Sepphoris
Ancient Galilean city with diverse cultural and religious layers.
Sepphoris, known in Hebrew as Tzipori and in Arabic as Saffuriya, is a major archaeological site in central Galilee. It was a Jewish city in classical antiquity and a center of Jewish life after the Bar Kokhba Revolt, later becoming the Palestinian town of Saffuriya. The site contains remains from the Hellenistic through Ottoman periods and is now the Tzipori National Park.
Quick Facts
- Founded
- 5000 BCE (First settlement), 104 BCE (Hasmonean city), 634 (Saffuriya) (1948) (depopulated)
- District
- north
- Council
- Jezreel Valley
Facts from the source article.
Names
Coins from Trajan's reign bear the inscription "ΣΕΠΦΩΡΗΝΩΝ" (of the people of Sepphoris). Herod Antipas renamed it Autocratoris (Αὐτοκρατορίς), meaning Imperator, to honor the Augustus. During the First Jewish War around 68 CE, coins read "ΕΠΙ ΟΥΕϹΠΑΙΑΝΟΥ ΕΙΡΗΝΟΠΟΛΙϹ ΝΕΡΩΝΙΑ ϹΕΠΦΩ" (Under Vespasian, Eirenopolis-Neronias-Sepphoris), combining the names Nero and Eirenopolis (city of peace). Pancracio Celdrán interprets this as reflecting a synthesis of Jewish faith, Greek philosophy, and Roman pragmatism. The name Sepphoris was reinstated before the end of Antoninus Pius's rule. Peter Schäfer places the change to Diocaesarea in 129/30 CE, during Hadrian's time, honoring the emperor's identification with Zeus Olympias. Celdrán dates this change to Antoninus Pius's reign, when coins bore "ΔΙΟΚΑΙϹΑΡΙΑ ΙΕΡΑ ΑϹYΛΟϹ ΚΑΙ ΑΥΤΟΝΟΜΟϹ" (of Diocaesarea, Holy City of Shelter, Autonomous), indicating Hellenisation.
History
The Hebrew Bible does not mention Sepphoris, though Jewish tradition identifies it with Kitron from Judges 1:30. The Mishna 'Arakhin 9:6 states the old fortress of Zippori was walled in Joshua's era. The Hasmoneans conquered Galilee in 104 BCE under Alexander Jannaeus or Aristobulus I, and the town fell under Roman rule in 63 BCE after Pompey's campaigns. Around 57 BCE it became one of five synods of Roman influence. Herod the Great recaptured Sepphoris in 37 BCE from the Parthian proxy Antigonus II Mattathias and built a royal palace-fortress. After Herod's death in 4 BCE, Judas son of Ezekias attacked the city; the Roman governor Varus reportedly burned it and sold inhabitants into slavery, though archaeology has not verified traces of fire. Herod Antipas, made tetrarch, renamed it Autocratoris and rebuilt it as the "Ornament of the Galilee" (Josephus, Ant. 18.27), expanding the palace and building a wall. The city remained predominantly Jewish through late antiquity, thriving as a center of learning with a multiethnic population of some 30,000.
Archaeological park
Excavations have uncovered Jewish homes along a main cobblestone street, with carvings including a menorah and a game resembling tic-tac-toe. Stepped pools, likely Mikva'ot (Jewish ritual baths), have been found. The Roman theatre, 45 m in diameter and seating 4,500, is carved into the northern slope with some stone pillar supports; it shows damage possibly from the 363 earthquake. A modern structure overlooks a 5th-century public building with a large mosaic floor, believed used for water festival rituals; drainage channels and a mosaic measuring Nile floods are present. A Roman villa from around 200 CE contains a triclinium mosaic with Dionysus, Pan, and Hercules in 15 panels, including a wine-drinking contest between Dionysus and Hercules. The most famous image, a young woman possibly representing Venus, is called the "Mona Lisa of the Galilee," made with smaller tesserae for detail. A 5th-century synagogue (20.7 by 8 m) at the town's edge has a mosaic floor in seven parts: angels visiting Sarah, the binding of Isaac, a zodiac with Hebrew month names and the Greek sun god Helios in his chariot, and two lions flanking a wreath with paws on an ox's head.
Excavation history
Leory Waterman of the University of Michigan first excavated Zippori in 1931. James F. Strange of the University of South Florida probed the Crusader fortress in 1983 and continued until 2010, uncovering Roman baths and a large administrative building. Since 1990, the Hebrew University's Institute of Archaeology has excavated large areas. In 2012, Zidan Omar conducted a survey for the Israel Antiquities Authority. In June 2018, two subterranean Byzantine-period wine presses were discovered.
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