Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/784

 TIBERIAS

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TIBERIAS

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cuted for Cardinal Poggi, for whom he carried out a large number of commissions, in his palace at, Bo- logna, the chapel he erected in Loretto, his rooms in Rome, and a chapel in the Church of San Giacomo in Bo- logna. In 1586 he went to Spain on the invitation of Philip II, and painted in the lower cloisters of the Escorial, after first erasing the work of his prede- cessors, with which he professed to be much dissatisfied. His greatest work was the decoration of the library in that building. He resided for nine years in Spain, re- turned to Italy, settled at Milan, was appointed architect of the cathedral, and died in that place. His works can be studied in Bologna and Dresden.

L.\Nzi, Sloria Pillorica delta Ilalin (Bassano, 1809); Malvash, Ftlsina Pittrice (Bologna, 1841).

G. C. Williamson.

Tiberias, titular see, suffragan of Scythopolis, in Palaestina Secunda. The town of Tiberias was founded on the lake in k. d. 17 by Herod Antipas, tctrarch of Galilee, who gave it the name of the reigning emperor, Tiberius. As tombs were discovered there at the time of its foundation the Jews refused to dwell there, and Herod was forced to populate it with foreigners and people of low extraction (Josephus, "Ant. jud.", XVIII, ii, 3). What it was previously called is not known; vSt. Jerome makes it the site now of Reccath, now of Emath, now of Cenereth or Kinnereth, towns of Nephthah (Jos., XIX, 3.5). The town seems to have been a little more than three miles in circum- ference. Although Tiberias gave its name to the neighbouring lake and is mentioned several times in the Gospels, it seems never to have been dwelt in by Christ. At the death of Herod Antipas in 41, Nero gave the town to Herod Agrippa the Younger who made Sephoris or Dioca^sarea his capital. At the re- volt of the Jews against the Romans the people of Tiberias sided now with one party, now with the other, and the Jewish historian Josephus, who was Governor of Galilee, only took it after several at- tempts ("Bell, jud.", II, xxi, 6; "Vita Josephi", 18 and .54). At the approach of Vespasian it submitted without resistance and was not disturbed; the Jews secured the privilege of dwelling there alone, to the ex- clusion of pagans. Christians, and Samaritans. Tow- ards the end of the second century the Sanhedrin was removed thither from Sephoris together with the Talmudic school of Jamnia, whence issued many celebrated Rabbis, among them Juda Hakkodesh, who shortly afterwards codified the vast body of laws and customs known as the Mishna. Between 230 and 270 Rabbi Jochanan composed the Gemara, supple- ment of the Mishna, and these two codes are called the Jeru.salem Talmud. In the sixth century the school of Tiberias produced the celebrated Masorah, or fixed Hebrew text of the Bible. Rabbi Bar Anina of Tiberias gave lessons in Hebrew to St. Jerome.

The introduction of Christianity dates from the time of Constantine the Great. It was Count Joseph, a Jewish convert of this town living at Scythopolis, who built its first church, perhaps on the site of the Hadrianeum (a temple founded by the Emperor Hadrian and never completed), tender

Constantine also the Jewish patriarch Hillel was con- verted and baptized by the missionary bishop who bore the title of Tiberias but resided elsewhere (P. G., XLI, 409-29). Among its bishops were: John, pres- ent at the Robber Synod of Ephesus and the Council of Chalcedon in 449 and 451; John II, at the councils of 518 and 536; George, in 553; Basil, in the eighth century (Le Quien, "Oriens christ.", Ill, 705-10); Theodore, in 808 (Tobler, "Itinerar. hieroaolym. ", I, 304). Justinian restored the walls of the town (Procopius, "De ledificiis", V, 9). Ancient pilgrims speak of its churches and sjTiagogues. At the Prankish occupation it was given in fief to Tancred who made it his capital. A new town was built, churches restored, and a Latin dioce-se was instituted, suffragan to Nazareth. Many of its residential or titular bishops are known (Du Cange, "Families d'outre-mer", 807; Le Quien, op. pit., Ill, 1.301-04; Eubel, "Hierarchia cathohca medii a;vi", I, 511; II, 275; III, 333). The Greek see never ceased to exist, but has long been titular. In 1187 after the defeat of Hattin, better known as the battle of Tiberias, the town and fortress fell into the power of Saladin. In 1239 it was given to Eudes de Montbeliard, but five years later the Sultan of Egypt recovered it and massacred the garrison and the Christian inhabitants. The last Jew died in 1620 at the passing of Quaresi- mus, and only Mu.ssulmans remained. The Jews have since returned. Out of 6500 inhabitants, 4500 are Jews, 1600 Mu.ssulmans, 185 Greek Cathohcs, 35 Latins, 42 Greek Schismatics, and about 20 Prot- estants dependent on the Scotch mission which has a school and a hospital. The Franciscans have a church and an infirmary. The town, called Taba- rieh, besides ramparts has only insignificant ruins and is very dirty.

Smith, Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Geog., s. v.; Neubauer, La geographie du Talmud (Paris, 1868), 207-14; Gu^rin, Description de la Palestine: Galilee, 1 (Paris, 1869-80), 250-63; ThOMSEN, Loca sa7icta (Halle, 1907), HI.

S. Vailh*.

Tiberias, Sea of, so caUed in John, xxi, 1 (cf. vi, 1), otherwise known as "the sea of Galilee" (Matt., iv, 18; Mark, i, 16; John, vi, 1), or as "the lake of Gene- sareth" (Luke, v, 1, and Rabbinical writings), or as "the sea of Cenereth" (Num., xxxiv, 11; Jos., xiii, 27; cf. Jos., xi, 2), or as "the water of Genesar" (I Mach., xi, 67), or, lastly, as "the Lake of Tarichea" (Phny, " Hist. Nat.", V, x-v). It lies in the Jordan gorge, 682 feetbelow the level of the Mediterranean. An irregular oval nearly thirteen miles long, its maximum width, near the northern end, is about seven and a half miles. The lake is enclosed on the east and west by moun- tains; the former, a uniform wall 2000 feet high slop- ing steeply to within half a mile of the shore; the lat- ter, lower and more broken, gradually approaching the water as they advance northwards till, about half way up the coast, they leave only a narrow strip of littoral. At the north-west corner the mountain inclines somewhat westward and the littoral widens into a triangular plain of marvellous fertility which stretches eastwards for four miles — the Plain of Gene- sareth. East of this the ground is broken and sterile, overgrown with bush, and strewn with volcanic rock. The lake is fed by several torrents and by coiiious hot springs on the north and west, but principally by the Jordan, which enters at the north-east corner and rushes out at the south-western extremity. The depth of the lake nowhere exceeds 150 feet. Its water is sweet and good to drink. Fish are so abun- dant that catches of 600 pounds are not rare, and in one exceptional season (1896) 9200 pounds of fish were hauled ashore in one huge net. Storms are alarmingly sudden and frequent. The hot atmos- phere of the gorge (averaging in the shade 93°F. in summer, and 50° in winter) sucks down the cool air of the h(-ights through the narrow wadis to the east