Bet Shean

Bet Shean is by far the most amazing archetecture I've ever seen.

It is a city, or rather layers of cities with one huge one at the bottom, with a long history. People have lived here since 3000 B.C. We saw some Canaanite ruins and other very, very old stuff at the top of the hill you see in the distance. There are evidences of 18 different layers or civilizations somwhere in or on that hill. Crazy! It is mentioned in the old testament in first and second Samuel that the heads of Saul and Jonathan were hung from the city gates here after they were defeated by the Philistines. The large city at the bottom of the tell (hill) was built by Herod and was a metropolis in it's time. 30,000 people lived there.

The Theater

Main Street

It was destroyed in an earthquake in 747 and buried almost completely. That's a good thing for us, because it was well preserved and has only recently been excavated. AMAZING!

View from the top of the tell looking back toward the theater.