page_title: Sea of Galilee
section_title: History and scripture
hierarchical_section_title: Sea of Galilee / History and scripture
context_page_description: The Sea of Galilee is Israel's largest freshwater lake, about 53 kilometers around, about 21 km long, and 13 km wide; it has a total area of 166 km², and a depth of about 43 meters. At 209 meters below sea level, it is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth, and the second lowest lake in the world after the Dead Sea, a saltwater lake. It is not a real sea - it is called a sea because of tradition.
  The lake is also known on modern maps as Lake Galilee or Lake Tiberias, in the region of Galilee. In modern Hebrew, it is known as Yam Kinneret, "Sea of Kinnereth". It has also been called the Lake of Gennesaret or the Sea of Gennesaret after the name of a small fruitful plain on its western side. The Arabic name for the lake is Buhairet Tabariyya meaning Lake Tiberias. Other names are: Ginnosar, Lake of Gennesar, Sea of Chinneroth, Sea of Tiberias and Waters of Gennesareth.
  Its main source is the Jordan River, which flows through it from north to south. The lake is deep in the Jordan Great Rift Valley, the valley caused by the separation of the African and Arabian Plates. Because of this, the area has earthquakes and, in the past, volcanic activity.
context_section_description: The Sea of Galilee is on the ancient Via Maris road which linked Egypt with the northern empires. The Greeks, Hasmoneans, and Romans started towns and settlements here: Gadara, Hippos, Tiberias and others. The 1st century historian Flavius Josephus wrote of a large fishing industry at this time, with 230 boats regularly working in the lake.
  Much of the ministry of Jesus was on the shores of Lake Galilee. In those days, there were many settlements and villages all around the lake and plenty of trade and ferrying by boat.  The gospels of Mark (1:14-20), Matthew (4:18-22), and Luke (5:1-11) tell how Jesus got four of his apostles from the shores of Lake Galilee: the fishermen Simon and his brother Andrew, and the brothers John and James. One of Jesus' famous teachings, the Sermon on the Mount, was given on a hill overlooking the lake. Many of his miracles were also recorded to have been here: his walking on water, calming a storm, feeding five thousand people and many others.
  In 135, the second Jewish revolt against the Romans, called Bar Kokhba's revolt, was put down. The Romans responded by sending all Jews away from Jerusalem and not letting them come back. The center of Jewish culture and learning thus moved to the region of the Kinneret, particularly to the city of Tiberias.
  In the time of the Byzantine Empire, the lake's importance in Jesus' life made it a major destination for Christian pilgrims. This led to the growth of a tourist industry, with package tours and plenty of comfortable inns.
caption: The Sea of Galilee
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 10D", "Image XResolution": "533/4", "Image YResolution": "533/4", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0", "Image DateTime": "2004:10:10 19:07:18", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "216", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1698", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4608", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/180", "EXIF FNumber": "19/2", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2003:07:28 09:37:36", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2003:07:28 09:37:36", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "245493/32768", "EXIF ApertureValue": "26607/4096", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "28", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "800", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "533", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "800", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "533", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1534", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "768000/223", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "409600/119", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}