Tzippori
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The Talmud
asks, "Why is she (the city) called Tzippori? Because she sits on top of the
mountain, like a bird (tsippor)" (Talmud Megillah 6a).
Tzippori - Sepphoris in Greek - is located in the heart of the Lower Galilee
about 6.5 KM. northwest of Nazareth, on a hill 285 meters above sea level.
Excavations uncovered a rich legacy from the Judean, Roman and Byzantine periods;
about 40 mosaics were found from very different character, some in a remarkable
stage of preservation.
The History
Only minor archaeological evidence confirms the existence of a settlement
at the end of the First Temple period. However because of the fertile Beit
Netofa valley to the North, the numerous springs in the area, and its central
strategic location on the road connecting Acre with the Jordan Valley, future
excavations may still discover further and older remains in this area.
The first historical evidence we find is in Josephus' "Antiquities"
(13, 338), where Sepphoris is mentioned in connection with the unsuccessful
attempt by Ptolemy Lathyrus son of Cleopatra the ruler of Egypt, to capture
the city during the reign of the Hasmonean King, Alexander Jannaeus (103-70
B.C.E.).
Gabinius, the Roman Proconsul, divided the former Hasmonean Kingdom into five
districts and declared Sepphoris the capital of Galilee, perhaps because it
was already the most important city in the area.
According to Josephus' "Jewish War" (I, 304), Herod the Great captured
the city without resistance from Mattathias Antigonus, at the height of a
severe snowstorm, as one of his first acts after gaining power in 37 B.C.E..
During the Herodian reign, Sepphoris remained the capital of Galilee.
After Herod's death (4 B.C.E.), the Jewish townspeople rioted in protest at
Roman rule. However the uprising was short-lived, and soon suppressed by the
Roman army under the command of Varus, Governor of Syria. Varus destroyed
the city, razed it to the ground' set it ablaze and sold many of its inhabitants
into slavery.
The Galilee became part of the tetrarchate of Herod Antipater, who rebuilt
and fortified the city and initially restored it to its former status of district
capital. A few years later, he transfered the capital of his tetrachy to Tiberias,
a city he founded himself.
The role of Sepphoris during the First Jewish Revolt against Rome is rather
confused; the people of the town refused to join the rebels and signed a pact
with the Roman army, opening the gates of the city to Vespasian in 67 C.E.,
thus averting the destruction of their city. After the destruction of the
Second Temple, many Jews from Jerusalem moved there. Josephus noted that the
inhabitants of Sepphoris were "the only people in Galilee who desired peace"
("Jewish War" III, 33). Coins of a Jewish character were minted in
Sepphoris in honor of the Roman Emperor Trajanus (98-117).
The role played by Tzippori in the Bar Kochba revolt is not clear: there is
no documentation of actual events, but during that time the name of the town
was changed to Diocaesarea - in honor of Zeus and the emperor; the Jewish
leadership was ousted and a Gentile administration appointed.
At the beginning of the 3rd century, when the Town Council (boule) was returned
to Jewish hands, Rabbi Judah Hanasi moved from Beit Sha'arim to Tzippori accompnied
by the Sanhedrin, the highest judical and ecclesiastical council of the ancient
Jewish nation.
Rabbi Judah lived in Tzippori for 17 years, until his death; during that time
he compiled the Mishnah.
The town is mentioned many times in Talmudic literature as a Jewish city having
18 synagogues, some named according to the origin of a particular community,
such as "Kenista deBabela'e" (The Synagogue of the Babylonians - Genesis Rabba
52,4 (not in each version but found in: MS. VAT. EBR. 30 and
in VAT.EBR. 60),) or according to the professions of its members, for
example, "Beit Knesset shel Hatarsiyim" (The Synagogue of the weavers). Others
were named after a Rabbi, for example, the Synagogue of Rabbi Banihu, or named
for a place, such as "Kenista deGofna deZiporin" (the synagogue of the vineyard
of Sepphoris - Jer. Talmud Sanhed. VII:25d); further academies
(Batei Midrash) were mentioned.
