Ports of Galilee

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Early 19th-century explorers, searching for places where Jesus had walked, attempted to locate the ancient harbors of the Sea of Galilee but failed. Now, after 25 years of searching and researching, we have found them. We have recovered the piers, promenades and breakwaters of the ports. We have also uncovered the ships’ anchors, the mooring stones the sailors tied their ships to, and even the weights fishermen once fastened to their nets. We always knew the harbors must be there, but we had no idea we would find so many remains.

The Sea of Galilee’s shoreline has changed dramatically in recent decades as camping sites, man-made beaches and luxury hotels have taken over what were for millennia natural shores. Today only four small ports serve the motorboats that speed across the water, the ferries for vacationers and pilgrims, a few large modern fishing vessels and several small fishing boats. In ancient times, however, at 019least 16 bustling ports provided the basic means of communication and transport for travelers, fishermen, traders and thousands of residents living beside the small sea (about 14 miles from north to south and 8 miles across).

Ancient literary sources—the New Testament, the writings of the first-century C.E. Jewish historian Josephus, and rabbinic literature such as the Talmud—suggest that two thousand years ago hundreds of vessels plied the waters of Israel’s only freshwater lake (and the world’s lowest, at 700 feet below sea level). But even though all these sources refer to fishing and boating, not one mentions the harbors that were on the lake during the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods (332 B.C.E.–630 C.E.). Perhaps ancient historians did not mention them because they took them for granted.

Today the remains of the harbors are merely layers of stone foundations, easily recognized by the practiced eye. Most are made of black basalt, the volcanic rock that abounds in this area. From these unimpressive remains, we can picture the Sea of Galilee in Jesus’ time in a way that would have been impossible just a few years ago.

The construction of the harbors required organizational skill and economic planning. Breakwaters were built first, followed by piers and promenades, repair shops for boats, administrative buildings, storehouses, tollhouses, watchtowers and other 020facilities. Maintenance was, of course, necessary, and the breakwaters were continually repaired and silt removed.

The first ancient harbor we discovered was the eastern Galilee site of Kursi (Biblical Gergesa), where, according to the Gospels, Jesus landed after stilling a storm on the sea. As Jesus stepped out on land, he was met by a man possessed by demons. Jesus ordered the demons to leave the man, and they entered a herd of swine, which rushed down the steep slope into the lake and drowned (Luke 8:22–39//Mark 5:1–20//Matthew 8:28–32). According to early Christian tradition, all this occurred at Kursi.^a

During the 1970 excavation of the ancient church and monastery that commemorate the miracle of the swine, the surrounding area was surveyed. Since the water level of the sea was high that year, an underwater research team headed by Avner Raban investigated the shoreline, where the breakwater of the ancient harbor was discovered.

An essential element of any Galilee port is the stone wall of the breakwater, which extends into the sea from the shore and curves around the harbor to protect the boats from the sudden, ferocious storms common on the Sea of Galilee, such as the windstorm of Luke 8:23 that “swept down on the lake,” filling the disciples’ boat with water.

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Covered by a thick layer of silt today, the Kursi harbor was once the commercial center of a typical fishing village from the Roman and Byzantine periods. Built of rows of lightly chiseled basalt boulders, the 500-foot breakwater turns slightly away from the shore, enclosing a narrow area of about half an acre (330 feet long by 80 feet wide). To the north is a shallow pool, built 3 feet above the ground and measuring about 10 feet by 11 feet, where fishermen stored large live fish caught with dragnets.^b The pool’s plastered interior allowed it to retain water, which came not from the lake but through a small aqueduct leading from a nearby stream. The pool stood directly on the market pier, where fishermen sold their daily catch. Today only the rectangular oundation of this 25- by 16-foot pier can be seen during the dry season. North of the pool are the foundations of a public building—apparently associated with harbor administration—with the remains of a mosaic floor. Nearby I discovered more than a hundred lead net sinkers.

Waves have eroded the shore further to the north, exposing one room of yet another building. Here I found sections of columns, marble fragments and bits of colored mosaics that led me to think this was probably Kursi’s synagogue, dating from about 400 to 700 C.E.

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At Kursi, I also found traces of a Roman road branching off the main road (which ran from the south to the Golan Heights) and leading down to the harbor. Ruins of houses surrounded the shore.

