Kursi (, , ) 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 recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

in the

Golan Heights The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in t ...

containing the ruins of a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

monastery and identified by tradition as the site of

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

' " Miracle of the Swine". Part of the archaeological site is now an Israeli national park. Kursi takes its name from the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ic site. A marble slab with Aramaic text discovered in December 2015 seems to indicate that the settlement had, as of , a Jewish or

Judeo-Christian The term ''Judeo-Christian'' is used to group Christianity and Judaism together, either in reference to Christianity's derivation from Judaism, Christianity's recognition of Jewish scripture to constitute the Old Testament of the Christian Bibl ...

population.

Location

The site is located near the eastern shore of the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee (, Judeo-Aramaic languages, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ), also called Lake Tiberias, Genezareth Lake or Kinneret, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth ...

on the bank of a

wadi Wadi ( ; ) is a river valley or a wet (ephemerality, ephemeral) Stream bed, riverbed that contains water only when heavy rain occurs. Wadis are located on gently sloping, nearly flat parts of deserts; commonly they begin on the distal portion ...

, Nahal Samakh, descending from the

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 5:1–20,

Matthew 8 Matthew 8 is the eighth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and continues the narrative about Ministry of Jesus, Jesus' ministry in Galilee previously described in Matthew 4:23–Matthew 4:25, 25. It follows on from the Sermon on ...

: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 Apostl ...

:26–39). The details differ somewhat in the three

Synoptic Gospels The gospels of Gospel of Matthew, Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Mark, and Gospel of Luke, Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical ...

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,University of Exeter website, Architecture and Asceticism section, ''Kursi Church, Galilee'', article by Lucy O'Connor, August 2013
/ref> remaining in use throughout the

Byzantine period The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

. 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 Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

(Persian) armies invaded

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

laying waste 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, Israel In and Out website, ''Archaeological Discoveries in Kursi''
/ref> 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 meters.Megalithic Portal website, ''Kursi National Park - Ancient Village or Settlement in Israel'', article dated September 26, 2017
/ref> 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. The church is 24 x 45 sq. metres in area, and was entered through a forecourt opening onto an atrium 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'' (grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (black geese). Some members of the Tadorninae subfamily (e.g., Egyp ...

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 small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) ado ...

s and fish,

citron The citron (''Citrus medica''), historically cedrate, is a large fragrant citrus fruit with a thick Peel (fruit), rind. It is said to resemble a 'huge, rough lemon'. It is one of the Citrus taxonomy#Citrons, original citrus fruits from which al ...

dates Date or dates may refer to: * Date, the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'') * Jujube, also known as red date or Chinese date, the fruit of ''Ziziphus jujuba'' Social activity *Dating, a form of courtship involving social activit ...

pomegranate The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punica, Punicoideae, that grows between tall. Rich in symbolic and mythological associations in many cultures, it is thought to have o ...

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 art and architecture, early Christian and Byzantine architecture, Byzantine basilicas and Church architecture, churches consisting of the entrance or Vestibule (architecture), ve ...

to a

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

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 for the

Israel Antiquities Authority The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, ; , before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of Antiquities. The IAA regulates excavation and conservatio ...

. 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.

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 ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...

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 gla ...

. 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.

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 in the Golan Heights National parks of Israel Byzantine sites in Asia Ancient Jewish settlements of Galilee Sea of Galilee Monasteries of the Byzantine Empire Christian monasteries in Israel New Testament places Gospel of Mark Gospel of Matthew Gospel of Luke Demolished buildings and structures in Israel Ruins in Israel