Bet She'arim
| Bet She'arim | |
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UNESCO world heritage 
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| Entrance portal to the cave of the sarcophagi |
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| National territory: |
 Israel
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| Type: | Culture |
| Criteria : | ii, iii |
| Surface: | 12.2 ha |
| Reference No .: | 1471 |
| UNESCO region : | Europe and North America |
| History of enrollment | |
| Enrollment: | 2015 ( session 39 ) |
Bet She'arim ( Hebrew בית שערים; due to the translation from Hebrew also in different spellings) is an archaeological site in northern Israel . The excavations are now part of Bet Shearim National Park .
General Information
Bet She'arim is located east of the Carmel Mountains in the immediate vicinity of the city of Kirjat Tiw'on ; the next larger city is Haifa , which is about 20 kilometers northwest.
A central part of the national park is an extensive necropolis , which consists of 33 underground tombs. These catacombs were created in the mountainside and partly covered with elaborate portals. There were up to 400 graves in the individual caves. In the 2nd - 4th centuries AD, Bet She'arim was the most important Jewish cemetery outside of Jerusalem.
The remains of a former synagogue and a monument to Alexander Zaid, the discoverer of the site, are also located near the necropolis .
history
The burial city of Bet She'arim was laid out between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD. In the second century, Rabbi Yehuda ha-Nasi , who was the spiritual leader of the Jewish people at the time, moved his home to Bet She'arim. As a result, the Sanhedrin , whose head was ha-Nasi, also had its seat in Bet She'arim for a time.
After the destruction of Jerusalem and the failed Bar Kochba uprising , Beit She'arim became very important as a place where Judaism could regenerate and renew itself.
Since many members of the Sanhedrin and also Yehuda ha-Nasi were buried in Bet She'arim, other Jews also wanted to find their final resting place here. Inscriptions show that not only Jews from the immediate vicinity, but also from more distant cities like Tire, were buried in Bet She'arim .
Bet She'arim was discovered by chance in 1936 by Alexander Zaid, who was deployed in the area to guard land owned by the Jewish National Fund . The Bet She'arim complex was excavated by Benjamin Mazar and Nahman Avigad in the 1930s and 1950s . At this point in time, the tombs had all been robbed, but many of the stone-carved and decorated sarcophagi are still preserved.
On July 5, 2015, the caves were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List . According to UNESCO, the catacombs are "a treasure trove of works of art and inscriptions in Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew". The site also marks a milestone in Jewish renewal.
literature
- Benjamin Mazar : Beth She'arim. Report on the excavations during 1936-1940. Volume 1: The catacombs 1-4. The Israel Exploration Society et al. a., Jerusalem 1957.
- Moshe Schwabe , Baruch Lifshitz: Beth Sheʿarim. Volume 2: The Greek Inscriptions. The Israel Exploration Society et al. a., Jerusalem 1967.
- Nahman Avigad : Beth Sheʿarim. Report on the excavations during 1953-1958. Volume 3: Catacombs 12-23. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick 1976.
Web links
- Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).
- National park administration, information about Bet Shearim (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Newsletter of the Embassy of the State of Israel from July 6, 2015
- ↑ Newsletter of the Embassy of the State of Israel from July 6, 2015
- ↑ Newsletter of the Embassy of the State of Israel from July 6, 2015
Coordinates: 32 ° 42 ′ 16 ″ N , 35 ° 7 ′ 46 ″ E
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