Citadel of Tiberias
Citadel of Tiberias The reason for the building at Tiberias by Herod Antipater of his citadel is very clear. It was not too much of a commercial town and the site was dominated by a hill where he could build a castle and yet be near the shore. And the neighboring baths made the place famous throughout the Roman world. The building of the citadel took place but a short time before our Lord began His ministry on the lake. The fact that the city was so new, artificial and unclean partly explains its absence from the records of Christ’s ministry. Our Lord avoided the half-Greek cities, and among the courtiers and officials He would have been less at home than among the common people of the country. In 1837, as we have already said in these notes, there was a great earthquake in Tiberias. There is little to be found of the remains of its former grandeur. Walter Besant says: “This town in the time of Herod was covered with beautiful villas, provided with winter and summer rooms, war...