During the Mishnaic and Talmudic period, many Sages sat and met in the city,
among them Rabbi Halafta, Rabbi El'azar ben 'Azaria (mentioned in the Pesach
Hagaddah), and Rabbi Yosi ben Halafta, Rabbi Yohanan, Resh Lakish, Rabbi Yona
and Rabbi Mana.
The Sanhedrin sat in Tzippori until the middle of the third century, when
it was transferred to Tiberias in the time of Rabbi Yohanan, greatest of the
Amoraim (Jewish scholars of 200 - 500 C.E).
In 324 C.E., Constantine the Great declared Christianity the official state
religion, which marked the beginning of the Byzantine period.
A Jewish convert, Joseph Comes, formerly a member of the Patriarchate in Tiberias,
was permitted to built a church in Tzippori, but never actually did so due
to the fact that Tzippori retained its Jewish character.
In 351 C.E., a revolt broke out in Tzippori against Gallus Caesar, Governor
of the Syrian Province. Ursicinus, the Chief of Cavalry, put down the uprising.
Christian sources of later years describing this episode, mention that the
city was put to flames and completely destroyed, but this is a gross exaggeration.
Archaeological excavations have not furnished any evidence of extensive damage,
destruction, or conflagration resulting from the suppression of the revolt,
as claimed in Christian sources.
Only a dozen years later, the land of Israel was rocked by an extremely violent
earthquake, and Tzippori was completely laid waste - although it was quickly
renovated and rebuilt.
The Christian community in Tzippori became an important element in the city's
population, and a bishopric was created. A church was built there, nevertheless,
the Jews remained the majority of Tzippori's inhabitants. Tzippori fell from
grace during the Islamic period.
The Jewish community ceased to exist in the early Crusader period. Known as
Le Saphorie, the city and its citadel were part of the Crusader Principality
of the Galilee. From here, in 1187, the Crusader knights and their army marched
out to fight the battle of Hittin, where they suffered a crushing defeat at
the hands of Saladdin, the first Ayyubid sultan. The Arabic geographer Yaqut
(d. 1229) mentions Saffuriya in only nine words, as a village in the area
of the Jordan river in Syria (which included Palestine), not far from Tiberias.
To describe Tiberias, however, he dedicated several pages in his book Mu'gam
alBuldan (Dictionary of Places).
In the 18th century, the Arab village of Saffuriya was one of the strongholds
of Dhahir el-'Amar, the Beduin Governor of the Galilee. He fortified it and
renovated the citadel.
During the Arab uprising of 1936-39, and again in the 1948 War of Independence,
the village was the 'hideout' of Arab squads operating against Jewish settlements
in the region under the command of Mahmud Safuri.
On the night of 15th-16th July 1948, the small town was captured by the Israel
Defense Forces during the second stage of a military maneuver known as "Operation
Palm Tree", under the command of Hayim Laskow and the village was abandoned
by its population. In 1949, a cooperative farming village called Tzippori
was founded near the ruins of the Arabic village.
Some archaeological remains
The Theater
Archaeological excavations began in 1930 by an American team from Michigan
University, who discovered a amphitheater, but exposed only a part of it.
Most of the area was cleared in 1986 by the Hebrew University team.
The theater was built at the end of the first century C.E., or beginning of
the second century, and was in use until the Byzantine period. It is about
74 meters in diameter, with over 4500 stone seats, partly cut in the bedrock
and partly constructed.
The existence of the theater, a symbol of paganism, in a Jewish city aroused
grievance among the rabbis. This was expressed in the Talmud:
"Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi demanded: What is that is said? Blessed is the man
that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of
sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful (Psalms 1:1) - meaning blessed
is the man who does not go to the theaters and circuses of idolaters"
(Avoda Zara 18b).
