Bethsaida discovery? Israeli archaeologists believe they found Peter’s hometown by Sea of Galilee

An Israeli archaeology team led by Professor Mordechai Aviam of Kinneret College says it may have uncovered Bethsaida – the ancient hometown of Peter and the New Testament site of several of Jesus’ miracles – after a three-day blaze exposed remains at el-Araj on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Aviam, who is also the director of the Institute for Galilean Archaeology at Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee. believes that el-Araj is the biblical village of Bethsaida. 

“The fire helped us a lot in understanding the site,” Aviam said in an interview with The Times of Israel.

“After the fire, we carried out a ground survey and saw that the site was much larger than we realized,” he continued. “We identified remains of private houses as well as architectural elements typical of public buildings, including pillar drums, two Corinthian capitals, two Doric capitals, and several cornices,” he revealed. 

Aviam believes the ancient remains can be dated to the Roman period when Jesus lived in Israel. His assessment is based on the architectural style of the ruins that were discovered in the area. The professor further argues that the remains align with the description of the ancient village given by the first-century C.E. Jewish-Roman historian Josephus in "Antiquities of the Jews."

“Philip [son of Herod the Great] advanced the village Bethsaida, situated at the lake of Gennesareth, unto the dignity of a city, both by the number of inhabitants it contained, and its other grandeur, and called it by the name of Julias, the same name with Caesar’s daughter,” reads a passage in Josephus’ work. 

“In light of what Josephus says, Bethsaida could not have been a small village,” Aviam said.

The Israeli academic revealed that he has been conducting excavations in the area in cooperation with the co-director, Prof. Steven Notley, a historical geographer at Pillar College in New Jersey, who initiated the excavation.

He revealed that the archeological team uncovered an ancient Greek inscription, which dedicated the church to the “Head and Leader of the Heavenly Messengers” and “Keeper of the Keys,” traditional references to St. Peter. 

Despite strong indications of the discovery, Aviam is still cautious in his conclusions. 

“We don’t have proof that this was Peter’s house,” he acknowledged, “but the builders may have believed it was the home of Peter and Andrew. It’s exactly like Capernaum, where the church was constructed directly over what they called Peter’s house. Peter was born in Bethsaida, but he moved to Capernaum because his wife was from there.”

“Between the third and fourth centuries, the Jewish village was abandoned, possibly because rising lake levels caused flooding,” he explained. “Later [in the 5th century], the first Christians who came to the site identified it [as Bethsaida] and began building the church.”

Aviam explained the complex challenges that archaeologists face when seeking to uncover the past. 

“Archaeology is a science of destruction, because when you expose something, it starts to deteriorate,” he argued. “So if we already have the answers we need, we are already certain that the structures are from the Roman period, between the first century B.C.E. and the first century C.E., we do not need [to excavate] more houses to prove it,” he added.