© 1995 Ken Glasziou
© 1995 The Brotherhood of Man Library
Whereas The Urantia Book places Tarichea at a location where the Jordan River flows out from the Sea of Galilee (UB 139:8.2), many authorities now assert that Tarichea was the Greco-Roman name for Magdala, a town that was situated about 4 miles to the north of Tiberias and, reputedly, the hometown of Mary Magdelene.
Tarichea achieved notoriety during the Jewish wars with Rome in 67 A.D., a so-called naval battle that was fought there ending in a bloody massacre of the town’s defenders and the selling into slavery of more than 30,000 of its former inhabitants. Almost all of the evidence bearing on the location of Tarichea in the first century derives from the writings of the Jewish-Roman historian, Josephus. Unfortunately there are inconsistencies in his account that make it difficult to reach a definitive conclusion.
Josephus was born in Palestine in 37 A.D. While still in his early twenties he became one of five of the regional commanders in Palestine, with authority assigned to him in Galilee. However his position there as Governor was disputed by the citizens of many of its towns and it was only through considerable cunning and daring, that he finally gained acceptance. However his triumph was short-lived as he soon became engaged in the disastrous defence of Jotapata against the Roman forces under Vespasian who had been sent by Nero to quell an outbreak of rebellion in many Jewish cities.
According to Josephus, the siege at Jotopata was an heroic affair lasting about five weeks that culminated in the sacking of the town and the capture of Josephus under circumstances that brought him no credit with his own countrymen. But, above all, Josephus was a survivor, and not averse to changing sides out of perceived necessity. With typical cunning he turned Jewish prophet and managed to inveigle himself into the good graces of Vespasian, reputedly by prophesying that Vespasian would eventually become emperor of Rome—which he duly did in 69 A.D. Later, Josephus moved to Rome, became a Roman citizen and died there sometime after A.D. 100. Following the Jotopata seige, Vespasian, with his forces, retired to Caesarea-Philippi, the seat of King Agrippa. Whilst there, new outbreaks of rebellion arose in cities such as Tiberias, Tarichea, and Gamala.
Having rested his troops at Caesarea-Philippi, Vespasian decided to move against the rebels at Tiberias and nearby Tarichea. From Josephus’ account in The Jewish War, we read: “So he (Vespasian) sent his son Titus to Caesarea (Maritima) to bring the forces still there to Scythopolis—the biggest city of the Decapolis, not far from Tiberias— where he himself met him. Advancing at the head of three legions, he encamped three and a half miles from Tiberias at a station well within view of the rebels, called Sennabris.”
In this instance, the rebels were the people of Tiberias who wisely decided to capitulate when confronted with three Romans legions at the gates of their city. For the record, a legion was composed of 60 ‘centuries’ each of 100 men headed by a centurion. Thus, there were around 18,000 men in Vespasian’s force. In addition his son, Titus, headed a cavalry group of 600 horsemen and there was second group, headed by Trajan, of 400 horsemen.
Vespasian’s next problem was with rebels at the city of Tarichea into which “an endless stream of insurgents were pouring. . . from Trachonitis, Gaulanitis, Hippus, and the Gadarene district. . . The town was, like Tiberias, at the foot of mountains, and, except where washed by the lake it had been fortified all around by Josephus.” Earlier in The Jewish War, Josephus stated that completion of the fortification of Tarichea was hampered by a lack of funds. In another work, Vita, Josephus is reported to have said that Tarichea was washed on both sides by the waters of the lake. According to the weight they give to such statements, historians base their opinions about the most likely location for places such as Tarichea.
How to make Friends.
“Become interested in you rfellows; learn how to love them and watch for the opportunity to do something for them which you are sure they want.”
Jesus
The battle for Tarichea commenced while Vespasian was still organizing the defences of his camp site. A defensive wall was being built when one of the Tarichean rebels, Jeshua by name, along with a daring band of volunteers, sallied forth from their lines to attack those building the wall. It was a gesture of defiance rather than a significant military operation and success was short-lived. Vespasian’s legionaries formed ranks and counter-attacked, compelling Jeshua and his men to retreat to their own lines. When the Romans continued their pursuit, Jeshua and his followers took to their boats which they then lined up off-shore just within arrow range of the Roman forces. A ineffective dual then occurred with both sides throwing stones and arrows at one another.
