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Michael Tauber | profile | all galleries >> Israel >> Archeological Sites >> Zippori (Sepphoris) tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Zippori (Sepphoris)

Zippori, AKA Sepphoris in Greek, is located on a hill (289 meters above sea level) in the heart of the Lower Galilee, midway between the Mediterranean and the Sea of Galilee. For long periods during antiquity, Zippori was the capital of the Galilee with a vibrant religious, commercial, and social community. The city was described by the first century CE Jewish historian - Josephus Flavius - as "the ornament of all Galilee". The city re-founded in the Hellenistic era, it was named the administrative capital of Galilee by Gabinius, the Roman governor, in the mid-first century BCE. The city did not join the revolt against Rome in 66 CE; it opened its gates to the legions of the Roman Emperor Vespasian and was thus saved. On coins minted in Zippori at that time, the city is named Eirenopolis, "city of peace." Later, its name was changed to Diocaesarea in honor of Zeus and the emperor. By the second century, Zippori had become the center of Jewish religious and spiritual life in the Land of Israel. The Sanhedrin (supreme Jewish religious and judicial body), headed by Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, was located in Zippori at the beginning of the third century; at this time Jews constituted the majority of the town's population. Even after the seat of the Sanhedrin was moved to Tiberias, Zippori remained a center of Bible study and notable sages taught in its numerous academies. The discovery of rich, figurative mosaics during excavations at Zippori provide evidence of the Roman character of the city's pagan population, which coexisted in harmony with the Jews during the period of economic prosperity in the late Roman period. Zippori was destroyed in 363 by an earthquake, but was rebuilt soon thereafter, retaining its social and spiritual centrality in Jewish life in the Galilee. Since 1990 large areas of Zippori have been excavated, illuminating the written history of the City.
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