The Gr. character of the town may be the reason ■why, although Christ was so tlioroughly identi- fied for long with the Sea of Galilee, there is no evidence that He ever visited Tiberias, the new capital of tlie ci\il ruler to whom He was subject. The NT has little to say about this city ; once the fact is mentioned that ' boats came from Tiberias' neai to the spot where the Feeding of the Five Thousand took place (Jn 6^) ; further than this the Compels are silent.
At the time of the war with Rome, A.D. 66-70, Tiberias was one of the chief cities of Galilee. It had a council of 600 members. Its citizens were loyal to the national cause. When Gaius wanted to Bet up his statue in the temple at Jerusalem these people made such a desperate resistance, showing that they were ready to die rather than have their laws transgressed {Ant. XVIII. viii. 3), that the fool- ish project was at last abandoned. The streng:th of the place is shown by the fact that Vespasian led against it tliree legions before its inhabitants would open their gates to him. Another change awaited Tiberias, this time one of humiliation, wlien Herod Agrippa II. degraded it from being the chief city, and restored that honour to Sepphoris, where he kept the public archives and had stored a magazine of arms.
If in this way Tiberias lost political prestige, it gained in another direction, for after the destruction of Jerusalem it became the chief centre of Jewish schools and learning, so that it has a large place in the history of Palestine, and indeed of the world, while its rivaJ Sepphoris is ])ractically for- gotten. At one time during this flourishing period its synagogues numbered no fewer tli.m thirteen. Here the Mishna and the Palestinian Talmud were compiled and published, c. A.D. 2JU and A.D. 4i20 respectively. The beautiful situation of the city, gome of tlie noted scholars who either lived or were buried there, the hot springs whiih helped to make the place famous, and the earthquakes from which it has occasionally suti'ered, have been mentioned under Galii.ke, and Galilke (Ska of).
The founder of this city is remembered as the murderer of John the Bai>tist, and as being present in Jerusalem at the pa.ssover when .Jesus was arrested and put to death (Lk 23'). What was once attractive is now a place of tilth and misery. On the shore S. of the town are some interesting ruins, which, could they be properly excavated, might reveal remains and possibly treasures of this royal city of Herod Antipas. J'abarii/eh (the modern name of the town) has a population of
5000 or 6U00 souls, made up of a few ChristianSi some Mohammedans, and a large number of Jews. It has a Protestant mission with a school and a resident phj'sician.
LiTERATURB. — Schtirer, BJP n. 1. 143 ff.; O. A. Smith HGUL 44711. ; Neubauer, Giog. du Tabn. 203 ff. ; Graetz, GfAiA d. Jvden, iv. 473 ; UeLiiid, Pal. ii. 1040 ; Robinson, BRF ill 342 ff.; Ritter, Erdkuiule, xv. 315 5.; Baedeker-Socin, Pai 382ff. ; Gu^rin, Galilie, i. 250 ff. ; Merrill, Eaxl o/ Jordan 125 f. ; de Saulcy, Jountej/ in Bible Laiuls, ii. 394 f. ; SUinley Siliai and Pal. 3G8ff. SELAH MERRILL.
TIBERIAS, SEA OF (Jn 21i). — See Galilei
(Sea of).
TIBERIUS (Ti;3^pios).— The second Roman em peror, A.u. 14-37. The former is the date ol Tiberius' accession on the death of Augustus. But there is good reason to suppose that St. Luke (3') in his reference to the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Ccesar, as the beginning of John the Baptist's ministry, is reckoning from the date of Tiberius' association with Augustus in the empire some two years before the death of the latter. For the argument see art. Chronologv of NT in vol. i. p. 405 f. The exact year of Tiberius' adoption by his stepfather in the government is not known. Mommsen puts it A.D. 11, other authorities A.D. 13. Perhaps the use of the word rjyefjios'ta ( A V and KV ' reign ') iniidies that Tiberius was only acting as regent before the death of Augustus. From the evidence of coins struck at this date it is shown that it was customary to regard Tiberius' reign as beginning A.D. 12 or A.u.C. 7(3.5. This reign spread over the most momentous period in Christian chronology. In it occurred our Lord's ministry and death (A.D. 29) ; the Resurrection ; the pouring out of the Holy Ghost; the martj-rdoni of St. Stephen, and tlie general persecution that immediately followed. All allusions to Casar during our Lord's life, e.g. in the case of the tribute money and the taunt levelled against Pilate, ' Thou art not Caesar's friend,' refer to Tiberius. The last years of his reign witnessed the conversion of St. Paul and the beginning of his preaching.
Tiberius at his accession retained Valerius Gratus as procurator of Judica, in order to lessen the fre- quent changes, and thus diminish the extortion in tne provinces. Each new governor, expecting only a short lease of power, exacted as much as possible in the shortest time. Gratus deposed Annas and made his son Eleazar, and afterwards Caiaphas, hia son-in-law, high priest. Pontius Pilate, the suc- cessor of Gratus, was also appointed by Tiberius, and was the nominee of Sejanus, the emperor's un- principled favourite.