Ironically, the harbor at Kursi is generally visible most months of the year—more often than any other harbor on the lake. It could easily have been discovered without underwater efforts. Earlier explorers must have seen these ruins often without recognizing them as the remains of a fishing village and its harbor.

During the winter, however, the fish pool, synagogue and administration building of Kursi are underwater, indicating that the lake was lower during the first millennium C.E.

Most of the ancient harbors of the Sea of Galilee were not identified until more recently because they are underwater for much of the year. The foundations of the breakwaters were built when the water level was at its lowest (about 695 feet below sea level). Although the breakwaters were originally about 10 feet tall, over the years the waves have demolished them, leaving behind only the foundations, visible when the water level is lowest, after a dry summer. Further, as we shall see, the maximum level of the lake in the Roman period was about 4 feet lower than it is today, and the shallow shoreline was up to 150 feet further out. 023Consequently, the foundations of the promenade are further from shore than they were in ancient times.

A natural change in the outflow of the lake about 1,000 years ago led to this rise in the water level. The old outlet of the Jordan River was originally located near today’s village of Kinneret. Over the centuries, however, the pounding waves created a weak point in the soft alluvial shoreline to the south of the old outlet, near Kibbutz Degania. Eventually, this developed into a second, deeper but narrower outlet for the Jordan River. This second outlet must have existed by 1106, when it is mentioned in the writings of a Russian pilgrim to the Holy Land. From later literary sources, we know that the Jordan River continued to have two outlets on the southern Galilee shore for hundreds of years thereafter. The newer outlet had a smaller capacity, however, and over the centuries, as silt blocked the older outlet, the maximum level of the lake gradually rose about 3 feet.^c

With the discovery of Kursi in 1970, I became attuned to what an ancient harbor looked like. Touring the shore on my near-ancient bicycle, I began to search for more. I soon discovered the harbor of Capernaum—much to the surprise of the Franciscan monks at the 025monastery of Capernaum, who were in the habit of dumping rubble from their own excavations into the harbor.

According to the Gospels, Capernaum was the center of Jesus’ Galilean ministry.^d Here Jesus preached at the local synagogue (Mark 1:21) and healed the paralytic (Mark 2:3–12). The Gospel of Matthew indicates that Jesus stayed at Peter’s house, where “he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons” (Mark 1:32). The Franciscans have been excavating at Capernaum for a century. Nearly 50 years ago, they began work on the building known as St. Peter’s house. One spring, the Franciscan archaeologists were forced to stop their work because the sea, having reached its maximum seasonal level, 026flooded the area around St. Peter’s house—further proof that the sea is higher today than in ancient times.

Occupied for more than a thousand years, from the second century B.C.E. until the tenth century C.E., Capernaum at its height extended about half a mile along the shore. Although I knew the city must have had a harbor, the unusually rocky topography made it difficult to locate. Instead of looking for rocks, as I usually did, here I searched for (and found) a clearing where rocks had been removed to make a safe port.

Along the shore ran a 2,500-foot-long promenade, or paved avenue, supported by an 8-foot-wide seawall. The portion 064of the promenade on the Franciscan property had been covered by rubble and was partially destroyed by modern building. But impressive sections to the north, on land owned by the adjacent Greek Orthodox church, and further to the east, were hardly damaged.

To protect the shore from storms, a promenade must be at least 2 feet above the maximum sea level. A modern promenade at Tiberias, built in 1932 on the western shore, is about 2 feet higher (684 feet below sea level) than the sea’s maximum level (686 feet below sea level). The ancient Capernaum promenade is about 3 feet lower (687 feet below sea level). This provides solid evidence that the sea was about 3 feet lower in ancient times. Further proof of this is 027seen in the drainage channel (at about 687 feet below sea level) of the Roman baths at Capernaum. If the baths were in operation today, they would be flooded whenever the lake reached its maximum level.

Vessels at Capernaum could load and unload cargo and passengers on several piers that extended about 100 feet from the promenade into the lake. Some of the piers are paired and curve toward each other, forming protected pools. Others are triangular in shape. According to the New Testament, under the rule of Herod Antipas a marine toll station was located at Capernaum, with the apostle Matthew in charge (Matthew 10:3). The port apparently served not only the local population but also travelers who preferred the swift, comfortable transportation available on the lake.