While this was happening, Vespasian learned that the great bulk of the Tarichean forces had marshaled themselves on the plain before the town, whereupon he commissioned his son Titus with 600 picked cavalry to go and deal with them. Arriving there, Titus found himself grossly outnumbered and decided to ask for reinforcements. The request was granted, 2000 bowmen under Antonius Silo being sent to “seize the hill opposite the town and pin down the defenders on the wall.” Trajan then appeared on the scene with his 400 cavalry. This appeared to spur Titus and his men into a hunt for glory and, without waiting for the reinforcements to achieve their goals, Titus attacked. His bold action threw the city’s defenders into panic and those that could escape the fury of Titus and his cavalry beat a hasty retreat back into the city.
It appears that only a highly belligerent minority of the city’s inhabitants really wanted a fight with the Romans. A fierce argument broke out in the city within earshot of Titus and his men who then decided to take advantage of the situation by continuing their attack. Titus leapt into his saddle and, “Riding through the water he entered the town at the head of his men. His audacity filled the defenders with terror, and not a man stayed to offer the least resistance. Abandoning their posts, Jeshua and his supporters fled across country while the rest rushed down to the lake where they ran into the enemy advancing to meet them. Some were killed as they got into their boats, others tried to swim to those who had put out before.”
Titus mopped up the rebels in Tarichea and accepted the surrender of its residents. Josephus relates: “Those who had taken refuge on the lake, when they saw the town had fallen, put out as far from the enemy as they could.” On receiving news of the surrender, Vespasian entered the city to take charge. “The next day he (Vespasian) went down to the lake and ordered rafts to be put together for the pursuit of the fugitives. They were soon ready, as there was an abundance of wood and no lack of carpenters.”
Josephus continues, “Preparations completed, Titus put on board as much of his force as he thought adequate to deal with their opponents in the boats, and the pursuit began. Thus encircled, the Jews could neither escape to land where the enemy was in full possession, nor fight it out on the water with any hope of success. Their boats were small and built for piracy, and the men on board each one were so few that they dared not come to grips with the Romans.”
None got away. . . “the entire lake was stained with blood and crammed with corpses. . . the beaches were thick with wrecks and swollen bodies.” The dead, including those who perished earlier in the town totalled 6,700.
Now if the boats were small and built for piracy they were also fast and manoeuvrable relative to the heavy Roman rafts. The Romans were said to be in full possession of any escape route by land. However the Sea of Galilee is egg-shaped, about 13 miles long and 6 to 7 miles wide at its widest point. The perimeter is not less than 30 miles. Yet the small, fast boats could not escape even during the night! It seems as if the boats must have been trapped in some very much smaller enclosure than the Sea of Galilee.
A map published with the Penguin Classics’ version of Josephus’ The Jewish Wars places Tarichea at the southern end of the Sea of Galilee. So also does a map published in vol.1 of Hasting’s Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, (1906) and other maps published in George Adam Smith’s Historical Geography of the Holy Land. (1894) from The Palestine Exploration Survey. The latter map is interesting as it shows Tarichea as situated on a peninsular or perhaps a breakwater that protrudes into the Sea of Galilee to form a small sheltered bay. The Jordan is shown as flowing out from this bay.
Without too much imagination it is possible to construct a possible site for Tarichea on or at the start of a peninsular/breakwater that would enclose a portion of the Sea of Galilee, thereby matching the description of the disastrous naval battle of Tarichea. To match the description to the Magdala site is more difficult.
