<< Our Photo Pages >> Kursi National Park - Ancient Village or Settlement in Israel
Submitted by motist on Tuesday, 26 September 2017 Page Views: 1784
Multi-periodSite Name: Kursi National ParkCountry: Israel
NOTE: This site is 5.708 km away from the location you searched for.
Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Tiberias Nearest Village: Ramot
Latitude: 32.826077N Longitude: 35.650513E
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Ancient Village or Settlement in Israel
Kursi National Park contains the impressive remains of a monastery and church from the Byzantine period. According to Christian tradition, this is the site of the Miracle of the Swine mentioned in the New Testament
The monastery and church - the ruins that can be seen today were built in the Byzantine period. The monastery was surrounded by a stone wall (145 x 123 m), and is one of the largest in Israel. It appears that not only monks lived in the compound, but also members of a Christian sect that set itself apart from the nearby Jewish settlement on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. In the courtyard of the monastery there were public buildings, houses, farm buildings, agricultural and fishing facilities, and a hostel serving pilgrims.
A dirt road led up from the lake to the monumental gate of the compound, with a watchtower alongside it. From the gate, a paved road led to a large church (45 x 23 m) - a basilica, with two rows of six columns dividing the central space of the church into the nave and two aisles. The stone columns and marble Corinthian capitals were decorated with carved crosses. The excavations uncovered a small stone chest under the site of the altar, intended for the relics of saints.
The church had a single apse, with rooms on either side of it. At the threshold of the southern room a mosaic inscription was found, stating that the mosaic floor was laid in the days of the Emperor Mauricius, in the year 585. The room was used for baptizing babies. Underneath one of the rooms at the side of the nave a burial cave was found, containing 30 male skeletons.
The mosaic - on the floor of the church, especially in the aisles, splendid mosaics were found. They do not depict or even hint at the story of the Miracle of the Swine, although such a mosaic may have existed and been destroyed, or not yet found. The mosaics depict stunningly beautiful animal and vegetal decorations: cockerels, geese, doves, cormorants, and all kinds of fish. Many of the animal figures have been defaced. The plants have fared better, and it is easy to recognize fruit trees such as citrons, figs, and pomegranates, and bunches of grapes. One of the mosaics shows a pair of doves with a basket between them. The dove in Christianity is a symbol of the holy spirit, the purity of Mary (who conceived without sin), and the spirit of Christ.
The holy rock - in 1980, an excavation was carried out around a promontory on the hillside to the east of the church. Close to the rock, a small chapel was found, its apse incorporated in a cave. Christian tradition connects the cave with the place where Jesus met the man possessed by devils.
The sand verses - a large spinning top placed in a sandbox. Visitors can spin the top to imprint in the sand the story of the Miracle of the Swine, as it appears in the New Testament, in different languages.
The enchanted bench - a wooden bench that has become known for having energetic properties that imbue visitors with a unique feeling of calm.
The remains of the bathhouse - to the north of the church, excavations carried out at the site between 2011 - 2013 found the remains of a bathhouse dated to the Byzantine period.
Kursi lies near the southern banks of Samakh river, one of the longest rivers in the Golan Heights. The river carries considerable silt, which creates a tongue of land that projects hundreds of meters into the Sea of Galilee. This tongue was known in the past as "Kursi Head". In the area of the river estuary is a narrow and fertile basin, 3 km in length.
The river estuary is known as an excellent place to fish, and this may be the reason for the river's Arabic name of Wadi Samakh (Fish River). Today the area is part of the Kursi Beach Nature Reserve.
The riverbed was the route of the ancient path up to the Golan, which added to Kursi's strategic value.
History and archeology
Kursi is the Arabic name for the ruins that lie on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. At the time of the Mishna and the Talmud, this was the site of a Jewish fishing village. The Kursi ruins were discovered by chance by Mendel Nun after the Six Day War, when the road to the foothills of the Golan Heights was being paved. The road was supposed to pass right over the remains of the Byzantine church, and it is only thanks to Mendel Nun that its path was diverted at the very last moment, and the site was saved.
Excavations carried out here by Vassilios Tzaferis and Dan Orman revealed the ruins of a monastery from the Byzantine period, one of the largest monasteries in Israel. The monastery and the church within it were built in the mid-fifth century CE, and apparently damaged during the Persian invasion (614 CE). The church was renovated, but was abandoned in the eighth century and never restored to use.
The site is of great interest to Christian pilgrims, who see it as the place where Jesus performed the Miracle of the Swine, mentioned in the New Testament: "And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way… And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine." (Matthew 8:28-32).
According to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, the miracle took place on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, although each of them mentions a different location. According to Origen (c. 182 – 251 CE), one of the Church Fathers, Matthew calls the place Gedara, Mark – Gerasa, and Luke relates to the place as Gergasa. It was Origen who identified Kursi as the site at which the Miracle of the Swine took place, and it has been considered a holy Christian site ever since, over the years becoming the Christian center of the region. The archaeological excavations at the site reinforce Origen's identification.
The church was destroyed during the Persian invasion (614), renovated, but destroyed again in the earthquake of the eighth century, and not restored again.
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