In the winter, fishermen from Capernaum worked at Tabgha, where several warm mineral springs attracted musht, popularly called St. Peter’s Fish. (The name Tabgha is a corruption of the Greek for “Seven Springs.”) Today the remains of this small harbor’s breakwater can be seen when the water level is low. Christian tradition ascribes the meeting place of Jesus with his disciples to a prominent rock at the warm springs. From a fisherman’s viewpoint, this is the correct choice. This is the area where musht schools formerly concentrated in the winter and spring. Here Jesus met his disciples for 028the first—and also the last—time (Luke 5:1–7; John 21:1–8). On this rock, now known as the rock of the primacy of Peter, stands a small modern Franciscan chapel, the Church of the Primacy of Peter. It was built on the foundations of earlier churches, the oldest of which dates from the first half of the fourth century. The altar is built around a stone outcropping known to pilgrims as the Lord’s Table (Mensa Domini), on which Jesus served the disciples after the miraculous draught of fishes (John 21:13).^e

The various names by which Magdala was known bear witness to this town’s maritime character: Migdal Nunieh (in Hebrew, Fish Tower) and Tarichea (in Greek, The Place Where Fish Are Salted). According to Josephus, Magdala had many boats, shipyard workers and supplies of wood. In the Great Jewish Revolt against Rome (66–70 C.E.), Magdala served as the base of the Zealots, one of the Jewish factions involved in the revolt.

The remains of the Magdala harbor were discovered near an excavation site where Franciscan monks had already 029uncovered the central square, streets and buildings of the first-century C.E. town that Mary Magdalene called home. In one house, they found a mosaic of a sailing boat. As at Capernaum, the earlier excavators failed to detect the ancient harbor, which they used as a dump.

The port of Magdala was constructed in two parts—a promenade and a sheltered basin. The promenade, which runs parallel to the shore, starts below the ruins of the Arab village of Migdal and continues to the north for about 300 feet. In the early 1970s, the outlines were clear and complete, but rapid silting and development have since altered the topography.

Not far from Magdala, a two thousand-year-old boat similar to ones Jesus must have used was found perfectly preserved by the mud.^f

The first communities to build “modern” harbors on the Sea of Galilee were the Hellenistic cities of Hippos (in Aramaic, Sussita) and Gadara, located east of the Sea of Galilee. Founded in the third century B.C.E., Sussita was a 030natural fortress, located securely on a 1,000-foot hill overlooking the sea.^g A reference in the midrashim^h led me to believe that Sussita had a suburb, or lower city, on the shore and a harbor. As the midrash (Bereshit Raba 32.9) puts it, Noah’s Ark, though very heavy, nevertheless sailed as easily “as from Tiberias to Sussita.” Agricultural produce was shipped from Sussita to Tiberias, the mid-first-century C.E. capital of Galilee, on the western shore. For those traveling from the west, the harbor served as the gateway to the Golan.

For more than 50 years, I have lived near ancient Sussita, at Kibbutz Ein Gev. But until the harbor of Kursi was discovered in 1970, I did not recognize the stone walls south of Ein Gev as the remains of the ancient harbor. A few years later, while preparing the ground for a date plantation south of the kibbutz, we uncovered the remains of the entire maritime suburb of Sussita, covering 15 acres near the harbor. I also found a section of the Roman road connecting the upper and lower cities. Based on ceramics found here, we know the settlement lasted from the Hellenistic to the Arab period (about the third century B.C.E. to the eighth century C.E.).

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The harbor’s main breakwater was about 400 feet long and up to 20 feet wide at its base. This breakwater extended along the northern side of the harbor and then turned south, running parallel to the shore. A second, shorter breakwater extended from the shore to protect the southern side of the harbor. The harbor thus created is about an acre in size. A small pier extended into the sea from the breakwater, allowing passengers to embark and disembark without entering the crowded harbor. Today silt fills the harbor.

Gadara, the most magnificent of the Hellenistic towns that circled the Sea of Galilee, was located on the heights of Gilead above the Yarmuk River. The marine suburb and the city’s harbor were located on the southeastern shore of the lake, at Tel Samra (now Ha-on Holiday Village). In form, Gadara’s harbor resembles that of Sussita—a closed basin with an opening to the south—but it is much larger and more luxurious. The central breakwater is 800 feet long and its base 15 feet wide. The promenade was 650 feet long, built with finely chiseled stones, only one of which remains. The 150-foot-wide basin covered an area of 3 acres.