Nevertheless, the theater in Tzippori is not an exception; there is evidence
of construction of theaters in various cities in Palestine since King Herod,
especially in the second century; and by the third century, almost every important
city in Palestine had at least one theater.
The Jewish residential area
On the West side of the hill summit rock quarries (apparently from the early
Hellenistic period) were the earliest evidence of urban settlement in Tzippori.
The first buildings, partly hewn into bedrock, may be attributed to the Hasmonean
and Herodean period (the second and first century B.C.E.).
The houses in this area were close-set and fronted onto a paved street 2.20
meters wide. Many cisterns and subterranean store rooms were found, some possibly
used for storage of agricultural products. The existence of numerous ritual
baths attests to the Jewish character of life in Tzippori.
The residential area continued to exist throughout the Mishnaic and part of
the Talmudic period with modifications, expansions and additions to the original
buildings, until the earthquake of 363 C.E., which destroyed the entire city.
In the Byzantine period the area was rebuilt, but in inferior quality to the
buildings from the Roman period.
The Citadel
 The
citadel was erected during the Crusader period on the remains of an ancient
building and served as a small stronghold or watch tower. Stones from earlier
structures and even Roman sacrophages, some decorated with reliefs, were found
in secondary use inside the structure.
After the defeat at the battle of Karnei Hittin in 1187, the citadel was destroyed
by the army of Saladdin. It was rebuilt only in the mid-eighteenth century
during the Beduin government of Dhahir el 'Amr, and remained in use throughout
his reign, until 1775. The ornaments and the arch above the entrance, including
lintels and floral design, were executed according to the Mamluk and Ottoman
building tradition, as found at some other sites in the region. On top of
the arch is a star, the symbol of Turkey.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, in the days of the Turkish Sultan
Abdel el-Hamid, the citadel was again renovated and a second story was added.
The building served as a girls' school until the War of Independence, at which
time the village was abandoned by its inhabitants. During the War, the citadel
served as headquarters for terrorists gangs operating against the Jewish settlements
in the surrounding area.
The Cardo and the Streets
 A
network of streets from the Roman period was discovered on the East side of
the Tzippori hill, most likely from in the second century C.E. In the center
is the Cardo along the North-South axis. The rootbed was paved with particularly
hard limestone, while the colonnaded walkways had mosaic floors along their
verges. The small streetside shops were part of the lower market mentioned
in the Talmud:
"It was said of Rabbi Eleazar that he sat and studied Torah in the lower
market of Sepphoris, while his linen cloak lay in the upper market of the
town."(Eruvin 54b)
Ruts in the paving stones of the Cardo, made by the wheels of myriad wagons
passing by over many years, testify to the intensive use of the street. On
one such stone was engraved a seven-branched candelabrum.
On the sides of the streets, various buildings were also found. Discoveries
from the Roman period include spacious buildings and bathhouses. Remains of
homes with ritual baths testify that Jews lived in this part of the town.
The "Nile Mosaic" Building
This building is located on a street corner East of the Cardo and extends
over an area of 50 by 30 meters. The building was erected at the beginning
of the 5th century over the ruins of buildings from the Roman period and was
in use until the end of the Byzantine period.
In the summer of 1991, a team from the Hebrew University exposed a large room,
6.7 by 6.2 meters, with an almost intact mosaic floor depicting the celebrations
for the rise of the Nile River water to its peak, alongside various hunting
scenes - a most unusual combination. On the picture is a hunting Amazon.
The word "amazon" is of Greek origin and derived from the combination
of "A" which means "no" and "mazos" which means "breast". Legend tells
us that these warrior women cut off their right breast, in order to draw
the bow more easily, yet on this mosaic no sign of such mutilation is
visible.
The building has three main wings connected by corridors. All of the floors
are paved with colored mosaics, depicting symbols and scenes, but remarkably
there are no symbols from Jewish or Christian tradition in this large and
imposing building:all are of pagan character, so the origin of the owner remains
an enigma.
