A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W XY Z

Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

TIBERIAS

City midway along the western shores of Lake Galilee, built about AD 20 by Herod Antipas, Herod the Great’s son and the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea (4 BC–AD 39), who named the town in honor of the emperor Tiberius. The name is preserved in the modern town Tabariyeh. The site became his new capital after abandoning Sepphoris, which he built in 4 BC. The location of Tiberias had several advantages: it lay just below a rocky projection above the lake, a natural acropolis that offered good protection; it was a center where roads from north, south, and west met, allowing Herod to move readily to various parts of his domain; and a little to the south lay famous warm springs, which were known to the Roman writer Pliny the Elder, who spoke of their health-giving qualities. Herod built a lakeside palace, feeling secure in the knowledge that a naturally fortified acropolis lay behind him. From there he would have enjoyed a superb panorama, which took in the whole of Galilee at a glance.

During the building of the town, a necropolis was discovered, which led to the Jewish abandonment of the site. The town was subsequently settled by a heterogeneous company of Gentiles, some of whom were brought forcibly to the place by Herod. By offering good houses and land to all, Herod assembled a sizable population (Josephus’s Antiquities 18.2.3). According to the Gospels, Jesus never went there, probably in deference to Jewish scruples about the pollution caused by corpses. The town is mentioned only once in the NT (Jn 6:23), where boats came from Tiberias following the episode of the feeding of the 5,000. The Sea of Tiberias, that is, Lake Galilee, is referred to in John 6:1 and 21:1.