On the morning of the 24th of June 1875, the French researcher Victor Guérin climbed up a small hill in the western ‘Alawir’ valley on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. At the top of the hill stood the grave of Sheikh Abu Shusha, after whom the surrounding ruins were called “Khirbat Abu Shosha” (the Ruins of Abu Shusha). Guérin wrote the following in his notebook: ‘As to [the town of] Kinneret, which is identical to Gennesar, I do not see any place more reasonable than the hill of Abu Shusha. Indeed, the ruins covering it now are not very impressive, and the dilapidated Arab village whose remains are to be found here do not suggest a city that apparently stood in this site ages ago. However, Kinneret was no doubt laid to ruin many hundreds of years ago…Josephus, who described the incomparable beauty of the Gennesar valley, does not refer to the city by this name. It is therefore reasonable to assume that this city was much in decline in his day, and was overshadowed by the large neighboring city of Tiberius, which had just been established and drew many inhabitants…’(Guérin 1969: vol. VI. 211-212).
Thus Guérin tried to suggest a single site identification to solve the riddle of the disappearance of two settlements that had given the lake in the Galilee their names over the course of many generations; Kinneret and Gennesar.
The object of this article is to evaluate the literary sources, and present the archeological data, that provide support for part of Guérin’s intuitive conclusions, i.e., his proposed identification of ancient Gennesar on the hill of Abu Shusha.
Literary Sources
Mandel Nun and Ze’ev Safrai, who studied the evolving name of the Sea of Galilee, demonstrated that the name of this lake changed from one time period to another, according to which major city was near it (Nun 1977: 65-67; Safrai 1985: 81-82). Thus, in biblical sources it is called the ‘Sea of Kinneret’, after the city Kinneret which is mentioned in the Book of Joshua (19:35); a city identified today at Tel el 'Oreimeh in the northern Gennesar valley (Albright 1923: 14; Fritz 1990; Fritz 1993: 299-301). In sources deriving from the Hellenistic and early Roman periods the it is called the ‘Sea of Gennesar’ (to be discussed following), and in later sources its name is the ‘Sea of Tiberius’, after the city founded by Herod Antipas sometime between 17-20 A.D. It is of interest that during the last half of the first century A.D. Pliny the Elder notes that there are also those who called the lake by the name of the settlement of Tarichea [Magdal] (Pliny - Natural History V. 71). It appears that Tarichea was the main settlement in the area for a short time only, after the decline of Gennesar and before the city of Tiberius rose to major status. It is furthermore of significance to note that aside from a few sources from the middle ages that even call the lake ‘Bekhar a-Tzanbera’, after the settlement of Tzinberi to its south, all the sources we have at present designate it specifically by the names of settlements on the western shore, despite the flourishing of large cities, such as Susita that stood on the eastern shore for hundreds of years, or the city of Philoterea that was apparently erected at Tel Beit Yerach, south of the lake, during the Hellenistic period.
It would appear, therefore, that the use of the name “Sea of Gennesar” was in effect during the period that a settlement of this name was the most important in the area. However, because of the absence of historical sources that mention the Galilee lake during the Persian and early Hellenistic period, there is no way to know exactly when the appellation of ‘Gennesar’ came into use for the lake and the valley, and when Gennesar became the most important settlement in the area; we will return to discuss this question in the light of archeological data.
The name ‘Gennesar’ as an appellation for the lake is found in one source from the late Hellenistic period and is common in sources dating from the early Roman period. The problem common to all these sources is the lack of any mention of a settlement of this name and their use of it only as a designation for the lake or adjacent valley (Safrai 1985: 81). The earliest reference to this name is found in a description of the travels of Jonathan the Hasmonean in the Galilee that took place around 145 B.C., recounted in the First Book of the Maccabees, which was composed in the 20s of the second century B.C.E. (Bar-Kochva 1980: 144; Rappaport 2004: 61). ‘As for Jonathan and his army, they encamped by Lake Gennesar (΄ύδωρ τοΰ Γεννησαρ) and then made an early morning march to the plain of Hazor.’ (I Maccabees XI, 67 [Goldstein 1976: 441]). In the geographical description of Strabo [Strabos Geography] (XVI.2.16), dating from the beginning of the first century A.D., the name Gennesaret (Γεννησαρΐτις) first appears as the name of the lake. Also, Pliny the Elder (Natural History V.71) notes towards the end of this same century that the Jordan river widens at a place called the Sea of Gennesar (Genesaram vocant), and makes reference to a number of cities around the lake, but does not mention one called Gennesar.