A site where the Jordan leaves the Sea of Galilee known as Kerak is a possible site for Tarichea. It was said to be located on a peninsular and is the only position on the coast which suits Josephus’ description of Tarichea being washed on more than one side by the sea.[1]
Other evidence is provided in the literature that favors the southern site. H.V. Morton[2] in his book In the Steps of the Master states that Magdala was the site of a dyeing industry while Tarichea in the south had an industry for the salting of fish. Apparently salt from the Dead Sea was brought to a site south of Tiberias. The word “tarichea” means “pickling place.” The Urantia Book states that there was a fish drying industry at Tarichea. (UB 139:12.2)
One of the points in favor of the northern location is that Vespasian with his combined forces came up from Scythopolis and arrived first at Tiberias. One authority, van Kasteren, holds that Vespasian could have advanced on Tiberias via the plateau rather than the coast.[1:1] Josephus[3] states that Vespasian was at Caesarea-Philippi and Titus at Scythopolis before they joined forces. It was Vespasian and his forces that went to Scythopolis. If he went via the coast road, he would have first passed Magdala, the postulated northern location for Tarichea—and risked being attacked by the hotheads. After that he would have had to pass Tiberias. As he believed his forces were inadequate for engaging the Jews at this stage, it seems likely that he would have taken the plateau road. He could have returned the same way and if so, some of the objections to the southern site disappear.[4] Those remaining are Josephus’ statement about the locations of both Tiberias and Tarichea at the foot of mountains and the archers firing from an elevated site on the walls of Tarichea.[3:1]
There seems to be a lot of things in favor of the site at Kerak and it gets strong support[1:2] by van Kesteren, Conder, Schurer, and Guthe (who switched his opinion away from the north site). Smith[1:3] notes that the harbor could shelter a fleet of vessels, a statement appearing to derive from Josephus’ description of events at Tarichea of which there were two separate incidents[3:2]. The first of these was during Josephus’ struggle to assume command in Galilee. He was at Tarichea when Tiberias revolted against his command. So he collected 230 boats with not more that 4 sailors in each and set off to bluff Tiberias that he had a large force with which to subdue its people. He had the fleet stand off well out into the lake so that the number of men in each could not be ascertained. Then he approached the city in on a single boat. Ten top citizens came down to bargain with him. He took them out to the main fleet, left them, came back and 50 more leading citizens unwisely came to him for consultation. He did the same with them, followed by the whole town council of 600. All these were sent off to Tarichea. It seems he then went ashore and ordered the arrest of 2000 private citizens who were also conveyed in the boats to Tarichea. That makes 2660 citizens to go on his 230 boats, plus the four already manning each boat—14 to 15 men per boat. Thus, the boats were not tiny rowing boats and would require a fair sized harbor to accommodate them all.
Given a good sized harbor with a narrow entrance and with Tarichea on a peninsular washed on two sides by the sea, Josephus’ account of the subsequent inability of the boats and their occupants to escape during the night of the battle for Tarichea becomes explicable—as does Titus’ second attack on the city when he jumped on his horse and “dashed through the water.” That action could have taken him behind the city wall at the commencement of the peninsular and account for his victory being so rapid and so easy.
Regardless of its exact location, the information about Tarichea is interesting. Pliny says that in his day (52 B.C.), it gave its name to the whole of the lake and had a large population. Cassius (the lean and hungry one?) wrote about it to Cicero when he visited in 43 B.C., and it gets a mention from Strabo who says it supplied excellent pickling places. The pickled fish of Galilee was known throughout the Roman world, being sent round the Mediterranean area in barrels as well as supplying large quantities to Jerusalem during the feasts such as Passover.[1:4],[2:1]
¶ “YE ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH.”
Perhaps the above account of a large fish pickling industry at the Sea of Galilee offers an explanation for the puzzling comment by Jesus, recorded in Mathew 5, 13: “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” (KJ version). Common salt is composed of the two elements, sodium and chlorine, occurring together as their salt, sodium chloride. As such its savor is indestructible by any means that are likely to occur in normal household circumstances. So how could it lose its savor?
Apparently the salt for the pickling industry came up from the Dead Sea area. There was a hill of salt in the south of the Dead Sea area which may have been the source, but it could also have come from salt works that used evaporated Dead Sea water. The hill of salt may have been fairly pure but the Dead Sea salt would certainly carry a swag of other elements. The Jordan originates in limestone country, so the Dead Sea waters must contain a load of calcium as well as other metals. Because of this, salt derived from evaporation of water from this source may be such that it becomes wetted very easily if exposed to humid air (calcium chloride is highly hygroscopic). Perhaps then, it was wet salt that the fish picklers of Galilee considered to be of no further use and fit only to be trodden underfoot. [note: alternative translations of Matthew 5, 13 are if salt should lose its strength or if salt loses its saltiness.]
¶ External links
- Article in Innerface International: https://urantia-book.org/archive/newsletters/innerface/vol2_6/page10.html
¶ References
Smith, George Adam. The Historical geography of the Holy Land. (Fontana, London) ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
Morton, H.V. In The Steps of the Master (Methuen, London) ↩︎ ↩︎
Schurer, Emil. The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ. (T & T Clark, Edinburgh) Notes to the 1973 edition state: “There is no good ground for supposing that he (Vespasian) continued his march towards the north (from Tiberias). Rather, after occupying Tiberias, he pitched his camp at Ammathus, ‘between Tiberias and Tarichea,’ as appears from a comparison of B.J. iv 1,3 (11) with iii 10, 1 (462). But since the warm springs of Ammathus are clearly south of Tiberias, Vespasian, after the occupation of Tiberias, must have turned towards the south. Those who place Tarichea to the north of Tiberias must do the same to Ammathus.” The notes assert that the identification of Ammathus with the modern Hammam (south of Tiberias) cannot be reasonably questioned. ↩︎