Editing Tiberias (section)

====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}}