Beit She'arim (Roman-era Jewish village)

Beit She'arim

Beit She'arayim
Ancient ruin of Beit Shearim in Lower Galilee
Shown within Israel
Alternative name	Sheikh Abreiḳ
Location	Israel
Coordinates	32°42′08″N 35°07′45″E / 32.70222°N 35.12917°E / 32.70222; 35.12917
History
Founded	Hellenistic period
Abandoned	20th century
Periods	Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Early Arab
Cultures	Jewish, Graeco-Roman, Byzantine
Site notes
Excavation dates	1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1953, 1954, 1955
Archaeologists	Benjamin Mazar, Nahman Avigad
Condition	Ruin
Public access	yes

Beit She'arim (Hebrew: בית שערים; Imperial Aramaic: בית שריי / Bet Sharei),^[1] also Besara (Greek: Βήσαρα),^[2][3] was a Jewish village located in the southwestern hills of the Lower Galilee,^[3] during the Roman period, from the 1st century BCE to the 3rd century CE. At one point, it served as the seat of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish judicial and religious council.

Josephus mentions Beit She'arim in the late Second Temple period as a royal estate belonging to Berenice, near the border of Acre.^[4] In the mid-2nd century CE, it flourished as a town under the leadership of Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi, the compiler of the Mishnah, when it became a center of rabbinic scholarship and literary activity.^[5][6][3] After Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi's death around 220 CE, he was laid to rest in the adjoining necropolis.^[7] This necropolis, a vast network of underground tombs, transformed Beit She'arim into a central burial ground for Jews from both the Land of Israel and diaspora communities across the Middle East.

Beth She'arim underwent a crisis in the 4th century and a continued decline by the 5th century, transforming from an urban center back into a rural village. Byzantine-period remains from the 6th and 7th centuries indicate a very limited presence at the site. Later this was the site of Sheikh Bureik, a village depopulated in the early 1920s due to the Sursock Purchase.

It is today part of the Beit She'arim National Park.