Peter & Andrew

SYMEON PETER
Tell, on the east bank of the Jordan, close to the northern shores of the
lake. Josephus calls this Bethsaida-Julias, and informs us that Philip the
Tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonites gave it this epithet in honour of Julias,
having enlarged the town, and adorned it with public buildings." Julias may
have been named after Augustus' daughter.
http://bibleatlas.org/bethsaida.htm
(1) A city East of the Jordan, in a "desert place" (that is, uncultivated
ground used for grazing) at which Jesus miraculously fed the multitude
with five loaves and two fishes (Mark 6:32 Luke 9:10).
This is doubtless to be identified with the village of Bethsaida in Lower
Gaulonitis which the Tetrarch Philip raised to the rank of a city, and called
Julias, in honor of Julia, the daughter of Augustus. It lay near the place
where the Jordan enters the Sea of Gennesaret (Ant., XVIII, ii, 1; BJ, II, ix,
1; III, x, 7; Vita, 72). This city may be located at et-Tell, a ruined site on the
East side of the Jordan on rising ground, fully a mile from the sea. As this
is too far from the sea for a fishing village, Schumacher (The Jaulan, 246)
suggests that el-`Araj, "a large, completely destroyed site close to the
lake," connected in ancient times with et-Tell "by the beautiful roads still
visible," may have been the fishing village, and et-Tell the princely
residence. He is however inclined to favor el-Mes`adiyeh, a ruin and winter
village of Arab et-Tellawiyeh, which stands on an artificial mound, about a
mile and a half from the mouth of the Jordan. It should be noted, however,
that the name is in origin radically different from Bethsaida. The
substitution of sin for cad is easy: but the insertion of the guttural `ain is
impossible. No trace of the name Bethsaida has been found in the district;
but any one of the sites named would meet the requirements.
To this neighborhood Jesus retired by boat with His disciples to rest
awhile. The multitude following on foot along the northern shore of the lake
would cross the Jordan by the ford at its mouth which is used by foot
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