2.02 Tiberias — Mt. Bernice Anchor Church

Summary information

• Location

  GPS coordinates: 32.77578, 35.53951

  Structure is visible in Google maps.

• Description
  “This was a large basilica, with walls of well-cut basalt stone. The length of the church from west to east was 48 meters (157 feet), and its breadth from north to south 28 meters (92 feet). The church was made up of a prayer hall, and a forecourt (atrium) containing a large cistern with a ceiling supported by four stone arches. The cistern, with a capacity of 300 cubic meters (about 400 cubic yards), collected winter rainwater for the use of the permanent community. The church complex included living quarters, apparently of a small monastic community, whose task it was to care for the church, conduct its rites, and serve the pilgrims that visited it. Remains of an oil-press were found next to the outer wall, indicating that the monks were involved in olive cultivation and the manufacture of its oil, which was their traditional occupation throughout the country at the time” (Hirschfeld 1994: 126).
• Phasing

  Built in the 6th century, possibly in reaction to the Samaritan revolt (529-531).

• Bibliogaphy

  Yizhar Hirschfeld. “The Anchor Church at the Summit of Mt. Berenice, Tiberias.” The Biblical Archaeologist Sep., 1994, Vol. 57, No. 3 (Sep., 1994), pp. 122-133. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3210407

  —–, Excavation at Tiberias, 1989-1994, Jerusalem, 2004.