Galilee again! My last field study of the semester

Hippos

Well this weekend the Second Temple history class left with Dr. Wright to head up to the Galilee region to learn about the cities of the region that were under the command of Commander Josephus during the Jewish Revolt from 66-73 AD. We were able to sleep on the way up there and our first visit was the decapolis city of Hippos. This Greco-style city overlooks the entire Sea of Galilee.  The city also has a small theater, paved Roman roads with drainage system (solid rock piping). We had a lecture here and took pictures, then drove some more to the fishing village site of Bethsaida. This site was more like a patch of briars and thorns, it was really not well taken care of and the excavation needs to be done again. I was quite disappointed about it, but it was a beautiful day and we were able to have lunch under a eucalyptus tree and enjoy the sun. Afterwards we drove back to the our campus of the north, En Gev right ont he Sea and we got there in time to swim while the sun was going down. It was amazing. On Sunday, we had drove close to the Syrian border for a visit at Gamla (the Israeli kind, there are 2 supposed sites). We walked down the cliff face of a wadi and up to this jutting mountain that has the ruins of the city. Here we sat in the ruins of the synagogue and Dr. Wright lectured abou the history of the city. The city was destroyed by the Romans during the revolt and its fall was closely linked to that of what happened to Masada. It was great to be able to see two Roman siege weapons replicas - a scorpion and ballista, and to just think of how the siege and the full battle took place and to be able to read the account in Josephus. afterwards we had free time and then climbed our way back to the top of the wadi and enjoy a nice ice cream bar then driving again for two hours to Jopotata.

Ba'ram

Yopotata

Here we read about Josephus' account of the siege by the romans and his command in this city, how it was the last defeat in Galilee and the capture of Josephus along with his defection to the Romans. From here we walked down teh tell and through the wadi to the tell of Cana where Jesus celebrated a wedding of his friends and did his first miracle - turning water into wine. It was really cool to be able to see about 5 couples here and be able to think of the ancient wedding. too bad there wasn't a stand that sold wine here, that would've been nice to drink wine on the Cana tell.  We then climbed down the step tell, an walked for 2 miles to the bus. The valley that we were in is the Beth Natopha valley, and soon there will be a 8 lane highway that will be built in the beautiful farming land, so Im happy to see it before that happens. We the got all boarded on the bus and headed back to JUC. Around 8:30pm we got back to Jerusalem, and ate a late dinner,studied for Physical Settings test. And the start of the second to the last week in Israel with much to do before the end. Im getting tired and want a break, but not really wanting to go back home. I will miss living in Jerusalem and ISrael. It was truly a blessing to be able to study, lie, and have fun in this great nation, and see what God has given these people and the world to enjoy and remember his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior who too lived in this land.

I'll post photos soon.