Bet She'an

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Bet She'an
Bet She'an coat of arms
Basic data
hebrew : בית שאן
arabic : بيسان
State : IsraelIsrael Israel
District : North
Coordinates : 32 ° 30 ′  N , 35 ° 30 ′  E Coordinates: 32 ° 29 ′ 46 "  N , 35 ° 29 ′ 56"  E
Height : 134 m below sea level
Area : 7.33  km²
 
Residents : 18,227 (as of 2018)
Population density : 2,487 inhabitants per km²
 
Community code : 9200
Time zone : UTC + 2
Postal code : 19150
 
Community type: City administration
Mayor : Jackie Levy
Bet She'an (Israel)
Bet She'an
Bet She'an

Audio file / audio sample Bet She'an ? / i (Hebrew בֵּית שְׁאָן; Arabic بيسان Baisān ) is a city in Israel . Other spellings of the Hebrew name in Latin script: Bet She'an and Beit She'an .

geography

location

The city is located in the plain of Bet She'an in the northern district of Israel , approx. 25 km south of the Sea of ​​Galilee at the end of the newly built train line ( Atlit ) - Haifa- Bet-She'an near the Jordanian border.

Residents

The British Mandate and the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics give censuses in 1922 and 1931, as well as on November 8, 1948, May 22, 1961, May 19, 1972, June 4, 1983, November 4, 1995 and December 28 2008; and an update by the Israeli Central Statistical Office as of December 31, 1955, the following population figures:

Year of the census 1922 1931 1948 1955 1961 1972 1983 1995 2008 2011 2015 2016
Number of inhabitants 1.941 3,101 6.009 6,400 9,700 11,300 12,900 14,900 16,800 16,900 17,332 17,587

history

Surname

The etymology of the Hebrew name Bet She'an is uncertain. It could possibly be interpreted as the “house of the deity She'an”. Since the time of Ptolemy II. Scythian were stationed cavalry regiments in the city, it was called Scythopolis (Σκυθόπολις from Σκύθων + πόλις). It was not until Antiochus IV that she received the nickname Nysa after Nysa , the nurse of the city god Dionysus , who, according to a legend from the 1st or 2nd century AD, is buried in Scythopolis. The name Skythopolis appears in the biblical book Judges 1.27  EU in a gloss of the Septuagint , as well as in Judit 3.10 EU . In the Talmudic tradition the place was called Bet She'an throughout. The old Semitic name lived on in the Arab village of Baisan.

The Tell rising above the ancient city bears the Arabic name Tell el-Hösn, d. H. "Hill of Strength".

Antiquity

Palladius Street of the ancient Bet Sche'an and Tell el-Hösn in the background

Tell el-Hösn, located in the Jordan Depression, was inhabited by Canaanites as early as the Bronze Age. It was a major center of Egyptian influence in the region. From Thutmose III. until Ramses III. there is evidence of an Egyptian garrison . Since the 10th century Bet She'an belonged to the Kingdom of Israel , whose fate it shared as a rather insignificant village since its destruction by Pharaoh Scheschonq I in 926 .

In the Hellenistic period, under Ptolemy II in the middle of the 3rd century, it was re-founded as Scythopolis. As a result of the Fourth Syrian War this went in 218/217 BC. In the Seleucid sphere of influence. However, city rights were only granted by Antiochus IV. The expansion of Judea under John Hyrcanus I brought the city under the control of Jerusalem. After the Roman conquest, Bet She'an became a free city and a member of the Decapolis , the league of ten cities in the Levant .

