In the 12th century Galilee was the outpost of the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, and its borders were strongly protected by fortresses, the magnificent remains of which still crown the most important strategical points. Toron (mod. Tibnīn) was built in 1104, the first fortress erected by the crusaders, and standing on the summit of the mountains of Upper Galilee. Beauvoir (Kaukab el-Hawa, built in 1182) stood on a precipice above Jordan south-west of the Sea of Galilee, and guarded the advance by the valley of Jezreel; and about the same time Château Neuf (Hunīn) was erected above the Hüleh lake. Belfort (esh Shukif), on the north bank of the Leontes, the finest and most important, dates somewhat earlier; and Montfort (Kalat el Kurn) stood on a narrow spur north-east of Acre, completing the chain of frontier fortresses. The town of Banias, with its castle, formed also a strong outpost against Damascus, and was the scene, in common with the other strongholds, of many desperate encounters between Moslems and Christians. Lower Galilee was the last remaining portion of the Holy Land held by the Christians. In 1250 the knights of the Teutonic order owned lands extending round Acre as far east as the Sea of Galilee, and including Ṣafed. These possessions were lost in 1291, on the fall of Acre.
The population of Galilee is mixed. In Lower Galilee the peasants are principally Moslem, with a sprinkling of Greek Christians round Nazareth, which is a Christian town. In Upper Galilee, however, there is a mixture of Jews and Maronites, Druses and Moslems (natives or Algerine settlers), while the slopes above the Jordan are inhabited by wandering Arabs. The Jews are engaged in trade, and the Christians, Druses and Moslems in agriculture; and the Arabs are an entirely pastoral people.
(C. R. C.; R. A. S. M.)
GALILEE, an architectural term sometimes given to a porch or chapel which formed the entrance to a church. This is the case at Durham and Ely cathedrals, and in Lincoln cathedral the name is sometimes given to the south-west porch. The name is said to be derived from the scriptural expression “Galilee of the Gentiles” (Matt. iv. 15). Galilees are supposed to have been used sometimes as courts of law, but they probably served chiefly for penitents not yet admitted to the body of the church. The Galilee would also appear to have been the vestibule of an abbey church where women were allowed to see the monks to whom they were related, or from which they could hear divine service. The foundation of what is considered to have been a Galilee exists at the west end of Fountains Abbey. Sometimes also corpses were placed there before interment.
GALILEE, SEA OF, a lake in Palestine consisting of an expansion of the Jordan, on the latitude of Mt. Carmel. It is 13 m. long, 8 m. broad, 64 sq. m. in area, 680 ft. below the level of the Mediterranean, and, according to Merrill and Barrois (who have corrected the excessive depth said to have been found by Lortet at the northern end), 150 ft. in maximum depth. It is pear-shaped, the narrow end pointing southward. In the Hebrew Scriptures it is called the Sea of Chinnereth or Chinneroth (probably derived from a town of the same name mentioned in Joshua xi. 2 and elsewhere; the etymology that connects it with כנור, “a harp,” is very doubtful.) In Josephus and the book of Maccabees it is named Gennesar; while in the Gospels it is usually called Sea of Galilee, though once it is called Lake of Gennesaret (Luke v. i) and twice Sea of Tiberias (John vi. 1, xxi. 1). The modern Arabic name is Baḥr Tubarīya, which is often rendered “Lake of Tiberias.” Pliny refers to it as the Lake of Taricheae.
Like the Dead Sea it is a “rift” lake, being part of the great fault that formed the Jordan-Araba depression. Deposits show that originally it formed part of the great inland sea that filled this depression in Pleistocene times. The district on each side of the lake has a number of hot springs, at least one of which is beneath the sea itself, and has always shown indications of volcanic and other subterranean disturbances. It is especially liable to earthquakes. The water of the sea, though slightly brackish and not very clear, is generally used for drinking. The shores are for the greater part formed of fine gravel; some yards from the shore the bed is uniformly covered with fine greyish mud. The temperature in summer is tropical, but after noon falls about 10º F. owing to strong north-west winds. This range of temperature affects the water to a depth of about 49 ft.; below that depth the water is uniformly about 59° F. The sea is set deep in hills which rise on the east side to a height of about 2000 ft. Sudden and violent storms (such as are described in Matt. viii. 23, xiv. 22, and the parallel passages) are often produced by the changes of temperature in the air resulting from these great differences of level.
