Kursi (
Byzantine Greek Κυρσοί) is an
archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...
in the
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 di ...
containing the ruins of a
Byzantine
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 ...
monastery and identified by tradition as the site of
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...
' "
Miracle of the Swine". Part of the archaeological site is now an Israeli national park. Kursi takes its name from the
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
ic site.
[''Our Researchers Uncover a Unique Hebrew Inscription Showing Existence of a Jewish Village at Kursi''](_blank)
University of Haifa
The University of Haifa ( he, אוניברסיטת חיפה Arabic: جامعة حيفا) is a university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation in 1972, becoming ...
, December 2015. A marble slab with Aramaic text discovered in December 2015 seems to indicate that the settlement had, as of ca. 500 CE, a Jewish or
Judeo-Christian population.
Location
The site is located near the eastern shore of the
Sea of Galilee on the bank of a
wadi
Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water ...
, Nahal Samakh, descending from the
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 di ...
.
Christian significance
Kursi has been identified by tradition as the site of the "Miracle of the Swine", where Jesus healed one or two men possessed by demons by driving these into a herd of pigs (
Mark 5
Mark 5 is the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Taken with the calming of the sea in , there are "four striking works hichfollow each other without a break": an exorcism, a healing, and the raisin ...
:1-20,
Matthew 8
Matthew 8 is the eighth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and continues the narrative about Jesus' ministry in Galilee previously described in Matthew 4:23– 25. It follows on from the Sermon on the Mount, noting in its ...
:28–34,
Luke 8
Luke 8 is the eighth chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The book containing this chapter is anonymous but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke the Evangelist, a companion of Paul the Apo ...
:26-39). The details differ somewhat in the three
Synoptic Gospels dealing with the episode, and again some more in various ancient manuscripts of those same gospels. The events take place in the land of either the
Gerasenes, Gadarenes or Gergesenes (Mark 5:1, Matthew 8:28, Luke 8:26). Exorcised was either one man as per Mark and Luke, or two as per Matthew.
Ancient monastery
History
The monastery and its church were built in the 5th century, remaining in use throughout 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 ...
. This being a major pilgrimage site, a number of buildings were built for the accommodation of pilgrims as well as the local monastic community, all surrounded by walls and other fortifications. In 614 the
Sassanian
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
(Persian) armies invaded
Palestine laying waste to most of its churches and monasteries, including the one at Kursi. The church was later rebuilt, but part of the destroyed settlement was left in its ruined state. The church continued functioning under Muslim rule after the
conquest of Palestine in 638-641 until being totally devastated by the
749 earthquake. Arab squatters used the ruins as dwellings and for storage in the 9th century, marking the end of Kursi's use as a Christian pilgrimage site.
Description
The monastery is surrounded by a rectangular stone wall measuring 145 x 123 metres. The entrance facing the Sea of Galilee was guarded by a watchtower, and a paved road led down to a harbor, where pilgrim boats could berth. Once inside the wall, the pilgrims had the choice of going first to a luxurious bathhouse (excavated area to the left/north of the entrance), or going straight to the centrally placed church. 24 x 45 sq. metres in area, the church was entered through a forecourt opening onto an
atrium
Atrium may refer to:
Anatomy
* Atrium (heart), an anatomical structure of the heart
* Atrium, the genital structure next to the genital aperture in the reproductive system of gastropods
* Atrium of the ventricular system of the brain
* Pulmona ...
or inner courtyard, followed by the church proper which was flanked on both sides by chapels and auxiliary rooms. The church is of the basilical type, with two rows of columns separating it into a nave and two aisles.
The mosaic floor of the nave consists of geometrical designs, while the lateral aisles once contained medallions with depictions of the local flora and fauna; most of these have been destroyed, but some are still visible, such as
geese
A goose ( : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (the black geese). Some other birds, mostly related to the she ...
,
dove
Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...
s,
cormorants and fish,
citron
The citron (''Citrus medica''), historically cedrate, is a large fragrant citrus fruit with a thick rind. It is said to resemble a 'huge, rough lemon'. It is one of the original citrus fruits from which all other citrus types developed throu ...
s,
dates
Date or dates may refer to:
*Date (fruit), the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'')
Social activity
*Dating, a form of courtship involving social activity, with the aim of assessing a potential partner
**Group dating
* Play date, a ...
,
pomegranate
The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between tall.