In late antiquity , Scythopolis was known as the center of linen weaving . In the maximum price edict of Emperor Diocletian , products from the city are always mentioned in the highest quality level. The associated rise of the city is also documented by the elevation to the provincial capital of Palestina secunda when the province of Palestine was redistributed in the 4th century. In the following years, Scythopolis is also attested as a bishopric . In the 5th century, Bishop Severianos was a representative of the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon (451), which earned him martyrdom . One of his successors at the beginning of the 6th century was Bishop Johannes, a representative of Neuchâtel-Chalcedonism. Theodore of Skythopolis was bishop during the Origenist turmoil. From the city comes u. a. the monk and author of numerous lives of saints Kyrillos of Scythopolis . A titular bishopric of the Roman Catholic Church still exists today. After the Arab conquest in 636, the importance of the city gradually declined, although evidently an escape from the city began earlier. At the end of the 7th century, a hoard of gold coins discovered in 1998 must have been established. The 749 earthquake devastating the whole region also destroyed Bet She'an. The ruins are still in the typical location for destruction by earthquakes.

middle Ages

In 1099 the settlement was conquered by Tankred from Taranto during the First Crusade . The crusaders fortified the settlement, which was barely inhabited at the time, and made it the center of Bethsan rule in the Kingdom of Jerusalem . In 1183, Bet She'an was conquered by Sultan Saladin . In the period that followed, the crusaders did not succeed in regaining power, even though they sacked the city in 1264. Since the Middle Ages there has been only one larger village.

Beisan station, around 1939

Modern city

Since 1904 the place had a train station on the newly opened Haifa – Darʿā railway line , which was part of the Hejaz Railway network .

During the British Mandate over Palestine, several thousand people lived in Bet She'an, including several dozen Jews , who fled during the Arab uprising of 1936–1939 .

In the 1947 UN partition plan for Palestine , Bet She'an was added to the Jewish part. In February and March 1948 the first fighting occurred in which the Tell served as a position for Arab units. Most of the residents fled when the fighting began. Bet She'an was captured by Israeli forces on May 12, 1948 . After Israel gained independence on May 14, 1948, Bet She'an was shelled with artillery by the Syrian army . The Arab units that wanted to retake Bet She'an had to withdraw across the Jordan . During this time, the railway was also stopped.

Bet She'an was re-established in June 1949 as a refugee camp for Jews from North Africa and received the status of a development city . In the 1950s and 1960s, more immigrants came from North Africa , Iran and Iraq .

On November 19, 1974, three Arab assassins from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine , coming from Jordan , disguised as workers, broke into a four-story apartment building. The four Israeli civilians Mazal Edry, Jean Pierre Alimi, Zohar Bibas and Yehuda Bibas were killed in the attack. More than 20 people were injured, most of them children, trying to jump out of the window to get to safety. The assassins were killed during a rescue operation.

In 1999, Bet She'an received city status.

Old route between buildings of the old train station, partly under restoration, with the substructure of the ramp up to the new high station, 2014
New high station next to the old station, left outside the picture, 2016

On 28 November 2002 two drove bombers of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in a stolen vehicle in front of a polling station of the Likud and fired grenades and automatic weapons at the people waiting. The six Israelis David Peretz, Haim Amar, Shaul Zilberstein, Ehud Avitan, Mordechai Avraham and Ya'acov Lary were killed in the attack. 34 people were injured, including three sons of former Foreign Minister of Israel , David Levy . The two terrorists were killed by border police who happened to be nearby.

Jackie Levy , a son of David Levy , has been Mayor of Bet She'an since 2003 .

Since 2016, the city has again been connected to the railway network with the Haifa – Bet Sche'an railway . An extension of the route to Jordan is being considered.

Pray She'an in the Bible

Bet She'an is mentioned 11 times in the Bible, only in the Tanakh . Bet She'an was therefore assigned to the tribe of Issachar when the Israelites took over . The city was ruled by the tribe of Manasse ( Jos 17.11  EU ). During the reign of the first Israeli king Saul , Bet She'an was in the hands of the Philistines . Saul's army lost the battle against the Philistines in the nearby Gilboa Mountains . Then the corpses of Saul and his three sons were “nailed to the walls of Bet-Shean by the Philistines” ( 1 Sam 31,10  EU ). Later, around 1,000 BC. The Israelites conquered the place under King David . He then belonged in the kingdom under Solomon to the administrative district under the governor Baana ( 1 Kings 4:12  EU ).

