Editing Tiberias (section)

===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}}