{"id":62008,"date":"2025-09-05T10:24:44","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T08:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/?p=62008"},"modified":"2025-09-05T10:24:44","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T08:24:44","slug":"bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/","title":{"rendered":"Bethsaida, Archaeology Finds the City of the Apostle Peter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-128522\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Betsaida_citta_pietro_-1.webp\" alt=\"Bethsaida city peter bible\" width=\"598\" height=\"314\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><i>Where is <strong>Bethsaida<\/strong>? A wildfire allows us to <strong>confirm<\/strong> the discovery of the hometown of Peter, Andrew and Philip, identified with present-day <strong>el-Araj<\/strong>. It corresponds to what <strong>Flavius Josephus<\/strong> wrote.<\/i><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A fire near the <strong>Sea of Galilee<\/strong> has rekindled attention on the city of <b><mark>Bethsaida<\/mark><\/b>, mentioned in the Bible.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">We are in Israel, north of the Sea of Galilee and specifically at <strong>el-Araj<\/strong>, a locality long identified as ancient <strong>Bethsaida<\/strong>, the village from which, according to the Gospel of John, the apostles <strong>Peter, Andrew and Philip<\/strong> came.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Bethsaida, previous findings<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For years archaeologist <strong>Mordechai Aviam<\/strong> (Kinneret College) has been directing excavations in this area and in 2019 he uncovered the first remains of a 5th-century Byzantine church.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Last year, instead, he brought to light <strong>magnificent mosaics<\/strong> and <strong>Greek inscriptions<\/strong>, one of which <strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/inscription-points-to-sea-of-galilee-site-as-st-peters-home-say-researchers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">explicitly asks<\/a><\/em><\/strong> for the intercession of Saint Peter, designated as &#8220;Head and Guide of the Heavenly Messengers&#8221; and &#8220;Keeper of the Keys&#8221;, titles traditionally associated with Saint Peter.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The builders of the church had evidently <strong>recognized Peter&#8217;s house<\/strong> (and Andrew&#8217;s) described in the New Testament, just as happened at another important Galilean site, Capernaum. Peter, in fact, was born in Bethsaida but moved to Capernaum, the town of his wife.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-128523\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/peter.webp\" alt=\"Bethsaida bible where is\" width=\"587\" height=\"308\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Bethsaida, recent discoveries<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">We come then to last month, <strong>August 2025<\/strong>, when a wildfire that developed in the area further revealed <strong>ancient remains<\/strong>, confirming the existence of an urban reality.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Remains of private houses, traces of public buildings, Corinthian and Doric capitals and imposing architectural elements have emerged clearly, outlining a scenario <strong>far more complex<\/strong> than a simple fishing village.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Prof. Aviam pointed out in <strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/ruins-revealed-by-wildfire-boost-galilean-sites-claim-as-new-testaments-bethsaida\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an interview<\/a><\/em><\/strong> the correspondence between the architectural features of the site and the description provided by <strong>Flavius Josephus<\/strong> of the city of Julias, Bethsaida&#8217;s transformation under Philip, the tetrarch of Judea.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Jewish historian indeed speaks of Bethsaida as a dignified city in <i>Antiquities of the Jews<\/i>, emphasizing <i>\u00ab<strong>the number of inhabitants<\/strong> it contained\u00bb<\/i> and its <i>\u00abother <strong>greatness<\/strong>\u00bb<\/i>. Evidently, the archaeologist comments, <i>\u00abin light of what Flavius Josephus states, Bethsaida could not have been a small village\u00bb<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><i>\u00abThe fire helped us greatly to understand the site\u00bb<\/i>, he explained, and the remains can be dated to the <strong>Roman period<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The flames destroyed his team&#8217;s equipment, but they also cleared the dense vegetation that had hidden large parts of the site. Thus the thesis that what was found is indeed Bethsaida has been <strong>strengthened<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Where is Bethsaida located?<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For the sake of truth it must be said that <strong>el-Araj<\/strong> is not the only town candidate to be the site of the hometown of the first apostles.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">About two kilometers away is the site of <strong>e-Tell<\/strong>, the first to be identified as Bethsaida since 1987. There is also a third possibility involving <strong>al-Mesydiah<\/strong>, but its identification is supported by few proofs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">El-Araj, on the other hand, shows evidence of occupation <strong>from the Hellenistic<\/strong> and Hasmonean period (2nd century BC) until the end of the <strong>Roman period<\/strong> (3rd century AD), when the village was probably abandoned due to rising lake levels.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Traces of an <strong>ancient Jewish settlement<\/strong> include various Hasmonean coins found, stone vessels (which Jews used for ritual purification) and a very limited number of pig bones.