Tiberias of the Early Islamic Period

Hebrew:
טבריה בתקופת האסלמית הראשונה
Pronunciation:
T’ver-ia
Other Names
Tiberias of the 9th - 11th centuries
Description:
Jewish life in Tiberias continued to grow and develop during the early days of Islamic rule of Northern Israel.

Following the difficulties of the [[Tiberias Byzantine Early Arab Rule|Byzantine period]] the Jews of Tiberias enjoyed a measure of freedom and prosperity during the Islamic Era.

Contents 1 Beginning of the Islamic Period 1.1 Archaeological Finds 1.2 Religious Life 2 Masoretes

[edit] Beginning of the Islamic Period

When the Omar b. al-Khattab conquered Tiberias from the Byzantines in 638 A.D., he ushered in the age of Islamic rule. The Byzantine rulers surrendered to al-Khattab’s troops peacefully, guaranteeing the city’s safety and a relatively benign relationship between the city’s Jews and Christians and al-Khattab’s ruling Umayyad dynasty. Al-Khattab named the province which surrounds Tiberias “Jund al-Urdunn” and Tiberias replaced Beit Shean as the region’s capital.

The Arab rulers reconstructed the ancient walls of Tiberias which had been built during Roman and Byzantine eras, and built a fortress and their own winter palaces. A 749 A.D. earthquake caused great damage to the city but the inhabitants rebuilt.

[edit] Archaeological Finds

Recent archaeological excavations provide new understandings of the centrality of Tiberias in the life of the residents of the Eastern Galilee during the Islamic Era. Archaeologists have found installations in which glass vessels were manufactured and a building which was used as a pottery workshop. The findings of large amounts of lamps, fragments of bronze, pieces glass and bones, all from the Abbasid period (eighth–ninth centuries A.D.) attest to a significant population which enjoyed economic security and a measure of prosperity. A number of workshops and even a winery have been excavated which date to the Islamic period.

The archaeological findings indicate that the town was, at that time of the Umayyad dynasty rule, located at the southern tip of present-day Tiberias. Subsequently, during the Abbasid and Fatimid periods Tiberias expanded even more southward, parallel to the Sea of Galilee.

[edit] Religious Life

The Jewish community comprised the largest religious population of Tiberias during the Early Islamic era, followed in size by the Christian community. The Great Academy, “Yeshivat Eretz Israel,” flourished in Tiberias well into the tenth century, when it moved to Jerusalem. The Muslims built mosques in the city including a large mosque along the waterfront where fishermen could sail their boats directly into the mosque. Christian travelers note the presence of five churches, a monastery and a convent in and around Tiberias.

[edit] Masoretes

One of the industries of Tiberian Jews was the Hebrew book industry. Jewish residents of Tiberias copied and bound Hebrew manuscripts and then sent these books to Jewish communities around the world. In addition, a widely-accepted system of Hebrew grammar was developed, largely in Tiberias, by the “Ba’alei Masoreh” -- Masoretes, Transmitters of the Torah Traditions. The Masoretes were scholars and scribes who lived in Tiberias and developed Hebrew grammar, punctuation, vowels and cantillation (the trop) into a system which came to be accepted by Jews throughout the world. Aaron ben Moses ben Asher and ben Naftali, both Tiberias residents, wrote competing systems of grammar for the Hebrew Bible text. Maimonidies -- the Rambam -- accepted Aaron Ben Moses ben Asher’s system while Sa’adiya Gaon accepted that of ben Naftali.

These systems reveall the linguistic background of the Biblical text’s vocalization and give Judaica scholars a wealth of information to use when analyzing the books of the Bible.