Tiberias

Tiberias ( ty-BEER-ee-əs; Hebrew: טְבֶרְיָה, ; Arabic: طَبَرِيَّا, romanized: Ṭabariyyā) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 18th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Hebron, and Safed. In 2024, it had a population of 52,123. Tiberias was founded around 20 CE by Herod Antipas and was named after Roman emperor Tiberius. It became a major political and religious hub of the Jews in the Land of Israel after the destruction of Jerusalem and the desolation of Judea during the Jewish–Roman wars. From the time of the second through the tenth centuries CE, Tiberias was the largest Jewish city in Galilee, and much of the Mishna and the Jerusalem Talmud were compiled there. Tiberias flourished during the Early Muslim period (c. 7th–10th centuries CE), when it served as the capital of Jund al-Urdunn and became a multi-cultural trading center. The city's importance declined in some periods due to earthquake damage and foreign incursions. After the Galilee earthquake of 1837, the city was rebuilt and grew steadily following the First Jewish Aliyah in the 1880s. During the Ottoman period, Tiberias had a predominantly Muslim population in the early centuries, while from the late Ottoman period, the city became increasingly mixed and at times, had a Jewish majority or plurality. By the late Ottoman and early British Mandate period, it remained a mixed city with significant Jewish, Muslim, and Christian population. By the late Mandatory Palestine period, it had a majority Jewish population, but with a significant Arab community. During the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, fighting broke out between the Jewish residents of Tiberias and its Palestinian Arab minority. As the Haganah took over, British troops...