Beth Maʿon | |
  Shown within Mandatory Palestine  Bethmaus (Israel) | |
| Location |  |
|---|---|
| Region | Lower Galilee |
| Coordinates | 32°47′40″N 35°32′00″E / 32.79444°N 35.53333°E |
| Type | village (ruin) |
| History | |
| Periods | Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine |
| Cultures | Jewish |
| Associated with | Jews |
Bethmaus, (Greek: Βηθμαούς) or Beth Maʿon (Hebrew: בית מעון), also called Maon, was a Jewish village during the late Second Temple and Mishnaic periods, and which was already a ruin (Tell Maʿūn) when Kitchener visited the site in 1877.[1][2] It was situated upon the hill, directly north-west of the old city of Tiberias, at a distance of one biblical mile,[3] rising to an elevation of 250 metres (820 ft) above sea-level. It is now incorporated within the modern city bounds of Upper Tiberias. The remaining structure built over the site is a Sheikh's Tomb.[4]
Others place the ancient Bethmaus (Ma'on) where is now the Arab ruin, Khirbet Nadhr ad-Din, saying that with the passing of time, the old namesake was transferred to Tell Maʿūn, a short distance away.[5]
The Midrash (Genesis Rabba § 85:7) says of the village, "Beth Maʿon, they ascend to it from Tiberias, but they go down to it from Kefar Shobtai."[6][7] The Jerusalem Talmud, citing a variant account, says that they would go down to Beth Maʿon from its broad place.[8]
- ^ Conder & Kitchener (1881), p. 371. Tell Maʿūn is shown on the 1880 Survey of Western Palestine map, sheet no. 6.
- ^ Cf. Conder, C.R. (1879), p. 181
- ^ Ishtori Haparchi (2007), p. 56, who makes mention of the village Maʿon, which he describes as being "within a Sabbath day's journey to the west of Tiberias." The editor of the volume has identified the site as Beth Maʿon, mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud, Sotah 1:8, and Baba Metziah 7:1. Ishtori Haparhi had mistaken this Maʿon in Galilee for being the one where David and his men took refuge from King Saul, in I Samuel 23:24.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Yitzhaki1978was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ M. Aviam & P. Richardson, "Josephus` Galilee in Archeological Perspective", 177-201
- ^ Klein, S. (1939), p. 16
- ^ Neubauer, A. (1868), p. 218
- ^ Original: paloṭetha = perhaps der. of πλατεια ("a broad place"). Above Bethmaus there was an extensive plateau. See Jerusalem Talmud, Sotah 1:8 (7a)