BET SHEAN

A Talmudic sage is credited with the remark that ``if paradise is in the land of Israel then its gate must be Bet Shean.''

The present town is the home of some 15,000 people. It lies close to the prominent tel of Bet Shean where archaeologists have uncovered the remains of eighteen cities. The tel was settled more than 7,000 years ago and the town's name is believed to derive from a Canaanite god.

Bet Shean is closely associated with nearby Mt. Gilboa where, according to the Bible (I Samuel 31:9), King Saul was slain. The main thoroughfare running through the modern town is dedicated to King Saul's memory and named after him.
Your first port of call should be the Municipal Museum, to your right, a few hundred metres after you pass the memorial on your way in. The collection gives you an immediate insight into the antiquity of the town and the valley as most of the exhibits are Canaanite, Israelite and Roman. Open: Sun. - Thurs. 8 a.m. - 3.30 p.m. Fri. 8.a.m. - 12.30 p.m. Entrance fee.

At the museum, you could ask the director to show you around the 6th-century Byzantine Monastery of Lady Marie, located at the northern edge of the town. The monastery ruins and the exquisite mosaic floors are worth a visit.

As you drive along the main road through the town, several signposts direct you to the spectacular Roman theatre. This lies to the south of the mound where over twenty successive settlements have been excavated, dating back to the 5th millennium BCE. Ongoing excavations near the theatre are revealing the remains of the Roman-Byzantine city of Scythopolis, destroyed by an earthquake in 749 CE. Many structures are currently being restored, so the most impressive feature is the Roman theatre, which could seat about 7,000 people. It was built around 200 CE and has eight vaulted entrances (vomitoria) around its circumference, and two main entrances along the axis of the stage. There were three tiers of seats, the first of which is completely preserved. The huge stone stage, now reconstructed with a wooden floor, was backed by a colonnaded structure, richly decorated with marble, statues and reliefs it is now being restored.

Performances of all kinds are held here, including an annual festival with musicians and dancers from around the world.

You can also see the Byzantine bath-house, an elabotate building with nine halls. paved in marble mosaic. Or you can stroll down Palladius' Street, a long colonnaded street paved with basalt slabs laid in a herringbone pattern and flanked by a raised pavement and colonnaded porticoes, on to which opened a row of marble-fronted shops. Mosaics with geometric and floral patterns were found here, including a beautiful 6th-century medallion showing the head of the city's guardian goddess. The city also possessed a semi-circular Roman temple, dedicated to Dionysos, the god of wine and the city's patron deity. Two other Roman colonnaded streets and a row of Byzantine shops have been found, as well as the basilica - the hall that served as the city's main public building.

You can also visit a potter's workshop from the Early Arab peroid, complete with ten brick kilns and drying rooms, and a street and residential quarter from the Byzantine period. On the southern edge of the ancient city is the Roman amphitheatre, where chariot races and gladiatorial contests took place it is still being excavated. Open: Apr. - Sept. Sun. - Thurs. 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Oct. - March 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Fri. closes one hour earlier. Sat. 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Entrance fee.

Continue along Rehov Saul Hamelekh, following the signpost left to Gan Hashlosha (Sakne) on Road No. 669.

Mt. Gilboa looms over the kibbutz fields and you soon pass the detour to Kibbutz Tirat Zvi, 12 km. southeast and built on the banks of the Jordan River. The National Parks site of Gan Hashlosha (Sakhne) is further along the main road.

This restful park with unsullied grounds and natural swimming pools (all year temperature 28 C) below waterfalls beckons if you're in the mood for a quick dip and languid sunbathing. A Museum of Regional and Mediterranean Archaeology is located in the park. It has exhibits on discoveries in the Beth Shean Valley. Open: Sun. - Thurs. 8 a.m. - 2 p.m., Sat. 10.30 a.m. - 1 p.m. Entrance fee. Tel. (06) 586219.

The ravishing beauty of the site is enhanced by hundreds of trees, boulders and thick green lawns, making it an ideal picnic spot. Open daily. Entrance fee. The restaurant is open 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Near the exit there is a turning left to the farming settlement of Ma'ale Gilboa. A coiling tarred road leads up for 9 km. to the summit of Mt. Gilboa. If you have time on your hands it is worth the detour as the view from the heights overlooking the Harod and Jezreel Valleys is quite astonishing.

While driving up Mt. Gilboa you also get a chance to see many wild flowers among pine, carob and eucalyptus trees.

Notable among the flowers is the delicate Mt. Gilboa Iris that grows nowhere else on earth. It grows here in spring in spite of David's curse, on learning of the death of Saul and Jonathan on these slopes: ``Ye mountains of Gilboa let there be no dew or rain upon you, nor upsurging of the deep!''(2 Samuel 1:21).

Continuing along the route below, the road passes Kibbutz Bet Alpha and next to it Kibbutz Hefzibah, into which you should turn for a look at the famous synagogue mosaic.

The pioneer farmers on this kibbutz were digging an irrigation ditch in 1928 when they accidentally exposed what is still the best preserved mosaic floor of an ancient synagogue in Israel. What they stumbled on has become known as the 6th-century CE synagogue of Bet Alpha. The National Parks Authority has helped maintain it by covering it with an enormous building.

A large central panel holds the twelve signs of the Zodiac in exquisite colours. Their names are written in Hebrew and Aramaic. A lower panel illustrates Abraham's intended sacrifice of Isaac. Above a ram tied to a tree are the words, ``Behold the Ram.'' The hand emerging from heaven is captioned ``Lay not'' (thine hand upon the boy). The names Abraham and Isaac are inscribed above their heads.

The kibbutzniks sell table mats, book markers, ashtrays and other objects carrying colouful representations of the mosaics. These may be bought at the site or at the nearby cafe within the kibbutz. The site is open Sun. - Thurs. Apr. - Sept. 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Oct. - March 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Fri. 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sat. 8 a. m. - 5 p.m. Entrance fee. Tel. (06)531400.

Follow Road No. 669 past more cultivated fields and turn left towards Afula on reaching the forbidding Shatta Prison, which is on Road No. 71.

The first turning right after the turn-off right to Tel Yosef brings you to the artistically inclined Kibbutz En Harod, near where the Mamelukes defeated the Mongols in 1260. There are two museums worth seeing. The first is Mishkan Le'omanut, En Harod's Museum of Art. The rich variety includes Jewish folk art, modern Israeli painting, sculptures and graphic art. Open: Sun. - Thurs. 9 a.m. - 4.30 p.m., Fri. 9 a.m. - 1 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 4.30 p.m. Entrance fee. Tel. (06)531670.

Drive on for a few seconds until you reach Bet Sturman, a museum-institute for research on the eastern Jezreel Valley. The photographic display shows pioneer life on the settlements. Open: Sun. - Thurs. 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. Sat. 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Entrance fee. Tel. (06)531605, 533284.

After returning to the main road turn right, pass Geva, and almost immediately take the left turn towards Moshav Gidona. There is a camping site near the moshav houses, with a shop and a kiosk. To the right of this is the National Parks site of Ma'ayan Harod.