Weekends are for touring

With Friday and Saturday off from the dig, I decided to rent a car (a whole ordeal that I won’t get into on the blog, but ask me sometime) and explore some of the sites in and around Galilee.  I had determined not to rush through these sites, like they do when you are in a tour group, but to linger and take my time exploring.  I love a site where I can walk through the ruins slowly and try to make sense of them. 

So Friday was gobbled up by two stops.  The first was Bet Shean, one of the sister cities of Hippos, another city of the Decapolis.  This one larger and more developed, both as an ancient city and as a modern day site.  The site has been thoroughly excavated and prepared for visitors with partial reconstructions and interpretive signage, which was extremely helpful.  It was extraordinary to walk upon ancient mosaics and alongside colonnaded streets.  Massive architectural remains allow for imagining these buildings in their full glory.    Plus, the site has two bathhouses, one of them the largest that has been found in Israel.  Excavating a bathhouse in Hippos gave me a deeper appreciation of these incredible complexes and I was encouraged by my ability to recognize different components of the structures.

Bet Shean from the hillside above.  Giving a sense of the scope of the ruins. 

A busy street corner in the city of Bet Shean.  The colonnaded street is impressive 

The 7,000 seat theater in Bet Shean overlooking the city.

The second site was Megiddo, or maybe more familiarly Armageddon (which means hill of Megiddo).  The plain beneath this ancient city is the site of the final battle in Revelation.  But the ancient city remains are quite impressive to see.  This site is from a much earlier time period with remains from Canaanite occupation (2000BC – 1250 BC) and early Israelite (1250 BC – 800 BC).  The site is not as fully developed, but it is still worth seeing, especially the city gate built by Solomon, the stables for chariot horses, the silo, the water system, and the massive Canaanite altar. 

The Jezreel Valley, where the Battle of Armegeddon is to take place

A massive Canaanite altar

On Saturday I decided to stay closer to the Sea of Galilee.  Israel is a combination of rich archaeological sites that root our faith to real history and highly developed ecclesiastical shamanism, where pilgrims go for a mystical encounter.  That may be a bit of a harsh description, but I think accurate.  I love the former and hate the latter.  The latter is reflected in churches that are built up over “holy sites” where pilgrims go to touch a rock and pray (as if that rock that Jesus  supposedly sweat drops of blood on will make your prayers more efficacious).  There are countless churches, most of them very liturgical, that are built over sites where Jesus, or one of the disciples, or Mary, or some other figure from Scripture supposedly did something.  The churches are tourist hubs where pilgrims come to say they saw the very place where Jesus did x,y, or z.  The problem is first, that most of these places have very flimsy claims for authenticity and, second, that the nature of the site has been destroyed by the shrine that has been built up around it.    

I try to avoid these sites, but I fell into the trap on Saturday by visiting the Mount of Beatitudes.  I went hoping to get a sense of the context where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount.  Instead, all I saw was a church with gardens around it.  Even the view of the Sea of Galilee is impeded by the gardens that they have planted.  It is impossible to imagine crowds gathering around Jesus to hear him teach at a site like this.  This was a waste of time. 

Church of the Beatitudes.  Disappointing.

Capernaum, which I also visited on Saturday, has a blend of both.  The rich archaeology is seen in the remains of the synagogue, which is built later than Jesus time, but probably over the remains of the first century synagogue, where Jesus would have taught.  It gives a good sense of what a synagogue was like and how it functioned.  And it is accessible, so that you can walk through the remains and explore for yourself.  The residential quarter was also fascinating, but not as freely available to walk through.  The main attraction is Peter’s house, based on tradition.  This tradition actually has ancient roots and may be credible, but a large church has been built over it so that it is nearly impossible to see well or appreciate fully. The interpretive signage was helpful, but it was still very difficult to perceive what they were talking about.

The synagogue in Capernaum

Remains of a frieze from the synagogue in Capernaum depicting the arc of the covenant on the right.

I also visited Hazor, which is an very nice Canaanite/Ancient Israelite site with a large Canannite palace, another city gate built by Solomon along with section of the  city wall, a four room house (which is a distinctively Israelite house design) and a pillared house that served as a storeroom. 

Israelite city walls at Hazor, a double wall filled in with debris.

Any guesses?  It's an olive press.  Press the stone down on the basket full of crushed olive, oil gathers in the circular trough and spills out the break into the basin in the floor.

I had a little extra time, so I stopped in at Korazim, famously cursed by Jesus.  It was a smaller site, but worth the visit to see the synagogue remains and to see the residential area, which was open to walk through, in contrast to Capernaum and gave me the opportunity to try to imagine floor plans and discern alleyways of this congested little neighborhood.  It gives a sense of the small dwellings that were common in the first century. 

Synagogue remains in Korazim

Finally I stopped to see the Galilee boat, the remains of a fishing boat dating to the first century found buried in the mud in the Sea of Galilee.  This is the style of boat that Jesus would have sailed in as he crossed the Sea of Galilee.  It was a short visit, since this is all they have on display, but worthwhile.

The Galilee Boat

So these were full days.  I have limited time for “site-seeing” so I’m glad I made the most of these two days.  I’ll have one more chance to see some sites in the south at the end of the dig.  I am rooming with a fellow pastor and he has invited me to join him to go to Masada, Ein Gedi, Qumran (if time allows), and possibly Beer Sheba.  We’ll see what we can squeeze in.