Beth'Eamos (BaiidT^uou v. r. BaiSarr/iw^, a place of which 42 inhabitants are stated to have re- turned from the captivity (1 Esdr. v, 18) ; evidently the Beth-Azmavetii (q. v.) of the genuine text (Neb. vii, 28 ; simply Azmaveth in Ezra ii, 24).
Beth'san (Ba&aav), a Graecized form (1 Mace, v, 52 ; xii, 40, 41) of the name of the city Beth-shan (q. v.).
Beth'-shan (Heb. Beyth-Shan, yJ-rP2, Sept. BaiSradv v. r. BaiSaa^), an abridged form (1 Sam. xxxi, 10, 12 ; 2 Sam. xxi, 12) of the name of the city Beth-shean (q. v.).
Beth-she'an (Heb. Beyth Shewn', "N'i r*2, house of security; Sept. Bifiadv, also [in 1 Kings iv, 12] Bjj3-- aaaf, and oIkoc "2.aav, and [in 1 Chron. vii, 29] Brn.?- aavv.v. Ba&aaav; in Samuel Beth-shan, in the Apoc- rypha BfeTHSAN, in Josephus Biftoava or B(5<jdi»i ; in the Talmud Bcisan, "S"3 [but see Otho, Lex. Rabb. p. 10"] ; in Steph. Byz. [p. 675] Baiowv ; in the Ono- masticon, Euseb. B//3-<Trtr, Jerome Bethsan ; also [ac- cording to Sell war/., Palest, p. 118, note] in 1 Kings xxii, 39, the " ivory-house" of Solomon, '""ij r,"2, Bey'h hash-Shen, house of the tooth; Sept. o7icoc i\e- <pavrivo£), a city which, with its "daughter" towns, belonged to Manasseh (1 Chr. vii, 29), though within the original limits of Issachar (Josh, xvii, 11), and therefore on the west of Jordan (comp. 1 Mace, v, 52). It was not subdued, however, by either tribe, but re- mained for a long time in the hands of the Canaanites and Philistines (Judg. i, 17). The corpses of Saul and his sons were fastened up to the wall of Bethshean by the Philistines (1 Sam. xxxi, 10, 12) in the open "street" or space (2I"H), which — then as now — fronted
BETH-SHEAN K
the gate of an Eastern town (2 Sam. xxi, !2). In Sol- omon's time it seems to have given its name to a dis- trict extending from the town itself to Abel-meholah ; and "all Bethshean" was under the charge of one of his commissariat officers (1 Kings iv, 12). From this time we lose sight of Bethshean till the period of the Maccabees, in connection with whose exploits it is mentioned more than once in a cursory manner (1 Mace. \. 52; cum]). 1 Mace, xii, 40, 41). Alexander Jannseus had an interview here with Cleopatra (Jose- phus, .1/i/. xiii, 13, 3) ; Pompey marched through it on hi- way from Damascus to Jerusalem (ib. xiv, 3, 4); Galliums fortified it (ib. xiv, 5, 3) ; and in the Jewish war 13,000 Jews were slain by the Scythopolitans ( 11".//-. ii. 18, 3). It was 600 stadia from Jerusalem (2 Mace, xii, 29), 120 from Tiberias (Josephus, Life, Go), and 1G miles from Gadara (Itin. Anion.; comp. Am- jnian. Marc, xix, 12). In the Middle Ages the place had become desolate, although it still went by the name of Metropolis Palcestince tertia (Will. Tyr. p. 74'.), 1034; Vitriacus, p. 1119). We lind bishops of Scy- thopolis at the councils of Chalcedon, Jerusalem (A.D. 536), and others. During the Crusades it was an arch- bishopric, which was afterward transferred to Naza- reth (Raumer's Palastina, p. 147-149).
Bethshean also bore the name of Scythopolis CZkvSuv ro\u\ 2 Mace, xii, 29), perhaps because Scythians bad settled there in the time of Josiab (B.C. 631), in their passage through Palestine toward Egypt (Herod, i, 205; comp. Pliny, Hist. Nat. v, 1G, 20; Georg. Syncel- 1 n - . p. 214). Phis hypothesis is supported by 2 Mace. xii. 30, where mention is made of "Jews who lived among the Scythians (2f«;3o7roA?~«() (in Bethshan") ; and by the Septuagint version of Judg. i, 27 (\laiGodv, i'l tan "2.kvBuv 7ro\ic). In Judith iii, 2, the place is also called Scythopolis CZkvQmv — okig), and so like- wise by Josephus {Ant. v, 1, 22; xii, 8, 5; xiii, G, ]) and others (Strabo, xvi, 763 ; Ptolemy, v, 15, 23). The supposition that these were descendants of the Scythi- ans in Palestine (comp. Ezek. xxxix, 11) renders more intelligible Coloss. iii, 11, where the Scythian is named with the Jew and Greek ; and it also explains why the ancient rabbins did not consider Scythopolis (Beisan) a.- a Jewish town (comp. Joseph. Life, G), but as one of an unholy people (Havcrcamp, Observed, ml Joseph. Antiq. \ . 1. 22 I. On coins the place is called Sei/thop- olis and Nysa i so Pliny, v, 16), with figures of Bacchus and the panther (Eckhel, p. 438-440; comp. Reland, ].. !'!» '. sq. ). As Succoth lay somewhere in the vicini- ty east of the Jordan, some would derive Scythopolis from Succoihop lis (Reland, p. 992 sq. ; Gcser.ius, in Burckhardt, p. 1053, German edit.). It has also, with a- little probability, been supposed to be the same as Beth-shittim (Judg. vii, 22). Josephus does not ac- count Scythopolis as belonging to Samaria, in which ir geographically lay. But to Decapolis, which was chiefly on the other side of the river, and of which he calls it the largest town (War, iii, 9, 7). Sea Scr-
THOPOLIS.
The ancient native name, as well as the town itself, still exists in the fiei'sanofthe present day (Robinson, Researches, iii. 171). It stands on a rising ground somewhat above the valley of the Jordan, or in the valley of Jezreel where it opens into the Jordan val- ley. It i- ..ii lie' mid from Jerusalem to Damascus, and i- about three miles from the Jordan, fourteen & th ■ southern end of Lake Gennesareth, and six- teen from Nazareth. The site of the town is on the brov. of the descent hy which the great plain of Es- draelon drops down to the level of the Gbor. A few miles to the west are the mountains of Gilboa, ami close besid tie- town, on tin- north, runs the water of the Ain-Jalud, the fountain of which is in Jezreel, and is in all probability the spring by which the Israelites encamped before the battle in which Saul was killed (1 Sam. xxix, 1). Three other large brooks pass through or by the town; and in the fact