The Synagogue
 
Ancient literary sources mention several synagogues in Tzippori. One of them
was recently unearthed in the northern sector of the site: it is a elongated
building, in the center of which is a rectangular hall measuring 8 by 20.7
meters, with several rooms adjoining it to the south.
This is the narrowest ancient synagogue found in the Land of Israel. The "bima"
(platform) is located on the western wall of the building, not oriented toward
Jerusalem, as in other synagogues. The central hall has a mosaic floor divided
into seven rectangular frames, with the zodiac at its center. The zodiac became
a familiar theme in many ancient synagogues and can also be found in Hammath
Tiberias and Beit Alpha. The zodiac of the Tzippori
synagogue contains some features not found in the others: human figures accompanying
the twelve signs, and the name of the month next to the relevant sign. Only
the chariot of Helios (the sun god) is depicted in the center of the Zodiac,
while Helios is represented only by the sun itself, with the moon and a star
next to it (in the synagogues of Hammath Tiberias and Beit Alpha, the image
of sun god Helios riding his chariot is fully depicted). Another interesting
feature is the division into four seasons of the year, with each season represented
by a female figure dressed in clothes appropriate to the weather for that
season. Illustrations in the frames above the Zodiac are related to sacrifices
offered in the Temple. More than 20 inscriptions in Greek and Aramaic are
incorporated into the mosaic, among the various scenes.
The synagogue was excavated by the Hebrew University team in 1993; it dates
from the 5th century or the early 6th century.
On the picture to the right is a dedicatory inscription in Aramaic, possible
dedicated to the donor of the floor. The translation is as follows:
May he be remembered for good
Yudan son of
Isaac the Priest
and Paragri his daughter
Amen Amen
There are two such dedicatory inscriptions in Aramaic; the others are in Greek.
The ancient water system
The spring Ein Zippiri is located 2.5 KM. south of the mount, and under the
level of the town thus prevented the channeling to Zippori. Water was carried
by donkeys to the town, and therefore unsuitable as clean water for religious
baths; in the beginning of the city's existance, the inhabitants therefore
relied on rainwater collected in cisterns hewn in the bedrockfor this purpose.
In the Roman period, the town expanded eastward and the need for drinking
water and other purposes increased; the main water supply to the town was
a 13.5 long system of two aquaducts, bringing water from the hill of Nazareth
which was built in the first and second century.
One aquaduct was from a spring located in the village of Ein Raineh; the other
originated at the springs on the slopes of Mount Jonah.
The water from these springs flowed at the rate of approxamatly 40 cubic meters
per hour into an impressive reservoir 250 meters long and 10 meters high,
which was hewn in the soft chalk rock and plastered in places up to several
layers thick to prevent seepage. This reservoir had a storage capacity of
10,000 cubic meters. From there the water ran through a fixed lead pipe and
channels to the courtyards of homes and public buildings.
The system of aquaducts was in use in Zippori during the Roman and Byzantine
periods through the early Arabic period (7th - 8th century).
The water supply system is mentioned in the Mishnah (Eruvin 8:7):
If a water channel passed through the courtyard they may not drawn therefrom
on the Shabbath, unless they had made for it a partition ten handbreadths
high at the entry and at its exit. Rabbi Judah says: The wall above it is
deemed the partition.
Composed and pictures by: Pinhas Baraq
Based mainly on the folder:
Tsvika Tsuk, Zippori National Park, Israel National Parks Authority,
1996.
Other sources were:
Mordechai Aviam, Ancient Synagogues in the Land of Israel, Israel National
Parks Authority, 1997.
Ehud Netzer, Zeev Weis, Zippori, Israel Exploration Society, 1994.
Menahem Zahroni, Israel Guide, Keter, 1978 (Hebrew).
Dave Winter, Fotoprint, Israel Handbook, Bath 1999.
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