Commerce, knowledge, and innovation

Today's travels took us all the way from the shores of the sea to the hilly town of Bethlehem. We left our hotel in Tiberias eeeaarrlyy in the morning (zzz) and headed straight to the ancient Roman/Byzantine city of Beth Shean.

We entered in the "back door" of the site and hiked up the hill to get a view of the city. What we saw when we got to the top was well worth the hike! Beth Shean is among the more complete sites we have visited. In its zenith, the city was along the major trade and travel routes of the day, making it a bustling center of commerce, knowledge, and innovation. It was part of the "decapolis", and today it is the only remaining decapolis city west of the Jordan River. When the city came under Roman rule, it was expanded, resembling the ruins we saw today. From the hilltop view, we could easily see ruins of a bath house, a collesium, a temple, an agora, shops, and the main roads of the city. Yet walking down to explore, it was easy to get turned around due to the significant size of the area!! Thankfully, just in case we got "lost", the ancient Romans were kind enough to leave behind some ancient toilets for our convenience ;)

From Beth Shean we "trollied" and "bused" to Megiddo, often called one of the bloodiest sites in all of history. Megiddo marks one of three southwest passes into the Jezreel Valley, a necessity to travel during ancient times. And since "all roads led to the Jezreel Valley", it was also the site of numerous battles. After being taken by Thutmose III, it was later among the three cities recorded in scripture that Solomon built up. As we walked around the ruins, it was easy to understand why this site would have been so useful. The view was incredible!! We could see from all sides for miles, and the ruins of walls and the gate told us it was once heavily fortified. As we have seen in other sites, a water system was necessary to get water into the city and, being the ambitious students we are, we navigated our way out of the city via the (now dry) water system!

After Megiddo, we continued our journey through the greater Jezreel Valley area to the well known Mt. Carmel.

Finally, our travels led us to Caesera Maritima, a costal city built by Harod the Great. Our visit here was both interesting AND refreshing, as we conveniently found our way back to the Mediterranean Sea for a quick pit-stop!

After a full day of site seeing, we drove southeast towards Jerusalem and said farewell to our tour guide Yehuda and our oh-so-skilled bus driver Asher. We switched drivers and drove the rest of the way to Bethlehem, our new home for the next week. We arrived safe and sound, or perhaps more appropriately, "soundless" as we are all so exhausted! Fortunately, we are looking forward to a morning to SLEEP IN tomorrow!!! It's going to be a "silent night" in this "little town of Bethlehem" as we rest up for more adventures!!!

Our final site we visited today was Caesarea Maritima, a gorgeous city located on the northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The city was built by Herod the Great and was known for its  magnificent architecture. Being under the Roman Empire's influence, Herod sought to build a great Roman city that would appeal to officials and others traveling from the empire when they arrived in the country. Herod accomplished this task in only 12 years.

One of the most prominent Roman structures of the city was the large amphitheater. It's located on the coast facing the Mediterranean Sea, and is still used today after many renovations over the years. Even as we visited the theater, the platform had large amounts of stage trussing and an expensive sound system in preparation for an upcoming concert. Another significant Roman structure was the hippodrome, an arena built for chariot races. Bath houses, a temple dedicated to Caesar, aqueducts, and a palace are just a few of the architectures Herod built.

Of all the structures Herod built in Caesarea Maritima, the most significant was his man made  harbor. There was nothing else like it before Herod's time. The builders would lower blocks into the sea weighing nearly 32 tons, constructing a wave breaker measuring 100 feet across. Beside the harbor was a large tower to communicate whether ships could dock, and, to top it all off, there were three giant Romanesque statues built on each side of the harbor to make Romans feel all the more welcome. Since it became the major port for the region, the Apostle Paul would set sail from and dock at Caesarea for his missionary journeys.

That's just scratching the surface of the city. If it's a magnificent site in its ruins, I can't begin to imagine its magnificence during its heyday. As our cultural settings of the Bible portion of the trip comes to an end, I can rest assured that we all have a clearer understanding of what life was like during the biblical narrative, and ultimately, how our interpretation of God's word has radically improved all the more.

By Jake Thurston