Mosque in Tiberias

Mosque in Tiberias

‎From the Sea of Galilee, Jesus, “when the time was come that he should be received up,” steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.—Luke 9:51. From the city by the lake he journeyed to the city along the hills of Judea. The northern portion of Tiberias, once the Mohammedan quarter, is almost wholly in ruins, being overthrown by an earthquake in 1837. Here and there appears a solitary column, a half-buried arch, a gateless portal, or a prostrate wall. The extensive ruins of the old castle are in this quarter. The inclosing wall on the west of this ruin, with its two old towers, is best preserved. Near it is a dilapidated mosque, with a few palms, which give it a picturesque appearance. This view was taken at two o’clock p. m., May 8, 1894. Here we encounter building material of black basalt, which is used invariably beyond Jordan. It is interesting to notice the “geological configuration of the district, which is easily traced by a series of long ridges of basalt, running from north to south, once liquid currents of volcanic matter, which had overrun the limestone hills, becoming smoother and slower in their course as they cooled, and most of them exhausted before reaching the shores of the lake.” There is no indication whatever of the volcanic origin of the lake itself. “The whole of the surrounding rocks are sedimentary, occasionally overflowed by lava streams from the north and northeast, which here and there have toppled over into the water.” The stones round the town and in the ruins, walls and houses, as well as the cliffs behind, are mostly basalt. In the distance we see the Gadarene hills beyond the lake.