The Sea of Galilee is best seen from the top of the western precipices. It presents a desolate appearance. On the north the hills rise gradually from the shore, which is fringed with oleander bushes and indented with small bays. The ground is here covered with black basalt. On the west the plateau known as Sahel el-Ahma terminates in precipices 1700 ft. above the lake, and over these the black rocky tops called “the Horns of Hattīn” are conspicuous objects. On the south is a broad valley through which the Jordan flows. On the east are furrowed and rugged slopes, rising to the great plateau of the Jaulān (Gaulonitis). The Jordan enters the lake through a narrow gorge between lower hills. A marshy plain, 2½ m. long and 1½ broad, called el-Batīhah, exists immediately east of the Jordan inlet. There is also on the west side of the lake a small plain called el-Ghuweir, formed by the junction of three large valleys. It measures 3¼ m. along the shore, and is 1 m. wide. This plain, naturally fertile, but now almost uncultivated, is supposed to be the plain of Gennesareth, described by Josephus (B. J. iii. 10, 8). On the east the hills approach in one place within 40 ft. of the water, but there is generally a width of about ¾ of a mile from the hills to the beach. On the west the flat ground at the foot of the hills has an average width of about 200 yds. A few scattered palms dot the western shores, and a palm grove is to be found near Kefr Hārib on the south-east. The hot baths south of Tiberias include seven springs, the largest of which has a temperature of 137° F. In these springs a distinct rise in temperature was observed in 1837, when Tiberias and Ṣafed were destroyed by an earthquake. The plain of Gennesareth, with its environs, is the best-watered part of the lake-basin. North of this plain are the five springs of et-Tabighah, the largest of which was enclosed about a century ago in an octagonal reservoir by ‘Ali, son of Dhahr el-Amīr, and the water led off by an aqueduct 52 ft. above the lake. The Tabighah springs, though abundant, are warm and brackish. At the north end of the plain is ’Ain et-Tīneh (“spring of the fig-tree”), also a brackish spring with a good stream; south of the plain is ‘Ain el-Bardeh (“the cold spring”), which is sweet, but scarcely lower in temperature than the others. One of the most important springs is ‘Ain el-Madawwera (“the round spring”), situated 1 m. from the south end of the plain and half a mile from the shore. The water rises in a circular well 32 ft. in diameter, and is clear and sweet, with a temperature of 73° F. The bottom is of loose sand, and the fish called coracinus by Josephus (B.J. iii. 10, 8) is here found (see below). Dr Tristram was the first explorer to identify this fish, and on account of its presence suggested the identification of the “round spring” with the fountain of Capharnaum, which, according to Josephus, watered the plain of Gennesareth. There is, however, a difficulty in this identification; there are no ruins at ‘Ain el-Madawwera.
Fauna and Flora.—For half the year the hillsides are bare and steppe-like, but in spring are clothed with a subtropical vegetation. Oleanders flourish round the lake, and the large papyrus grows at ’Ain et-Tin as well as at the mouth of the Jordan. The lake swarms with fish, which are caught with nets by a gild of fishermen, whose boats are the only representatives of the many ships and boats which plied on the lake as late as the 10th century. Fishing was a lucrative industry at an early date, and the Jews ascribed the laws regulating it to Joshua. The fish, which were classed as clean and unclean, the good and bad of the parable (Matt. xiii. 47, 48), belong to the genera Chromis, Barbus, Capoeta, Discognathus, Nemachilus, Blennius and Clarias; and there is a great affinity between them and the fish of the East African lakes and streams. There are eight species of Chromis, most of which hatch their eggs and raise their young in the buccal cavities of the males. The Chromis simonis is popularly supposed to be the fish from which Peter took the piece of money (Matt. xvii. 27). Clarias macracanthus (Arab. Burbur) is the coracinus of Josephus. It was found by Lortet in the springs of ‘Ain el-Madawwera, ‘Ain et-Tīneh and ‘Ain et-Tabighah, on the lake shore where muddy, and in Lake Hüleh. It is a scaleless, snake-like fish, often nearly 5 ft. long, which resembles the C. anguillaris of Egypt. From the absence of scales it was held by the Jews to be unclean, and some commentators suppose it to be the serpent of Matt. vii. 10 and Luke xi. 11. Large numbers of grebes—great crested, eared, and little,—gulls and pelicans frequent the lake. On its shores are tortoises, mud-turtles, crayfish and innumerable sand-hoppers; and at varying depths in the lake several species of Melania, Melanopsis, Neritina, Corbicula and Unio have been found.