After the baptism, we hopped on the bus and headed for the ancient city of Bet She'an. While this city is of no real biblical significance, it was an important Roman city through which many people lived and passed through. Today, only 20% has been uncovered. It is a massive excavation site with dozens of huge pillars still standing and mosaic tiles everywhere. We were able to bring home some of the original tiles. Now I have a pottery shard from Caesarea, shells from the Mediterranean and the Sea of Galilee, and mosaic tiles from Bet She'an. I also gathered rock from Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls are from, and a rock from Masada. A little piece of history from around the world, thousands of years ago now in my house!
They have also uncovered a huge Roman bath house similar to the one we saw when in Bath, England. It was a very sophisticated and huge!
Off in the distance is a massive hill, called a Tel, that acted as a defensive lookout.
Today, the 5,000 seat theater has been cleaned up and concerts are held (on the newly installed wooden platform) during the summer months. Guest enter through ancient archways, like those thousands of years ago. Cool place to visit! They even offered reserved seating back then. On the seat back is etched a letter or symbol that let people know which was your seat. But as our guide, Ido would say, "Folks you ain't seen nothing yet!" So back on the bus we went as we head for Qumran.
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