Where Is Bethsaida? —

Today, there are two contenders for ancient Bethsaida-Julias, the longer held cite of Et Tell, and El Araj that began to be excavated in 2014. Et Tell is currently 1 and a half miles away from the shore of the Sea of Galilee, but the lake has receded since the first century, and it has been estimated that it could have been up to a mile closer, meaning Et Tell would have been half a mile from the lakeshore. El Araj is much closer to the sea, and in the first century it would have been directly on the shore. Both sites are close enough to the Sea of Galilee to have been Bethsaida, and in both fishing paraphernalia like hooks and net weights have been found in excavations. Both villages were inhabited in the first century and show evidence of Roman occupation which may point to Philip’s renovations. At Et Tell, a Roman temple was excavated that would have been expected in a city dedicated to the Empire. At El Araj a Roman bathhouse was excavated, showing it too had a Roman population, and it may evidence Philip’s renovations. The excavators of Et Tell believe that the city was abandoned due to an earthquake in the early fourth century, and the excavators of El Araj have noted that they believe their city was also abandoned in the third century until it was reinhabited in the Byzantine era. El Araj has also yielded a Byzantine era church and monastery, which is exciting due to the ancient Christian pilgrimage reports claiming there was a church built over the place of Peter and Andrew’s family home at Bethsaida. There is still more work that needs to be done, both sites are vehemently defended by their supporters, and even if El Araj housed the Byzantine Church of the Apostles, it doesn’t mean that the Byzantine Christians got the designation right either, though it certainly would lend more credence to El Araj as the site of ancient Bethsaida.