The pomegranate was originally described throughout the Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean re ...
s, and grapes. The baptistery chapel on the southern side of the central apse has a small baptismal font, and the mosaic floor includes an inscription indicating that it was laid in the year 585. A staircase (not accessible to visitors) leads from the southern end of the
narthex
The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex ...
to a
crypt used for burials, where archaeologists have found several intact skeletons. Among the rooms on the northern side is one containing an olive press. The atrium is largely built over a large cistern, as one can see from the two well heads; a ladder leading down to the cistern is not accessible to visitors.
A small Byzantine chapel stood outside the main compound, on the hill to the south. Here a large boulder was probably considered to be the exact site of the miracle. Remains were discovered of what might have been a tower built around the boulder and of a chapel squeezed in between the hillside and the boulder. Three distinct layers of mosaic floor and an apse were excavated here.
Archaeology
Monastic complex
The ruins of the monastery were first unearthed by road construction crews in 1970, and the major excavation took place between 1971 and 1974 headed by Israeli archaeologist Dan Urman
and his Greek colleague
Vassilios Tzaferis
Vassilios Tzaferis (1 April 1936 – 1 January 2015) was a Greek–Israeli biblical archaeologist and Orthodox monk, best known for his discovery of the remains of a crucified man at Givat HaMivtar. He was the director of surveys and excavations ...
for the
Israel Antiquities Authority
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, he, רשות העתיקות ; ar, داﺌرة الآثار, before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of ...
. Together they excavated the largest Byzantine monastic complex found in Israel. Further excavations have since been taking place, the marble-lined bath-house being one of the more recent discoveries.
The church has been reconstructed to a degree which allows the visitor to understand its three-dimensional shape and size.
Christian artifacts from Kursi can be viewed at the
Golan Archaeological Museum
The Golan Archaeological Museum is a museum of the archaeological finds of the Golan Heights, located in Katzrin.
The museum features artifacts from all historical periods. Among these are artifacts and decorated architectural fragments from a n ...
.
Possible synagogue
A building that may have been a synagogue has also been unearthed in 2015.
[ Large parts of a marble slab shattered into pieces][ and inscribed in Aramaic was found inside this building, and two words were deciphered shortly after the discovery: "amen" and "marmaria"; the latter, literally 'marble', has been interpreted by some scholars as perhaps linked with the cult of the Virgin Mary, possibly meaning 'Maria's reatrabbi', since 'mar' means rabbi.]
The scholars who excavated the fragments assume that the marble tablet initially measured some 120 by 60 centimetres.[ They describe the inscription as being in Hebrew, at least 1,600 years old, and consisting of eight lines commemorating a man (or several) from ]Tiberias
Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's F ...
who has (or have) made a donation for the building that included marble.[ The tablet was set into the floor and was surrounded by a simple ]opus sectile
''Opus sectile'' is a form of pietra dura popularized in the ancient and medieval Roman world where materials were cut and inlaid into walls and floors to make a picture or pattern. Common materials were marble, mother of pearl, and glass. T ...
.[ It is the only such marble tablet ever found (as of 2015) in an ancient synagogue in Israel or the Golan Heights.][ The inscription is the first to indicate that the settlement at Kursi was Jewish or Judaeo-Christian.]
See also
* Kathleen Kenyon
Dame Kathleen Mary Kenyon, (5 January 1906 – 24 August 1978) was a British archaeologist of Neolithic culture in the Fertile Crescent. She led excavations of Tell es-Sultan, the site of ancient Jericho, from 1952 to 1958, and has been called ...
References
External links
Kursi National Park
National Parks Authority (new website)
Kursi National Park
National Parks Authority (old website)
Archaeological Sites in Israel
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ancient inscription points to Jewish past for early Christian site
the ancient village, port, synagogue and inscription. ''The Times of Israel'', 21 December 2015 (accessed June 2020).
{{authority control
5th-century establishments in the Byzantine Empire
Christian monasteries established in the 5th century
Buildings and structures demolished in the 8th century
Classical sites on the Golan Heights
Former populated places on the Golan Heights
National parks of Israel
Byzantine sites in Asia
Byzantine sacred architecture
Ancient Jewish settlements of Galilee
Sea of Galilee
Monasteries of the Byzantine Empire
Christian monasteries in Syria
New Testament places
Gospel of Mark
Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Luke
Demolished buildings and structures in Syria
Ruins in Syria