The Bethsaida Valley ( he, בקעת הבטיחה), Arabic: Buq'at al-Butayhah,

Mindat.org Mindat.org is a non-commercial online database, claiming to be the largest mineral database and mineralogy, mineralogical reference website on the Internet. It is used by professional mineralogists, geologists, and amateur mineral collecting, mi ...

, accessed 23.1.2022. is a valley by the northeast shores of the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee ( he, יָם כִּנֶּרֶת, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ar, بحيرة طبريا), also called Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest f ...

at the steep foothills of the central

Golan Heights The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between d ...

Etymology

Bethsaida Valley is named after the town of

Bethsaida Bethsaida (; from gr, Βηθσαϊδά from Hebrew/Aramaic ''beth-tsaida'', lit. " house of hunting" from the Hebrew root ; ar, بيت صيدا), also known as Julias, is a place mentioned in the New Testament. Julias lay in an administrative di ...

, best known from the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

. In Hebrew ''beit'' means house, and ''tzed'' means both hunting and fishing. The resulting name means either "house of the fisherman" or "house of the hunter". The Hebrew ''Beit-tzaida'', adapted to Greek phonetics (the New Testament was written in Greek) and transliterated to Latin, yields Bethsaida. The Arabic name of the valley is ''Buq'at al-Butayhah'', also spelled ''Bik'at Beteiha'', or ''el-Batikha''.The Ministry of Health Advises to Visit Israel's North as Normal
15.8.2018, accessed 23.1.2022.

Wetlands

The Jordan River and the streams coming down from the Central Golan create a landscape of swamps and open water surfaces, variously called deltas,

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environme ...

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons' ...

s. The following five rivers or streams flow through the valley (west to east):

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...

, whose upper course ends here, at the northern edge; then Meshushim (Wadi el-Hawa in Arabic; collects the waters of the

Katzrin Katzrin ( he, קַצְרִין; also Qatzrin, ar, قصرين, qaṣrīn) is an Israeli settlement organized as a local council in the Golan Heights. Known as the "capital of the Golan", it is the second-largest locality there after Majdal Sha ...

and Zavitan streams),

Yehudiya Yehudiya ( ar, يهودية, "Jewish") is an abandoned village and archeological site in the center of the Golan Heights, about 5 kilometers south of Katzrin within the Yehudiya Forest Nature Reserve. Ancient Jewish settlement In the houses of ...

(with

Batra Batra is a clan of Arora community of Punjab, India. They are mainly followers of Hinduism and Sikhism. Notable people Armed Forces * Vikram Batra, PVC (1974–1999), officer of the Indian Army, posthumously awarded India's highest award fo ...

as a tributary),

Daliyot The Daliyot River (Hebrew: Nahal Daliyot) is a river in the Golan Heights. It flows from the Golan Heights plateau, through the Gamla Nature Reserve and down the western slopes of the Heights, and into the Sea of Galilee. The estuary, Majrase The ...

, and Sfamnun/Sfamnon ( he, נחל שפמנון Nahal Sfamnon). The wetlands are protected as part of the . The reserve covers 6.930 dunams, some of it agricultural land, and represents a sequence of

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s (river,

marshland A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

, lagoon, and lake habitat). The Meshushim River, which has already received the waters of Zavitan, and the Yehudiya River, merge shortly before reaching the lake and form the Zaki estuary, while Daliyot River creates the Majrase or Majrassa estuary, also known as the Daliyot River estuary. The Majrase is the largest freshwater

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

controlled by Israel.

Archaeology

Multiple archaeological sites, including

dolmen A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were so ...

s, suggest that it was settled by farmers and fishermen since the early

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

. From the

Second Temple period The Second Temple period in Jewish history lasted approximately 600 years (516 BCE - 70 CE), during which the Second Temple existed. It started with the return to Zion and the construction of the Second Temple, while it ended with the First Jewis ...

through the

Byzantine period The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

it was densely populated.

References

{{Coord, 32.8845, 35.6381, display=title Valleys of Israel Sea of Galilee Bethsaida