Kursi, Golan Heights

Kursi
Kursi
Coordinates: 32°49′33.91″N 35°39′1.36″E / 32.8260861°N 35.6503778°E / 32.8260861; 35.6503778Coordinates: 32°49′33.91″N 35°39′1.36″E / 32.8260861°N 35.6503778°E / 32.8260861; 35.6503778
The church seen from the paved street leading up to it.
At the church entrance looking towards the northern aisle with its re-erected columns.
Aerial view

Kursi (Byzantine Greek Κυρσοί) is the ruins of a Roman-Byzantine Christian monastery, now an Israeli national park located in the Israel-occupied side of the Golan Heights. Kursi takes its name from the Talmudic site.[1] A marble slab with Aramaic text discovered in December of 2015 confirmed the site of the monastery was originally a Jewish settlement.

Location

The site is located near the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee on the bank of a river bed, Nahal Samakh, descending from the Golan Heights.

Christian significance

Kursi has been identified by tradition as the site of the so-called "Miracle of the Swine", where Jesus healed one or two men possessed by demons by driving these into a herd of pigs (Mark 5:1-20, Matthew 8:28–34, Luke 8:26-39). The details differ somewhat in the three gospels dealing with the episode, and again some more in different ancient manuscripts of those same gospels. The events take place in the land of either the Gerasenes, Gadarenes or Gergesenes (Mark 5:1, Matthew 8:28, Luke 8:26). Exorcised was either one man (Mark and Luke) or two (Matthew).

History

The monastery and its church were built in the 5th century, staying in use throughout the Byzantine period (in Israeli-Judaic terms: the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods). This being a major pilgrimage site, a number of buildings were built for the accommodation of pilgrims as well as the local monastic community, all surrounded by walls and other fortifications. In 614 the Sassanian (Persian) armies invaded Palestine laying waste to most of its Christian churches and monasteries, including the one at Kursi. The church was later rebuilt, but part of the destroyed settlement was left in its ruined state. The church continued functioning under Muslim rule after the conquest of Palestine in 638-641 until being totally devastated by the 749 earthquake. Arab squatters used the ruins as dwellings and for storage in the 9th century, marking the end of Kursi's use as a Christian pilgrimage site.

Description

The monastery is surrounded by a rectangular stone wall measuring 145 x 123 metres. The entrance facing the Sea of Galilee was guarded by a watchtower, and a paved road led down to a harbor where Christian boats could berth. Once inside the wall the pilgrims had the choice of going first to a luxurious bath house (excavated area to the left/north of the entrance), or going straight to the centrally placed church. 24 x 45 metre in size, the church was entered through a forecourt opening onto an atrium or inner courtyard, followed by the church proper which was flanked on both sides by chapels and auxiliary rooms. The church is of the basilical type, with two rows of columns separating it into a nave and two aisles. The mosaic floor of the nave consists of geometrical designs, while the lateral aisles once contained medallions with depictions of the local flora and fauna; most of these have been destroyed, probably after the Muslim invasion, but some are still visible, such as geese, doves, cormorants and fish, citrons, dates, pomegranates and grapes. The baptistery chapel on the southern side of the central apse has a small baptism font and the mosaic floor includes an inscription indicating that it has been laid in the year 585. A staircase (not accessible to visitors) leads from the southern end of the narthex to a crypt used for burials, where archaeologists found several complete skeletons. Among the rooms on the northern side there is one containing an olive press. The atrium is largely built over a large cistern, as one can see from the two well heads; a ladder leading down to the cistern is not accessible to visitors.

A small Byzantine chapel stood outside the main compound, on the hill to the south. Here a large boulder was probably considered to be the exact site of the miracle. Remains were discovered of what might have been a tower built around the boulder and of a chapel squeezed in between the hillside and the boulder. Three distinct layers of mosaic floor and an apse were excavated here.

Archaeological discovery

The ruins of the monastery were first unearthed by road construction crews in 1970, and the major excavation took place between 1971 and 1974 headed by the Israeli archaeologist Dan Urman[2] and his Greek colleague Vassilios Tzaferis for the Israel Antiquities Authority. Together they excavated the largest Byzantine monastic complex found in Israel. Further excavations have since been taking place, the marble-lined bath-house being one of the more recent discoveries.

The church has been reconstructed to a degree which allows the visitor to understand its three-dimensional shape and size. A building that may have been a synagogue has also been unearthed; a tablet written written in Aramaic, using Hebrew letters, was found inside this building, and two words have been deciphered: "amen" and "marmaria", the latter, literally 'marble' has been interpreted by some scholars as perhaps linked with the cult of the Virgin Mary, possibly meaning 'Maria's great Rabbi', since 'mar' means Rabbi.[1] [3]

Christian artifacts from Kursi can be viewed at the Golan Archaeological Museum.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 'Excavations uncover unique Hebrew inscription showing existence of a Jewish village at Kursi,' Science Daily 18 December 2015.
  2. ↑ "Dan Urman, 1945–2004". Biblical Archaeology Society.
  3. ↑ Blumenthal, Ian (16 December 2015). "Discovery suggests Jews lived in Galilee 1,500 years ago". Y-net. Retrieved 16 December 2015.

External links

Sources

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