JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

et-shean
probably imported from Cyprus. This type of pottery is typical
to the period of the Sea Peoples migration from the Aegean
to the east.
IRON AGE IB (UPPER VI). With the construction of Upper VI
emerges a new material culture typical to the 11th century
B.C.E. and lacking the Egyptian component. The plan of the
settlement represents a significant departure from that of the
Egyptian garrison. Important buildings from this time include
the twin temples, identified by the University Museum archaeologists
with “the House of Ashtaroth” (I Sam. 31:10) and “the
House of Dagon” (I Chron. 10:10). Both temples produced
numerous cylindrical and house-like cult stands decorated
with snakes and birds. The excavators assigned these two
buildings to Level V, but they probably belong to Upper VI.
According to the biblical accounts of Saul’s death the Philistines
killed Saul and his three sons in a battle at the foot of
Mt. Gilboa. They cut off his head and placed it in the temple of
Dagon, stripped off his armor and placed it in the “temple of
their gods” (Chronicles) or in the “temple of Ashtaroth” (Samuel).
Then they fastened his body and those of his sons to the
city walls of Beth-Shean (I Sam. 31:10–12; I Chron. 10:9–10),
or as I Samuel 21:12 reports, hung them in the public square.
Following the original excavators, most commentators have
assumed that the two temples were in Beth-Shean, but this
is unclear from the text. They could just as easily have been
in Philistia. No significant Philistine presence has ever been
identified at Beth-Shean, although we can assume on the basis
of the biblical narrative that they exercised some sort of
political control over the region as the self-declared successors
of the Egyptians.
IRON AGE II (LEVELS V–IV). It is generally assumed that
Beth-Shean was brought under Israelite control by David,
since by Solomon’s time, it was part of the fifth administrative
district under Baana ben Ahilud (I Kgs. 4:12). If so, then David
may have been the one who destroyed Upper VI. Excavations
at the highest point of the tell (Level V) have produced the
remains of an administrative complex from this era, hinting
to the town’s continued strategic importance. The impressive
building compound might also explain why Beth-Shean was
singled out in the Kings passage with Megiddo and Taanach,
since it may have been a regional center for the fifth administrative
district.
The severe destruction that characterized the end of
Level V is difficult to date with certainty, but one possibility is
Pharaoh Shishak (Egyptian, Shoshenq), who lists Beth-Shean
on the walls of the temple to Amen-Re at Karnak as one of
the cities he conquered. Shishak’s campaign took place after
the division of the United Monarchy in the fifth year of Rehoboam,
ca. 925 B.C.E. (I Chron. 12). While the town’s final
destruction in Israelite times (Level IV) is not mentioned in
any biblical or extra-biblical source, the cumulative historical
and archaeological evidence supports its capture by the Assyrian
monarch Tiglath-Pileser III in 733/2 B.C.E.
The Hellenistic Period
Following the destruction of the Israelite town there is a gap
in settlement until the site is resettled in the third century
B.C.E. While there is evidence for settlement on the tell (Level
III), for the most part, it seems that the city developed on Tell
Ictaba to the north where Hellenistic structures were found,
though badly damaged by later Roman ones.
Under the Seleucid ruler, Antiochus IV, Scythopolis was
granted the status of a Greek city (polis). Beth-Shean is also
mentioned in the context of the Maccabean wars (I Macc.
5:52; 12:40–42; II Macc. 12:29–31). In 107 B.C.E., during the
Hasmonean period, it was conquered by John Hyrcanus I and
made into an important administrative center. Later, perhaps
after the conquests of the Roman general Pompey in 63 B.C.E.
Scythopolis became the chief city of the Decapolis. It was the
largest city of this group according to Josephus (Wars III, ix,
7), and the only one west of the Jordan River. The Decapolis
is mentioned several times in the New Testament gospels, e.g.
Matt 4:25; Mk 5:20.
The Roman Period
By the first century B.C.E., the city expanded around the
foot of the mound where a number of remains were uncovered.
On the summit of the tell (Level III) which served as
the city’s acropolis stood a Roman temple probably dedicated
to Zeus Akraios, god of the “High Mountain,” who is mentioned
in inscriptions found in the lower city. The temple
to Nysa appears to have been originally constructed in
the first century C.E., but continued to stand until the 749
C.E. earthquake. Roman tombs were found in the Northern
Cemetery, including a stone sarcophagus inscribed
with the name of Antiochus, son of Phallion, possibly a
cousin of Herod the Great. When the Great Revolt broke
out in 66 C.E., Jewish rebels attacked Beth-Shean. Although
the Jewish inhabitants stood alongside the Gentile population
in resisting their countrymen, Josephus writes that
the Gentiles later became suspicious and through an act of
deception massacred around 13,000 inhabitants (Wars II,
xviii, 3–5).
The vast civic center that one sees today started to flourish
in the second century C.E., though not all of the buildings
can be dated with precision. Late Roman period projects of
the 2nd–3rd centuries C.E. included the theater, amphitheater,
and nymphaeum (water fountain). Behind the nymphaeum,
the Hebrew University excavated a basilica built sometime after
the first century C.E. Inside the basilica was found a sixsided
stone altar dedicated to Dionysus. The accompanying
inscription identified him as the founder of the city. Its date
in Year 75 of the Scythopolis era translates to 12 C.E. No city
wall is known from this time, and it is quite possible that the
city remained unfortified. Written sources indicate that Beth-
Shean was a key center for making and exporting textiles. The
Talmud mentions the manufacture of linen garments from locally-grown
flax, farming, and olives as principal occupations
(TJ, Pe’ah 7:4, 20a).
544 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3