B. Jnlias has usually been identified with et-Telt, a considerable ruin situated £. of the Jordan, just where the river leaves the hills, and enters the plain of el-Bateiha. In the absence of any definite proof, however, it is natural to suppose that the city, ' Fisher-home,' stood much nearer tlie lake. This supposition is supported by the existence of an ancient site, by the mouth of the river, close to the shore, called Mas'iuliyeh, wherein we may detect some resemblance to the old name. The remark of Josephus {BJ III. x. 7) that the Jordan •passes by the city of Julias' into the Sea of Galilee would apply to either of these sites, but J>erbap8 most appropriately to the latter. Atten- tion may be drawn to the abounding grass, cover- ing the rich plain, and running up like a wave of emerald over the lower slopes of the E. hills. There is no place round the lake where the natural luxuriance was so likely to call forth John's remark, 'now there was much grass in the place.' The Arab, barriyeh ' the wilderness,' or wild graz- ing load beyond the cultivated plots surrounding the town, doubtless corresponds to the ' desert place ' of the Gospels.
The most probable site for ' B. of Galilee,' as yet suggested, is ei-T'fiA?^ (Heptape^on ?) on the N. W. shore of the Sea of Galilee. It lies in a little vale, bordering a beautiful curve in the beacli, E. of the rocky promontory of Tell ' Areitneh, — the monkish ■ Mensa Christi,' — which forms the N.E. boundary of the plain of Gennesaret. Capernaum (Khfln Minyeh) to the south-west, and Chorazin (Karftseh) among the hills to the north-east, B. would here occupy the middle position, probably indicated by the order in which Jesus refers to these cities (Mt ll"""). This seems to be confirmed by Willi- bald (A.D. 722), who, coming from Magdala through Gennesaret, passed first Capernaum, then C., whence he went on to Chorazin. Perhaps also a reminiscence of the ancient name is found in that of the local shrine of Slieikh 'Aly e^-^niyCtdin ' Slicikh 'Aly of the Fishermen.' Copious streams of water from the warm springs on tlie E. edge of the vale served in time past to drive several mills on the shore, l)eing conducted thither by aqueducts now crumbling and covered with ferns and ivy. They also all'orded supplies, led round the W. pro- montory, to water part of the plain of Genne- saret (see art. Capernaum). The vale is ex- tremely fertile, and has been chosen by the Prus- sian Catholic Pal. Society as the site of B., for the cstabli.shment of a religious colony. The shallow water round the little bay literally swarms with fish, attracted thither by the warm water from the springs. This place, and the const of el- Bafeilut, near the other B., are to this day favour- ite haunts of the fishermen from Tiberias.
W. EwiNO.
BETHSHAN (1 S SI'"- ", 2 S 21", 1 Mac 6»> 12"- ")
= Bethshean.
BETH-SHEAN (in OT iK?^n>3 or n^-n-s ; in Apocr. Bateadr, 1 Mac 5" 12*', or Btflffd, 1 Mac 12*>, also ^Kv0iy TiXit, 2Mac 12», cf. v.i^Jth 3'°; in Jos. also XKvdtnroXit ; in some class, writers, as Pliny, HI^ V. 74, and on coins Nysa. In modern Arab. Beisdn). — A town between the Little Hermon and Gilboa ranges, on a plain about 300 ft. above the valley of the Jordan, and about 3 miles to the W. of that river. The old town was built on the basaltic plain now occupied by the small village of Beisan and the tell or mound to the N. of it. To the S. is a large extent of marsh, between which and the town runs an ancient road leading from the N. end of the Jordan to Jenin. The tell is bounded on the N. by the river Jalud, beyond which the ancient sepulchres still exist. Both mound and plain are covered with the ruins of temples, walls, and a large amphitheatre. In OT Beth-shean does not play an important part, apparently because, although according to ' the oldest book of Heb. history ' it was apportioned to Manasseh (Jos 17"" ", cf. 1 Ch 7"), it remained in the hands of its own people (Jg 1"). After the battle of Gilboa the bodies of Saul and his sons were carried by the Philistines to Beth-shean, and there fastened to the wall (or in the 'broad place'), whence they were removed later by the men of Jabesh-gUead (1 S 31'»-", 2 S 21"). In the reign of Solomon the city seems to have given its name to a district (1 K 4").
The name Scythopolis given to this city as early as the 3rd cent. B.C. seems to contain a trace of an invasion of Scyths mentioned in Herodotus, i. i05 (cf. Pliny, Hi/y. 74), or to be due to the use of the word ' Scyths ' to denote barbarians generally. In the 3rd cent. B.C. Scythopolis paid tribute to the Ptolemies. In 218 it surrendered to Antiochus the Great. About a century later it fell into the hands of John Hyrcanus, but was taken from the Jews by Pompey, restored by Gabinius, and became an independent to^vn of the Rom. Einp. and one of the most important cities in the Decapolis. In the 4tb cent. A.D. it was the seat of a bishopric.