Culture

The ancient sites are part of a national park .

Sports

The football club haPoʿel Bet Sche'an comes from Bet She'an and played in the first Israeli league for several years .

sons and daughters of the town

Town twinning

photos

  • In the foreground the Hellenistic-Roman Scythopolis, behind the Tell el-Hösn with the Bronze Age settlement

  • The Beit She'an Theater

  • Egyptian governor's palace on Tell el-Hösn

  • Hypocaust system in the bath complex

  • Remains of the crusader fortress in Bet She'an

  • Modern block of flats in Bet She'an

  • Excavation site in a southerly direction, right: Palladius-Straße, left: Silvanus-Straße, middle / front: Nymphaeum , middle / rear: theater

  • Model of the ancient Bet She'an

  • Mosaic of the goddess Tyche from Byzantine times on Palladius Street in ancient Bet She'an

  • Antique toilets for the users of the adjoining baths and the visitors of the theater in Bet She'an

  • Silvanus Street in ancient Bet She'an

literature

  • Rachel Barkay: The coinage of Nysa-Scythopolis (Beth-Shean). (Corpus Nummorum Palestine 5). Jerusalem 2003, ISBN 965-90558-0-3 .
  • Eliot Braun: Early Beth Shan (strata XIX-XIII): GM Fitzgerald's deep cut on the tell. Philadelphia 2004, ISBN 1-931707-62-6 .
  • Frances W. James, Patrick W. McGovern: The late Bronze Egyptian garrison at Beth Shan: a study of levels VII and VIII. ISBN 0-924171-27-8
  • Amihai Mazar , Gideon Foerster: Beth-Shean. In: NEAEHL, 1, pp. 214–235.
  • Amihai Mazar: Excavations at Tel Beth-Shean 1989-1996. Vol. 1: From the Late Bronze Age IIB to the Medieval Period. Jerusalem 2006.
  • G. Mazor, A. Najjar: Bet She'an I. Nysa-Scythopolis. The Caesareum and the Odeum (IAA Reports 33). Jerusalem 2007.
  • Yoram Tsafrir and Gideon Foerster: Urbanism at Scythopolis Bet Shean in the Fourth to Seventh Centuries. In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 51, 1997, pp. 85-146.
  • Yoram Tsafrir and Gideon Foerster: Bet Shean Excavation Project - 1988/1989. In: Excavations and Surveys in Israel 1989/1990. Vol. 9, Numbers 94-95. Israel Antiquities Authority. Jerusalem 1989/1990, pp. 120-128.
  • Yoram Tsafrir, Gideon Foerster: The Dating of the Earthquake of the Sabbatical Year of 749 CE in Palestine. In: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies of London , 55, 1992, pp. 231-235.
  • Yoram Tsafrir, Gideon Foerster: From Byzantine Scythopolis to Arab Baysan: Changing Urban Concepts. ( Memento of December 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 2.9 MB) In: Cathedra , 64, 1992, pp. 3–30. (Hebrew)
  • Gideon Foerster, Yoram Tsafrir: Nysa-Scythopolis - A New Inscription and the Titles of the City on its Coins. In: The Israel Numismatic Journal , 9, 1986/87, pp. 53-58.

Web links

Commons : Bet Sche'an  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ אוכלוסייה ביישובים 2018 (population of the settlements 2018). (XLSX; 0.13 MB) Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , August 25, 2019, accessed May 11, 2020 .
  2. ^ Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
  3. ↑ Michael Avi-Yonah : Scythopolis . In: Israel Exploration Journal , 12, 1962, pp. 123-134.
  4. ^ Six Killed in Shootings in Northern Israel. In: FOX News. Retrieved May 2, 2016 .
  5. ^ Three of MK David Levy's sons among the wounded in Beit She'an. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 2, 2016 ; accessed on May 2, 2016 .
  6. ^ Six Israelis dead in poll shooting. In: The Telegraph. Retrieved May 2, 2016 .