Herodian dynasty
Under Roman rule, it lay within the royal estate of the Herodian dynasty, where Berenice, the sister of Herod Agrippa II stored grain, and marked the border with Ptolemais. The site Beit Shearim is mentioned in the Talmud, along with Yavne, Usha, Shefar'am and Sepphoris, as one of ten migratory journeys taken by the Sanhedrin when it uprooted from Jerusalem. An anecdote about communal life in Beit Shearim has come down in the name of Judah ha-Nasi, who, after mentioning the place, alludes to the practice of its people being observant in the laws of Jewish ritual purity. The Mishnaic sage, Rabbi Johanan ben Nuri (1st–2nd century), made his home in Beit Shearim. During its Jewish settlement in the Second Temple period, the inhabitants of Beit Shearim are believed to have been occupied in husbandry, but when the village land later became a popular burial ground for Diaspora Jews, many of the villagers are thought to have worked in funeral preparations (obsequies) and in stone-masonry.