Gan Le’ummi Bet She’an

Bet She'an is an historically important city due to its location where the Jezreel and Jordan valleys meet. It is also along one of the best east-west caravan routes connecting the Kings Highway (the important inland caravan route through modern Jordan) with the coastal route from Egypt, making it a wealthy trading center.
In addition, this is the city nearest Gilboa where King Saul and 3 sons were killed in battle with the Philistines. Their bodies were hung from the walls of Bet She'an.
After extensive archaeological excavations, much of what is visible dates to the Ronan era when the city center moved down the hill to what we see today. The 1st picture looks along the main street called Palladius Street with some restored columns to give a sense of the place. This would be the Cardo if it ran the entire extent of the Roman city. To the right, is a basalt arch. This is one of the entrances to the theater in the 2nd picture.
The 3rd picture looks over more of the ruins with the tel in the background. The tel is the location of the older, pre-Roman city. The 4th picture shows the Sigma and Tyche, a shopping and entertainment area that appears to have been upscale due to the size of the shops and the decoration (see the 5th picture).
The last 2 pictures are original floor mosaics. The 5th picture is the mosaic in one of the shops here. It depicts Tyche, the goddess of the city's fortune. Notice in the 6th picture the layers. The patterned section is Roman while the lighter colored section placed on top is Byzantine. Czytaj więcej