Archaeologists claim discovery of biblical Bethsaida at Sea of Galilee site
A decade-long dig at el-Araj near the Sea of Galilee has yielded Roman-era artifacts that the team says confirm the location of the lost city of Bethsaida.
After ten years of investigation, the Bethsaida-Julias excavation team announced that the ruins at el-Araj on the Sea of Galilee correspond to the lost biblical city of Bethsaida. Academic director Steven Notley highlighted a suite of Roman-period finds—including lamps, makeup tools, coins, a basalt mortar and a half-Doric capital—that depict a thriving urban center from the first to third centuries CE. The presence of intact Herodian lamps, produced only in Jerusalem before 70 CE, confirms a Jewish community during the era when the town became the Roman polis of Julias.
Beneath these layers, evidence of an earlier Hellenistic settlement emerged, while Ottoman-era stables were found built directly atop Roman walls without causing collapse. Notley stated that the cumulative evidence leaves no doubt about the site's identity and that it likely hosted the miracles attributed to Jesus, such as healing a blind man and feeding thousands. The discoveries challenge the view of Galilean villages as impoverished, suggesting they were prosperous under Roman rule.
Why it matters
Locating Bethsaida could reshape biblical archaeology and our view of early Christian history.
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