Taibe, Galilee

History

Archaeological evidence at Taibe spans the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Crusader, and Mamluk periods. Some scholars have suggested that Taibe corresponds to Tubi, a location recorded among those that paid tribute to Thutmose III. The historical geographer Yeshayahu Press proposed that the site is the biblical Hapharaim, linked to the tribe of Issachar, arguing that the name shifted from a term resembling Afrin, meaning "demons," to a more favorable-sounding one, a pattern seen in other Arabic place names.

To the northeast of the village, remains of sarcophagi have been uncovered, indicating that area served as a cemetery during Roman and Byzantine times. In 2021, archaeologists revealed a late 5th-century engraved stone from a church doorway, featuring a Greek mosaic inscription that reads, "Christ born of Mary. This work of the most God-fearing and pious bishop [Theodo]sius and the miserable Th[omas] was built from the foundation. Whoever enters should pray for them."

Archaeologist Dr. Walid Atrash noted that Theodosius was among the early Christian bishops and served as the regional archbishop, and that this discovery provides the first evidence of a Byzantine church in Taybeh. During the Crusader period, a castle known as Le Forbelet, or in medieval Arabic as Afrabala, stood here. It likely belonged to the Hospitallers and was subordinate to the nearby fortress of Belvoir. The geographer Yaqut (1179–1229) described Afrabala as a place in the Jordan lowlands near Baisan and Tabariyyah.

In July 1182, the castle was the setting for the large-scale Battle of Forbelet between Baldwin IV and Saladin. Saladin sacked the castle in 1183, and it was later held by Muslims besieging Belvoir in 1187–88. The basement of the castle keep, along with other Crusader-era structures, remains partially intact. Recent digs show that new buildings were added next to the ruined Crusader castle during Mamluk and Ottoman periods.

Taibe came under Ottoman control in 1517 along with the rest of Palestine. In 1596, tax registers listed it as Tayyibat al-Ism in the Nahiya of Shafa of the Liwa of Lajjun, with 13 Muslim households paying taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, and goats or beehives, totaling 5,300 Akçe. Pierre Jacotin labeled the village Taibeh on his 1799 map.