Post by Lee on Apr 15, 2014 3:47:29 GMT
Emperor during time of Christ.
Tiberias. A city on the W shore of the Sea of *Galilee which subsequently gave its name to the lake. It was founded by Herod Antipas about ad 20 and named after the emperor Tiberius. The principal factors influencing Herod’s choice of site seem to have been: (1) a defensive position represented by a rocky projection above the lake; (2) proximity to some already-famous warm springs which lay just to the S. Otherwise, the site offered little, and the beautiful buildings of the city (which became Herod’s capital) rose on ground that included a former graveyard, and so rendered the city unclean in Jewish eyes.
Tiberias is mentioned only once in the Gospels (Jn. 6:23; ‘sea of Tiberias’ appears in Jn. 6:1; 21:1), and there is no record of Christ ever visiting it. It was a thoroughly Gentile city, and he seems to have avoided it in favour of the numerous Jewish towns of the lake shore. By a curious reversal, however, after the destruction of Jerusalem it became the chief seat of Jewish learning, and both the Mishnah and the Palestinian Talmud were compiled there, in the 3rd and 5th centuries respectively.
Of the towns which surrounded the Sea of Galilee in NT times, Tiberias is the only one which remains of any size at the present day.
New Bible dictionary
Tiberias. A city on the W shore of the Sea of *Galilee which subsequently gave its name to the lake. It was founded by Herod Antipas about ad 20 and named after the emperor Tiberius. The principal factors influencing Herod’s choice of site seem to have been: (1) a defensive position represented by a rocky projection above the lake; (2) proximity to some already-famous warm springs which lay just to the S. Otherwise, the site offered little, and the beautiful buildings of the city (which became Herod’s capital) rose on ground that included a former graveyard, and so rendered the city unclean in Jewish eyes.
Tiberias is mentioned only once in the Gospels (Jn. 6:23; ‘sea of Tiberias’ appears in Jn. 6:1; 21:1), and there is no record of Christ ever visiting it. It was a thoroughly Gentile city, and he seems to have avoided it in favour of the numerous Jewish towns of the lake shore. By a curious reversal, however, after the destruction of Jerusalem it became the chief seat of Jewish learning, and both the Mishnah and the Palestinian Talmud were compiled there, in the 3rd and 5th centuries respectively.
Of the towns which surrounded the Sea of Galilee in NT times, Tiberias is the only one which remains of any size at the present day.
New Bible dictionary