporadic shooting broke out between the Jewish and Arab neighborhoods of Tiberias. Arab Liberation Army and irregular forces attacked and closed the Rosh Pinnah road, isolating the northern Jewish settlements.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tal |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vs2PAgAAQBAJ&dq=tiberias+cut+off+road+1948&pg=PA108 |title=War in Palestine, 1948: Israeli and Arab Strategy and Diplomacy |date=2004-06-24 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-77513-1 |language=en}}</ref> On 10 April, the Haganah launched a mortar barrage, killing some Arab residents.<ref name="morris1832">Morris, 2004, pp. 183–185</ref> The local National Committee refused the offer of the [[Arab Liberation Army]] to take over defense of the city, but a small contingent of outside irregulars moved in.<ref name="morris1832" />

During 10–17 April, the Haganah attacked the city and refused to negotiate a truce, while the British refused to intervene. Newly arrived Arab refugees from [[Nasir ad-Din, Tiberias|Nasir ad-Din]] told of the civilians there being killed, news which brought panic to the residents of Tiberias.<ref name="morris1832" /> The Arab population of Tiberias (6,000 residents or 47.5% of the population) was evacuated by the British forces on 18 April 1948.<ref>Harry Levin, ''Jerusalem Embattled – A diary of a city under siege.'' Cassel, 1997. {{ISBN|0-304-33765-X}}., p.81: 'Extraordinary news from Tiberias. The whole Arab population has fled. Last night the Haganah blew up the Arab bands' headquarters there; this morning the Jews woke up to see a panic flight in progress. By tonight not one of the 6,000 Arabs remained.' (19 April).</ref>

The Jewish population looted the Arab areas and had to be suppressed by force by the [[Haganah]] and Jewish police, who killed or injured several looters.<ref>M Gilbert, p. 172</ref> On 30 December 1948, when [[David Ben-Gurion]] was staying in Tiberias, [[James Grover McDonald]], the [[United States ambassador to Israel]], requested to meet with him. McDonald presented a British ultimatum for Israeli troops to leave the [[Sinai peninsula]], Egyptian territory. Israel rejected the ultimatum, but Tiberias became famous.<ref>Gilbert, p. 245</ref>

====Destruction of the old city====
During the months after the occupation of the city, a large part of the buildings of the old city in Tiberias was destroyed, and this for various reasons - problems of [[hygiene]], rickety construction, and the fear that the Arabs would return to the city, when it became known that this was a requirement of [[Jordan]] as part of the negotiations conducted in [[1949 Armistice Agreements| Rhodes]]. Finally, the authorities acceded to the initiative of the [[Jewish National Fund]], Yosef Nahmani, who argued that the houses of the Old City should be demolished, despite the opposition of Mayor Shimon Dahan.

The destruction began in the summer of 1948 and continued until the first months of 1949.<ref name=abasi>{{cite web|url=https://in.bgu.ac.il/bgi/iyunim/19/mustafa.pdf|title=The destruction of the old city in Tiberias, 1948-1949 |publisher=Ben Gurion University |language=he}}</ref> A visit by [[David Ben-Gurion]] to the city brought an end to the destruction, after 477 out of 696 houses were destroyed according to official estimates.<ref name=ypaz>{{cite web| url= https://files.ybz.org.il/periodicals/Cathedra/88/Article_88.9.pdf| title=Preservation of architectural heritage in the abandoned neighborhoods after the Independence War | publisher= Kathedra| page=103 |language=he}}</ref> After the destruction remained the remains of the wall and the citadel, several houses on the outskirts of the city, as well as the two mosques that operated in the city. The area stood abandoned for decades, until operations began to restore it in the 1970s.<ref name=ypaz2>{{cite web| url= https://files.ybz.org.il/periodicals/Cathedra/88/Article_88.9.pdf| title=Preservation of architectural heritage in the abandoned neighborhoods after the Independence War | publisher= Kathedra| page=106 |language=he}}</ref>

===State of Israel===
[[File:Dover tverya17.jpg|thumb|Tiberias and the [[Sea of Galilee]]]]
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 69028 the tomb of rabbi meir the miracle owner.jpg|thumb|Tomb of [[Rabbi Meir|Rabbi Meir Baal HaNes]]]]
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 11886 house in galilee street tiberias.jpg|thumb|Black basalt buildings in Tiberias]]
The city of Tiberias has been almost entirely Jewish since 1948. Many [[Sephardic]] and [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahi]] Jews settled in the city, following the [[Jewish exodus from Arab countries]] in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Over time, government housing was built to accommodate much of the new population, like in many other [[development town]]s.

In 1959, during [[Wadi Salib riots]], the "''Union des Nords-africains'' led by David Ben Haroush, organised a large-scale procession walking towards the nice suburbs of [[Haifa]] creating little damage but a great fear within the population. This small incident was taken as an occasion to express the social malaise of the different [[Mizrahi Jews in Israel|Oriental communities in Israel]] and riots spread quickly to other parts of the country; mostly in towns with a high percentage of the population having North African origins like in Tiberias, in [[Beer-Sheva]], in [[Migdal HaEmek|Migdal-Haemek]]".<ref>{{cite web|author=Jeremy Allouche|title=The Oriental Communities in Israel 1948-2003|url=http://doczz.fr/doc/96608/the-oriental-communities-in-israel--1948-2003|page=35|access-date=2017-12-24|archive-date=2017-12-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224214338/http://doczz.fr/doc/96608/the-oriental-communities-in-israel--1948-2003|url-status=live}}</ref>

Over time, the city came to rely on tourism, becoming a major Galilean center for [[Christian pilgrims]] and internal Israeli tourism. The ancient cemetery of Tiberias and its old synagogues are also drawing religious Jewish pilgrims during religious holidays.<ref>M.Gilbert, p.566, 578</ref>

Tiberias consists of a small port on the shores of Galilee lake for both fishing and tourist activities. Since the 1990s, the importance of the port for fishing was gradually decreasing, with the decline of the Tiberias lake level, due to continuing droughts and increased pumping of fresh water from the lake. It was expected that the lake of Tiberias will regain its original level (almost {{convert|6|m|ft|abbr=off}} higher than today), with the full operational capacity of Israeli desalination facilities by 2014. In 2020, the lake raised above the level it was in 1990.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://kineret.org.il/miflasim/?fromdate=1989-01-10&todate=2023-08-10&maxmiflas=-208&minmiflas=-215&Frequency=daily&submitGraph=+%D7%94%D7%A6%D7%92+%D7%90%D7%AA+%D7%94%D7%92%D7%A8%D7%A3+#graph |url-status=live |archive-date=2023-08-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810143054/https://kineret.org.il/miflasim/?fromdate=1989-01-10&todate=2023-08-10&maxmiflas=-208&minmiflas=-215&Frequency=daily&submitGraph=+%D7%94%D7%A6%D7%92+%D7%90%D7%AA+%D7%94%D7%92%D7%A8%D7%A3+ |website=kineret.org.il |language=he |access-date=10 August 2023 |title=מפלס הכינרת}}</ref> 

In 2012, plans were announced for a new ultra-Orthodox neighborhood, Kiryat Sanz, on a slope on the western side of the Kinneret.<ref>[http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/new-ultra-orthodox-neighborhood-to-be-built-in-israel-s-north-1.422255 New ultra-Orthodox neighborhood to be built in Israel's north] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518170344/http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/new-ultra-orthodox-neighborhood-to-be-built-in-israel-s-north-1.422255 |date=2012-05-18}}, Apr. 3, 2012, Haaretz</ref>