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the <strong>New Testament<\/strong>, Bethsaida was visited several times by <strong>Jesus of Nazareth<\/strong> himself.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Here he performed the miracle of healing a blind man (Mark 8:22\u201326) and the <strong>multiplication of the loaves and fishes<\/strong> (Luke 9:10\u201317). The city is also reproached by the Nazarene because it did not repent despite having witnessed numerous miracles (Matthew 11:21).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The team plans to return to el-Araj around late October, <strong>UCCR<\/strong> will keep readers updated on any developments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Where is Bethsaida? A wildfire confirms the discovery of the hometown of Peter, Andrew and Philip, identified with present-day el-Araj.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":266,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1865,1870,1866,1867,1868,1869],"class_list":["post-62008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-apostles-archaeology","tag-bethsaida","tag-bible-archaeology","tag-disciples-archaeology","tag-new-testament-archaeology","tag-peter-archaeology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bethsaida, Archaeology Finds the City of the Apostle Peter - UCCR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Where is Betsaida? A wildfire confirms the discovery of the hometown of Peter, Andrew and Philip, identified with present-day el-Araj.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bethsaida, Archaeology Finds the City of the Apostle Peter - UCCR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Where is Betsaida? A wildfire confirms the discovery of the hometown of Peter, Andrew and Philip, identified with present-day el-Araj.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UCCR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uccronlineng\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-05T08:24:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Betsaida_citta_pietro_-1.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"webmaster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"webmaster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/\",\"name\":\"Bethsaida, Archaeology Finds the City of the Apostle Peter - UCCR\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Betsaida_citta_pietro_-1.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-05T08:24:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/266504740f79258d3ff1428b591e842a\"},\"description\":\"Where is Betsaida? A wildfire confirms the discovery of the hometown of Peter, Andrew and Philip, identified with present-day el-Araj.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Betsaida_citta_pietro_-1.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Betsaida_citta_pietro_-1.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Bethsaida bible where is\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bethsaida, Archaeology Finds the City of the Apostle Peter\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"UCCR\",\"description\":\"Union of Catholic Christian Rationalists\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/266504740f79258d3ff1428b591e842a\",\"name\":\"webmaster\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/author\/webmaster\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bethsaida, Archaeology Finds the City of the Apostle Peter - UCCR","description":"Where is Betsaida? A wildfire confirms the discovery of the hometown of Peter, Andrew and Philip, identified with present-day el-Araj.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bethsaida, Archaeology Finds the City of the Apostle Peter - UCCR","og_description":"Where is Betsaida? A wildfire confirms the discovery of the hometown of Peter, Andrew and Philip, identified with present-day el-Araj.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/","og_site_name":"UCCR","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uccronlineng\/","article_published_time":"2025-09-05T08:24:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Betsaida_citta_pietro_-1.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"webmaster","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"webmaster","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/","url":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/","name":"Bethsaida, Archaeology Finds the City of the Apostle Peter - UCCR","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Betsaida_citta_pietro_-1.webp","datePublished":"2025-09-05T08:24:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/266504740f79258d3ff1428b591e842a"},"description":"Where is Betsaida? A wildfire confirms the discovery of the hometown of Peter, Andrew and Philip, identified with present-day el-Araj.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Betsaida_citta_pietro_-1.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Betsaida_citta_pietro_-1.webp","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Bethsaida bible where is"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/09\/05\/bethsaida-archaeology-finds-the-city-of-the-apostle-peter\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bethsaida, Archaeology Finds the City of the Apostle Peter"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/","name":"UCCR","description":"Union of Catholic Christian Rationalists","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/266504740f79258d3ff1428b591e842a","name":"webmaster","url":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/author\/webmaster\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62008"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62008"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62014,"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62008\/revisions\/62014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}