This is the story mostly of what will be rather than what has been. It is a report on what we hope to do more than what we have already done. It tells of the tantalizing clues that keep us awake nights wondering what we will find. It is the story of a dream—of how we intend to bring ancient Tiberias back to life.

Tiberias is intriguing for a number of reasons. It was the capital of the Jewish people for nearly 700 years. Here the Palestinian Talmud was created. It holds a special place because, although a Jewish city, it continued to flourish after the Arab conquest in the seventhcentury C.E.a Indeed, it is the only city in the Land of Israel that remained an urban Jewish center continuously from before the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. to the Middle Ages—a period of over a thousand years.

Located on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret), Tiberias was founded by Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great. After Herod the Great died in 4 B.C.E., his kingdom was divided among his four children. To Antipas (known as Herod Antipas) fell Galilee. Here, in 20 C.E., he founded the city of Tiberias, named for the Roman emperor Tiberius, who succeeded Augustus in 14 C.E. The new city was built to be Antipas’ new capital, replacing Sepphoris (Tzippori) 16 miles to the northwest. As the capital of Galilee, Tiberias met the need of Antipas to create a new city away from powerful Sepphoris, a city full of political opposition to his rule.

Read the rest of Tiberias: Preview of Coming Attractions in the online Biblical Archaeology Society library.