Gladiators, wild animals, and a fortress, oh my!

Like I said last week, Bet Guvrin is HUGE. There's so much to it! I think you could spend all day in this park and still not see everything. from the caves running under the lush (in winter) Judean hills to what we're going to explore this week: the Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader era ruins!

WOW!

So, let's start with the Roman amphitheater. 

This elipitcal amphitheater is amazing to explore. You can walk through the stands (complete with cut-outs of 'audience members'), stroll through the area, and then walk through the gladiator sections. It's actually the only Roman amphitheater in Israel that is completely open to the public, and walking through it gives you a good idea what it was actually like. 

Built in the 2nd century, during the Bar Kochba revolt, its purpose was to keep the bloodthirsty Roman garrison happy and entertained, holding up to 3,500 people. There are even places next to the walls with openings for the wild animals to emerge from their cages (below).

Get this, it wasn't uncovered until the mid-1990s! I was maybe 10-11 years old. That's how long it laid under the surface! Incredible!

Close to the amphitheater is the Crusader Fortress. This area fascinating as well!

Like its BC story, Bet Guvrin's AD story is fascinating as well. The city was granted 'free status' by Emperor Septimus Severus in 200 AD, and it controlled the area between the coastal plain and the Dead Sea in that region. It became an important junction, and the city build up despite the lack of springs there, as the city benefited from Roman-era aqueducts.

The Jewish population in the area grew, and then in the Byzantine era, Bet Guvrin became an important Christian center. Then it was conquered by the Mamluks in the 6th century, then the Crusaders came and built a church (as well as the fortress), and then it was conquered by the Ottomans, who turned the church into a mosque.

Because of that, you can see the mix of materials everywhere in this fortress- and it cracked me up! You can even see it in the photo above: see how the rocks change? But I'm going to take you on a closer tour so you can see it all:

Can you see the random columns stuck in the walls? And closed entrances/arches?

There's another one! The arch below is intentional- to fortify the wall. 

But see how stones, column bases, etc. don't match each other as far as time period?

Below, right, is the church-turned-mosque:

The view from above!

Now, down into the fortress.... Only a few pictures here because we ran through it quickly.

The mix of materials cracks me up. It's like the builders were like, "Hey, this fits!" Which, honestly, is what I would do. And it matches the history of using found materials and building on former foundations.

There's such a wide mix that throughout the park are stations with flip books where you can find what you are seeing and see what era it was from, what kind of stone, etc. My friend, who was in the middle of furnishing her apartment was looking through it, and I teased her that she was looking for ideas. I mean, it was basically a giant HGTV warehouse, haha.

Can you see the base of the arch starting to curve out from the wall on the left?

That's it for this portion of Bet Guvrin. Next week is my favorite part: Maresha!

Oh yeah, one final photo. This is a simulation of a dig as you walk onto this part of Bet Guvrin, and it was awesome! One of my friend said that 'models' were the same from our Hebrew textbook, haha.

A whole new (underground) world!

Caves, caves, and more caves!

When I think of Bet Guvrin, that's first what comes to mind. But there's so much more to this park. It's HUGE and will be a 4-part series probably. 

But today, CAVES!

There are so many caves carved in this area because of the rocks in the region are soft and chalk-like. It's this beautiful, creamy color and easy to quarry. So in this park are MANY caves that served as dove-cotes, quarries, cisterns, storerooms, tombs, and storage chambers. One of the caves was basically a maze, which I couldn't document clearly because you can't see the change of directions in a still photo. But it was A-MAZE-ING!!!

My favorites, though, were the Bell Caves. These bell-shaped caves were formed by quarrying in the Byzantine and Early Muslim periods. Their shape and the different colors of the earth, in addition to the light coming from the top, make them an incredible sight. Today, they are tourist attractions and also places for events like weddings and concerts. Can you imagine?!?

Also, I definitely heard bats in here. No, gracias!

This bedrock here (darker spot below) was about 20 feet off the ground, and it shows a closed off tunnel from the Bar Kochba Revolt (135-137 AD)! WOW!

The quarry:

But that's not the only kind of cave in Bet Guvrin. Here is the Polish cave. It originally a cistern that also doubled as a dovecote. It was given this name because of an inscription on a stone inside. During WWII, Polish soldiers visited the cave and carved an eagle, 1943, and Warsaw, Poland on the rock: 

Then, there's the Columbarium. This cross-shaped cave was also a dove-cote that held more than 2,000 birds! Being so close to Jerusalem, these were likely raised for sacrifices, as well as being used for food and their droppings for fertilizer. There are over 85 dove-cote caves found in the area of Maresha alone with 10s of thousands of niches!

This photo is an example of the soft, chalk-like rock the caves are carved from:

Then, a cave with an ancient oil press:

Finally, a Sidonian tomb! The artwork in here was so unique (and interesting). The animals had almost human-like faces.

Those are just a few of the caves in this 1,250 acre park. It's too much to see in a few hours. I definitely need to go back and spend more time there!

What is the Cove of the Sower?

Between Capernaum and Tabgha is a place barely noticed on a map. The only want to get there is to park at Capernaum's entrance and hike along the shoreline—the perfect activity for a sunny spring Friday.

There's so much to see and explore on the walk:

 

And then, there it is:

A perfect little cove with a view of the sea and Mount Arbel and the Horns of Hattin to the right:

According to Mark's account, Jesus got in a boat and sat in the lake, preaching to the crowd on shore. Bibleplaces.com says that sound tests have been conducted here, and have confirmed that the acoustics here show it is possible for someone to speak by the water and be heard by mutitudes. In fact, 5-7,000 people could have sat below the modern road and more than double could have been on the whole hillside—and all would have heard Him!

Could this be where Jesus gave this teaching?

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!

"Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 'Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.'
Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

Mark 4:1-9