Beit Shean
About Beit Shean
Ancient Beit Shean was built on a hill surrounded by fertile agricultural land and situated at the strategic junction of the Harod and Jordan Valleys. It was a centre of Egyptian rule in the 4th century BCE. It remained a Canaanite city after the Israelite conquest of the country. Beit Shean was renamed Scythopolis during the Hellenistic period. Under the Roman rule, it became one of the cities of the Decapolis. It continued to thrive in the Byzantine period. The city was destroyed by an earthquake in 749 CE and remained a small rural town for the next 1,200 years.
Beit Shean Biblical History
It is the place where the bodies of King Saul and his sons were hung from its city walls after they were killed by the Philistines in the battle at Mount Gilboa. King David conquered the city which later became one of the administrative centres of Solomon’s Kingdom.
Beit Shean Ruins
The biblical ruins are on top of the tell overlooking the valley. The bathhouses had open bathing pools and halls heated with hot running water. The colonnaded street, paved with black basalt slabs, ran from the theatre to the base of the tell. The streets were lined with shops. The stage wall of the Roman Theatre was once richly decorated with columns and statues.
Interesting Facts
- The Decapolis refers to a group of ten pagan cities that were politically and culturally affiliated and were supported by the Romans.
- The Gospels record Jesus visiting the cities of the Decapolis but none of them mentioned by name. Jesus probably visited Beit Shean as it is on the way from the Galilee to Jerusalem.
- Remains of some twenty layers of settlement have been discovered at the tell, from the Chalcolithic period to the present.
