DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4592#0328
328 TIBERIAS,
very kindly, and had us conducted to another part of
the town, where a room was provided for our ac-
commodation.
The town of Tiberias, called by the Arabs Taba-
rea, stands close by the shore of the lake, on a level
plain, with high hills in the rear. It is nearly an ob-
long square, its length being about half a mile along
the lake shore. It has walls on three sides, once about
twenty feet high, with a number of towers. Towards
the sea, the city is open. There is a castle at the
north-west corner. The houses are generally low,
mostly built of stone, and have a miserable appear-
ance. The streets are narrow, crooked, and filthy.
It is, finally, the most miserable town of any consid-
erable size, that I saw in the Holy Land. Its popu-
lation is probably not much over two thousand souls.
Near the centre of the town, bordering the lake, the
Jews occupy a quarter. There are near one hundred
families of them. We saw a considerable number of
Jews in the streets; and their women had the best
appearance of any females in the place. Tiberias and
Safed are considered by the Jews as two holy cities
in ancient Galilee; and hence a considerable number
of them are in both places, They have two syna-
gogues in Tiberias. The Christians of the town are
all Greek Catholics, Close to the shore in the north
part of the town, is a church dedicated to St. Peter.
It is a singular, narrow-vaulted, ill-shaped building.
The monks say it stands on the spot where the mi-
raculous draught of fishes was brought to the shore,
after our Lord's resurrection; and where he said to
Peter, "Feed my sheep,"
very kindly, and had us conducted to another part of
the town, where a room was provided for our ac-
commodation.
The town of Tiberias, called by the Arabs Taba-
rea, stands close by the shore of the lake, on a level
plain, with high hills in the rear. It is nearly an ob-
long square, its length being about half a mile along
the lake shore. It has walls on three sides, once about
twenty feet high, with a number of towers. Towards
the sea, the city is open. There is a castle at the
north-west corner. The houses are generally low,
mostly built of stone, and have a miserable appear-
ance. The streets are narrow, crooked, and filthy.
It is, finally, the most miserable town of any consid-
erable size, that I saw in the Holy Land. Its popu-
lation is probably not much over two thousand souls.
Near the centre of the town, bordering the lake, the
Jews occupy a quarter. There are near one hundred
families of them. We saw a considerable number of
Jews in the streets; and their women had the best
appearance of any females in the place. Tiberias and
Safed are considered by the Jews as two holy cities
in ancient Galilee; and hence a considerable number
of them are in both places, They have two syna-
gogues in Tiberias. The Christians of the town are
all Greek Catholics, Close to the shore in the north
part of the town, is a church dedicated to St. Peter.
It is a singular, narrow-vaulted, ill-shaped building.
The monks say it stands on the spot where the mi-
raculous draught of fishes was brought to the shore,
after our Lord's resurrection; and where he said to
Peter, "Feed my sheep,"