Tiberias was founded in 20 AD by Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. It is named in honor of the Roman Emperor Caesar Tiberius. In 61 AD the city was annexed to the realm of Herod Agrippa II.

Herod Antipas established his residence in the city of Sepphoris, but due to the aggressive Hasmonean, anti-Herodian and anti-Roman positions of the city so he decided to build himself a capital city that would be loyal to him, and relocated to Tiberias. In Tiberias, Herod established governing institutions such as a people’s assembly and the city council, however all the affairs of the city were decided and cut according to the will of the ruler.

One of the issued Herod faced was the inhabiting the city. At that time there were only small fishing villages around Tiberias and in order to inhabit it, it was necessary to bring in new residents.

Herod forcibly transferred residents to the city. Some were well-off and respected men, who opposed the detachment from their homes, property and business. Others resisted the move for religious reasons, as Tiberias was defiled, built over graves of the people of the ancient neighboring city of Hamat.

Herod was not deterred by this, and ordered the removal of the graves and forced the population of the city by Jews.

With time the city was cleansed from its defilement. Legend tells of Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai who feared the Romans and hid in a cave in the area. After years prolonged escape to the cave he came out with his body full of wounds, cured only by the healing waters of Hamat Tiberias. With gratitude, Bar-Yochai then resulted to end the dispute and cleanse the city from its defilement. To this day, Tiberias is famous throughout the world for its unique curative baths.

By then, the city’s population was already diverse, comprised of a Jewish majority and a minority of non-Jews.

The Great Jewish revolt against the Roman empire started at 66 AD. Economic polarization prevailed then among the Jewish residents of Tiberias, of them there was a small group of wealthy residents next to a group of wretched poor. To help the poor, and on condition that they would not abandon the city, Herod granted them with lands and built homes for them, and temporarily exempted them from taxes. Efforts put aside, the Jews were soon split into hostile camps that were busy not with preparing for the coming battle, but in wars between them.

The Jewish rebels in the nearby cities – Trichai and Yodfat, were subject to a Roman siege, and in their failure to hold against the Roman cavalry, their rebellion ended in their slaughter by the Romans. Following the fall of its neighboring cities, in 67 AD, Tiberias surrendered to the Romans without a fight. The city remained under the rule of Agrippa II until 96 AD, and upon his death, came fully under Roman rule and enjoyed the prosperity that characterized the entire Roman Empire.

 

After the Bar Kochba revolt, the city was cleansed from its defilement. Priests thus settled in the city, as well as the Sanhedrin, relocating to Tiberias from Sepphoris and the new spiritual center attracted many scholars.

From the second half of the 2^nd century, Tiberias united with the nearby city of Hamat and formed together to the largest city in the Galilee. The city was fortified with a wall and enjoyed economic prosperity. It then had 13 markets, each of them specializing in a certain craft.

For years, Tiberias was the spiritual center of the Jews of the country, sages, bards and writers settled there, and the Jerusalem Talmud, which was the main work of the Jewish center, was signed in Tiberias.

In the fifth century, the number of Christian residents in the city increased, forming a Christian community in it. In the sixth century, a Byzantine church and monastery named after Queen Berenice, daughter of King Agrippa I.

In the Arab period – 641-1099 – under Arab rule, Tiberias was the capital of the Jordan province. The Jews were the largest community and Tiberias maintained its position as a central settlement in the Galilee until the 11th century. During this period the Jews of the city were engaged in the “Hebrew book industry”, they copied books, punctuate them, bound them and sent them to Jewish communities around the world. Alongside the Jewish community, the Christian community also flourished.

From 1099 to 1187, during the Crusader period, Tiberias became the capital of the Principality of Galilee. The principality was destroyed by Saladin in 1187, then the city was under Muslim Ayyubid rule until 1240.

In the middle of the sixteenth century, the Galilee was invaded by two Bedouin tribes. The battles between them drove the Jews out of the city, who found hiding in the surrounding villages.

The city’s Rabbis turned to the Turkish Sultan for help and he transferred the concession on Tiberias to Dona Grazia and her son-in-law Don Yosef Nashi for an annual payment. Dona Gracia and her son-in-law began the restoration of the city, they renovated the city walls and brought settlers from among the deportees from Spain. The death of Dona Gracia in 1569 and harassment by the Arabs, brought the project to a halt.

In 1738, the Galilee was conquered by the Bedouin T’ahr al-Amr, who restored Tiberias. He renovated the wall, built a crusader citadel and two mosques. He invited Rabbi Chaim Abulafia from Izmir to come and live in the city, who despite his advanced age, accepted the invitation. Upon his arrival he was appointed head of the community. Under his leadership the Jewish quarter was rebuilt, including the “Etz Chaim” synagogue that was built on the ruins of the old synagogue. A Mikveh (bath house) and community institutions were also built in the quarter, all of which led to the renewal of Jewish life in the city.

In 1756, Ashkenazi Jews settled in the city, among them a group of Hassidim disciples of the Ba’al Shem Tov, as well as Rabbi Nachman of Breslav who also settled in the city.

At the beginning of the 19^th century, there were about 4000 inhabitants in Tiberias. 2,600 of them were Jews and the rest were Arabs.

In 1984, the Turks regained control of Tiberias and granted it the status of a city. In those years, its residents suffered from poverty and plagues, but the establishment of Jewish settlements in the Galilee by Baron Rothschild’s Jewish Settlement Society improved the situation in the city. Along with the settlement and with the renewal of settlement in Israel under the leadership of the Zionist movement, the number of residents gradually increased and the city expanded outside the walls.

In 1912, “Achvah” – the first neighborhood outside the walls was founded.

In 1917, “Europa Hotel” was built, and was one of the first buildings outside the wall.

At the outbreak of World War I, Tiberias had 8,000 residents, of which 6,000 were Jews. Since most of them lived on the Halukka charity funds, the severance of contact with the Jewish communities following the war resulted in the cessation of donations and their situation worsened. The Zionist movement turned to the Joint for help, which eased their trouble a little.

In 1920 a new neighborhood was built in the city, Kiryat Shmuel.

In May 1943, following a devastating storm which brought huge amounts of rain, the drainage infrastructure collapsed and the city was flooded. Many houses were destroyed, 32 residents were killed and 100 were injured.

On the eve of the War of Independence, about 7,000 Jews and about 5,000 Arabs lived in the city. Tiberias was the first mixed city that was liberated by the Palmach and Golani defense forces, a month before the establishment of the new state.

The day after the liberation of the city, the Arab residents turned to the British and asked them to help them leave the city. The British army mediated between the Arabs and the Jewish commander and they left the city, some moved to Nazareth and some to the Jordan.

After the establishment of the state, many new immigrants settled in the city and new neighborhoods were built.

Today, Tiberias has about 45,000 inhabitants, it is coastal resort with many landmarks, hotels, a promenade on the Sea of Galilee, restaurants and cafes.