Byzantine
The Byzantine period (4th-7th centuries) saw a wave of church-building, monastery-founding, and mosaic-laying across the country. Posts here cover the Negev’s late-antique cities (Shivta, Nitzana), Byzantine Jerusalem and the Madaba Map, the Zippori mosaics, and the Christianisation of Tiberias and the Galilee.
8 articles
8 articles
Beit Shearim and Zippori
A day in the lower Galilee at Beit Shearim and Zippori: the story of Alexander Zaid, the vast necropolis and tomb of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, and Zippori's Roman synagogue, fortress, mosaics and reservoir.
Roman and Byzantine Jerusalem
A field-trip day tracing the Roman and Byzantine layers of Jerusalem: Zedekiah's Cave by the Damascus Gate, the arches at Alexander Nevsky, the Byzantine corners of the Holy Sepulchre, the cardo, and the ruins of the Nea Church.
Shivta and Nitzana
Tiberias
A day in Tiberias, one of Judaism's four holy cities: the Sapir Station of the national water carrier, Ottoman ruins from Daher el-Omar's era, Roman and Byzantine remains, and the ancient synagogues of Hammat Tiberias.
The Shfela (Judean Lowlands) in the Roman & Byzantine Periods
A day across the Judean Lowlands: Tel Maresha's underground caves, the Roman city of Beit Guvrin (Eleutheropolis), and crawling through the Bar Kochba Revolt tunnels at Horvat Midras.
Belvoir Fortress and Beit Shean
A north-bound field trip south of the Sea of Galilee, taking in the Crusader fortress of Belvoir above the Jordan Valley and the vast Roman and Byzantine ruins of Scythopolis at Beit Shean.
Benjamin and Samaria
A field trip into the West Bank: the archaeological site at Shiloh (briefly home to the tabernacle), a fog-bound viewpoint from Mt Kabir, and Mt Gerizim — holy site of the Samaritans.
Nabatean Cities in the Negev
A field-trip to two of the Nabatean cities of the Negev, Mamshit and Avdat, now a UNESCO world heritage site: the ingenious cisterns, the spice and wine trade, the assimilation into Roman and then Byzantine Christian culture.
If you are going to Israel, you would be mad not to give him a call.
Amol Rajan, BBC presenter and broadcaster
Having been on trips in Israel with seven different tour guides, Samuel stood above all the rest.
Seasoned Israel traveller
Samuel is one part walking encyclopedia, one part storyteller, one part stand-up comedian.
Berkeley Haas Business School student