It is of interest that in the most significant sources relevant to this topic, i.e., the books of Josephus Flavius and the Evangelium, there is reference to many events that transpired in this area and a number of local settlements, but there is no mention of a settlement called Gennesar. Josephus Flavius makes frequent note of the ‘Sea of Gennesar’ (BJ II. 573; III. 463;506;510;516; AJ V. 84; XIII. 158; XVIII. 28; 36; Vit. 349). In the long paragraph dedicated to the description of ‘the Valley of Gennesar’, its size, climate and fruits, he states:
‘The Lake of Gennesar (λίμνη Γεννησὰρ) takes its name from the adjacent territory (χώρα) ...Skirting the lake of Gennesar, and also bearing that name, lies a region (χώρα) whose natural properties and beauty are very remarkable...Besides being favored by its genial air, the country is watered by a highly fertilizing spring... This region extends along the border of the lake which bears its name, for a length of thirty furlongs (στάδια), and inland to a depth of twenty. Such is the nature of this district. (BJ III, 506-521 [Thackeray 1927: 719-723]).
Yet, despite this detailed description, and although Josephus notes here that ‘the lake of Gennesar is called on the name of the ‘adjacent territory (χώρα)’, he does not mention any settlement that could have given the χώρα its name.
Luke (1.V) is the only source in the Evangelium in which there is a reference to the name Gennesar as the appellation of the lake (Λίμνην Γεννησρέτ), while in Mark (31.VII;16.I) and Matthew the name ‘Sea of Galilee’ is used, and in John (1.VI) it states ‘the Sea of Galilee is the Sea of Tiberius’. In addition, Mark (53-55, VI), and in almost identical language, Matthew (34, XIV), use the expression ‘the Land of Gennesar’ to describe the χώρα where Jesus and his disciples set anchor after the story of the walking on the water: ‘And when they crossed over [the sea], they came upon the land of gennesar (ὲπι τὴν γη̃ν... Γεννησάρ[2]), and drew to the shore. [and the people of the place recognized him...] And ran through that whole region (χώρα) round about, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick to where they heard he was.’
The use Mark and Matthew make of the term χώρα to denote ‘the Land of Gennesar’ evokes the χώρα of this name that Josephus notes as an area delineated by clear geographical boundaries. However, the absence of any specific mention of a settlement of the name ‘Gennesar’ in these same sources raises the question if, indeed, there was a settlement with this name, or whether ‘Gennesar’ is only the name of a district and not a specific settlement[3].
'Gennesar’ in Rabbinic Literature
Before a discussion of Rabbinic sources, it must be noted that the period in which these works were written down is much later than the period in which 'Gennesar’ was a major settlement in the area. Clear evidence of such is the widespread use of the appellation ‘Sea of Tiberius’ in these writings, whereas the name ’Sea of Gennesar’, common during the days of the Second Temple, is completely absent in this literature. However, Rabbinic literature often preserves earlier traditions. For example, in the works that were edited or written down in the Third of Fourth Century one can find reliable evidence of conventions from times much earlier than when they were first written down. The tradition that seems to be the earliest in Rabbinic literature in which the name 'Gennesar’ is mentioned is the seventh Tosefta (7,11), wherein in a source dealing with the laws of the Sabbatical year (shmitta), the land of Israel is divided into various geographic districts.
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[1] This research is part of a doctoral dissertation (Leibner 2004) written in the Martin Szusz Land of Israel Studies and Archeology Department of Bar Ilan University under the direction of Professor David Eden-Beuowitz. This study was funded by grants from the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Culture and the Simon Krauthamer Chair of Archeology.
[2] The name appears in this form (“µ½½·Ã¬Á = Gennesar) in the import of Archeology.
[3] The name appears in this form (Γεννησάρ = Gennesar) in the important writing D (Codex Bezae). But in most versions of the New Testament the form Γεννησαρέτ is most common, perhaps due to the influence of the biblical name Kinneret. See: Plossar 2002: 343. Also, from the better Rabbinic writings, especially the writings that accompany the Babylonian Talmud, it appears that the original form for the name of the place was Gennesar, similar to the Greek transcription Γεννησάρ.
[4] It is important to note that the Greek term χώρα, which usually means ‘area’ ,’district’ or even ‘place’, sometimes is interpreted as a territory or agricultural lands of a specified settlement, usually a city polis (e.g., χώραν τω̃ν Γαδαρηνω̃ν = territory of the Gadareansמתי 8, , Matthew 28,8), and sometimes also means as opposed to a city, see: Liddell and Scott 1996: 2015