This harbor is superior to the one at Sussita not only because of its size but also because of its facilities. At the center of the promenade are the remains of a tower. Ruins of a large structure—probably the building of the harbor administration—are scattered on the ground near the harbor gate.

Gadara’s maritime character is attested by its coins, which depicted ships of war for some 250 years. The city’s harbor at Tel Samra was almost certainly not only an anchorage for ships. Second-century coins from Gadara commemorate the Naumachia—naval battle games performed for the inhabitants of Gadara. Until recently, researchers assumed that these games took place on the Yarmuk River, which flows into the Jordan just south of the Sea of Galilee; but this does not seem likely, and no remains of a facility of this kind have been found at this site. The large harbor basin at Tel Samra, however, with its 1,600-foot-long combined promenade and breakwater, would surely have been more suitable to accommodate the throngs of spectators as they arrived. In addition, Gadara’s harbor must have been used by thousands of visitors to the famous baths at Hamat Gader, located 5 miles southeast of the sea. The ancient Roman road connecting Beth Shean and Sussita passed near Tel Samra, and the road to Hamat Gader branched off this road.

A drought from 1989 to 1991 helped me discover even more of the ancient shoreline, including the full extent of the harbor of Tiberias, the most important city on the lake today.ⁱ The significance of the ancient city is reflected in the New Testament reference to the Sea of Galilee as the Sea of Tiberias (John 6:1, 21:1). John also refers to some boats from Tiberias (John 6:23). Coins minted at Tiberias feature anchors, vessels and other naval symbols, as well as the Greek deity Poseidon, who rules the seas and is the patron of sailors and fishermen.

Today only about 500 feet of what was once the Tiberias shoreline remain undisturbed. This area lies south of the fifth-century C.E. Byzantine defense wall.

Thought-provoking ruins have long been noted along this sector. They include impressive segments of a promenade running parallel to the modern road, with an opening leading to the shore. Further south along the shore, the ruins of six rows of columns extend for about 80 feet, with remnants of several of the basalt, limestone and marble columns toppled on the ground and others re-erected upside down. This structure was probably built during the Arab period (eighth and ninth centuries C.E.), reusing earlier materials. The Persian traveler Nasir Husro, who visited Tiberias in 1047 C.E., described the “pleasure houses” supported by “columns of marble rising up out of the water.” This evidence points to an elegant Tiberias promenade that once stood where today a road leads from the modern city to nearby hot springs.

I always doubted that this was part of the ancient harbor. But I was wrong. During the drought of 1989 to 1991, I spent countless hours scouring the newly exposed shoreline at Tiberias. As I searched, I began to find stone anchors, mooring stones and hundreds of stone net sinkers. I knew that the stones, which weighed between 20 ounces and 5 pounds, were connected with the fishing industry because of their form and because of the holes drilled in them (note the stone anchors lying on the piers in the reconstruction drawing. In all my years of searching, I had never found so many stones like this at one site. Although there is no fishing area adjacent to the findspot, I knew I had found the strongest possible evidence that many fishermen had moored here for centuries, preparing their nets and equipment before going out to sea. All that was missing to complete the picture of the Tiberias harbor was the breakwater. Finally, after years of searching, I found a few clues, remains of a breakwater that had run parallel to the promenade. But until an archaeological dig is made at this site, it will not be possible to draw a complete plan of the harbor.

When I began my investigations, I never dreamed that I would be blessed with the chance to work during a special period of unusual phenomena. The drought of 1989 to 1991 provided a unique opportunity to reveal more of the splendid history of this famous lake.

We discovered that all settlements on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, even the smallest, had harbors, each built to suit local conditions and requirements. (The above descriptions are only a part of our findings.) These harbors continued to flourish throughout the Byzantine period (324–638 C.E.). With the gradual economic decline that followed the Arab conquest in the seventh century, the harbors were neglected. Pounding waves destroyed the breakwaters, and valuable stone blocks were removed and reused elsewhere. Today’s scant remains bear witness to a high, at times magnificent, quality of building, especially on the promenades. These surviving stones provide us with a tangible connection to the thriving towns and ports of Jesus’ time, and to the villagers and fishermen who once walked and sailed here.