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et-shemesh
Of special importance are the epitaphs, of which some
300 have been discovered. The majority are in Greek and the
others are written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Palmyrean. They
are incised in the soft rock of the chamber walls, on the sides of
the tombs, on lintels, on stone or marble slabs, or are painted
in red or black. Their contents are generally restricted to the
name of the deceased and his patronymic (or other family descent),
with the addition of a word of affection or praise. The
rank or occupation of the deceased, and occasionally his place
of origin, are sometimes mentioned. Among the callings and
titles are teacher, kohen, banker, goldsmith, government official,
perfumer, chief warden of a community, chief of a synagogue,
and rabbi (written ribbi and bi-ribbi). Typical examples
of Hebrew inscriptions read: “Shalom to Judah,” or “This tomb
is (of) Rabbi Isaac bar Makim, shalom.” An unusual Aramaic
epitaph was found: “He who is buried here [is] Simeon, son of
Johanan, and on oath, whoever shall open upon him shall die
of an evil end.” In catacomb no. 14 the following epitaphs were
found: “Rabbi Simeon”; “This is the burial place of Rabbi Gamaliel”;
and “Anina [Ḥanina] the Small.” As it is known from
the Talmud that before his death Judah ha-Nasi appointed
his son Simeon ḥakham, Gamaliel (his second son) patriarch,
and his most outstanding pupil, *Ḥanina b. Ḥama, head of the
yeshivah (TB, Ket. 103b), one may assume that this catacomb
was the burial place of the patriarch and his family. There are
218 Greek inscriptions and Greek was apparently the common
language of the Jews at the time. Pure Greek names occur beside
Hebrew ones in Greek transliteration. Some inscriptions
express a belief in eternal life. The places of origin appearing
in the epitaphs indicate that Bet She’arim was a central burial
place for the Jews of Palestine-Elath (Exion-Geber), nearby
Arabah and Baka, and of the Diaspora – Tadmor (Palmyra),
Antioch, Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, and Beirut in Syria, Meishan
in northern Mesopotamia, and Himyar in southern Arabia.
Two inscriptions found incised on marble slabs in the mausoleum
over catacomb no. 11 and in catacomb no. 18 are arranged
in the form of Greek epigrams in the Homeric style.
The former reads:
Here lie I, son of Leontius, dead, son of Sappho-Justus,
And after I had plucked the fruit of all wisdom
I left the light, the miserable parents who mourn ceaselessly
And my brothers. Woe to me, in my Besara!
After descending to Hades, I, Justus, lie here
With many of my people, for so willed stern fate.
Be comforted, Justus, no man is immortal.
The mausoleum also contained a reused sarcophagus on which
Greek mythological scenes were depicted.
The largest catacomb excavated (no. 20) was comprised
of 24 burial chambers with over 200 coffins made of local
limestone and many fragments of imported marble sarcophogi
decorated with mythological figures. On the coffins birds and
animals and even human beings were depicted. These coffins
were not apparently used for Jewish burial and were brought
into the tomb in the Islamic period as raw material for the purpose
of lime burning. The inscriptions found in the catacomb
(almost all in Hebrew) reveal that it was occupied by members
of the patriarchal family, “holy” rabbis, and other sages.
Additional information on the industrial activities of Bet
She’arim was supplied by the discovery of a huge glass slab
(11 × 7 ft. (c. 3⅓ × 2 m.) and 18 in. (45 cm.) thick, weighing
nine tons) in an underground cistern. It possibly served as raw
material for village glassmakers in the region. The slab must
have been heated for several days at about 1922 °F (1050 °C) in
order to melt it. Recent research suggests that the slab should
be dated to the ninth century C.E. Numerous lamps from this
period were found within the necropolis, notably in Catacomb
no. 20.
Modern Bet She’arim
A moshav named after ancient Bet She’arim, lies 3 mi. (5 km.)
further west of it in the northwestern corner of the Jezreel
Valley, founded in 1936 by a group of Israel-born and East
European settlers. In 1968 the moshav’s economy was based
on livestock and crops. Its population was 320 in 1968. In the
mid-1990s the population was approximately 370.
Bibliography: B. Mazar, Bet She’arim… 1936–40, 1 (Heb.,
19572); Avigad, in: IEJ, 4 (1954), 88–107; 5 (1955), 205–39; 7 (1957),
73–92, 239–55; 9 (1959), 205–20; Mazar, ibid., 10 (1960), 264; Brill,
ibid., 15 (1965), 261f.; Avi-Yonah, in: Eretz Yisrael, 8 (1967), 143–8; Frey,
Corpus, 2 (1952), 177–212; M. Schwabe and B. Lifschitz, Bet She’arim, 2
(Heb., 1967). add. bibliography: J. Geiger, “The Last Jewish Revolt
Against Rome: A Reconsideration,” in: Scripta Classica Israelica, 5
(1979/80), 250–57; F. Vitto, “Byzantine Mosaics at Bet She’arim: New
Evidence for the History of the Site,” in: Atiqot, 28 (1996), 115–46.
[Nachman Avigad / Shimon Gibson (2nd ed.)]
BET(H)-SHEMESH (Heb. שֶמֶׁ ׁ ש תי ּב; ֵ “the house [temple] of
[the sun-god] Shemesh”), name of a number of places mentioned
in the Bible.
(1) A city in the Shephelah on the northern border of the
tribe of Judah, between Chesalon and Timnah (Josh. 15:10).
Beth-Shemesh appears on the list of cities of the tribe of Dan
(Josh. 19:41, as Ir-Shemesh), but it was apparently never actually
conquered by it (Judg. 1:35, if the identification of Harheres
with Beth-Shemesh is correct). In the list of levitical cities,
it is mentioned as belonging to the tribe of Judah (Josh.
21:16; I Chron. 6:44). Beth-Shemesh was located close to the
border of Philistia, and the archaeological excavations there
have shown that in the period of the Judges, the Philistines
exerted a strong influence on the city. The Samson narratives
all take place in the vicinity of Beth-Shemesh; his birthplace,
Zorah, lay just to the south of it, and the Philistine city
Timnah is to the west of it. It has even been suggested that
the name Samson itself (Heb. Shimshon) indicates a connection
with the city. When the Philistines returned the “Ark of
God,” which they had captured at the battle of Eben-Ezer, on
an ox-driven cart, it was sent along the road that led straight
from Ekron to Beth-Shemesh (I Sam. 6). In the period of the
monarchy, the city was part of Solomon’s second administrative
district, which included the former cities of the territory
of Dan (I Kings 4:9). The war between Amaziah and Jehoash,
548 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3