In Jesus's Footsteps 
跟随基督的脚步

Tiberias

提比利亚是一座位于加利利海（在希伯来语中被称为“加利利湖”）西岸的以色列城市，位于加利利的下游位置。这座城市建于20世纪，是为了纪念提庇留皇帝。

自公元2世纪中期起，提比利亚城在犹太教中的地位逐渐被尊崇；从16世纪开始，这里成为了犹太教的四大圣城之一，其他三个圣城分别为耶路撒冷、希伯伦和萨法德。

在公元2至10世纪之间，提比利亚是加利利最大的犹太城市，也是巴勒斯坦地区犹太人的政治和宗教中心。

这座城市因其中的温泉而闻名于世，几千年来人们都相信这里的温泉可以治愈皮肤病及其他疾病。自从1948年开始，提比利亚城几乎完全犹太化。

随着20世纪40年代末及20世纪50年代初，大批犹太人出离阿拉伯国家，其中许多赛法迪系（西班牙裔）和米兹拉希犹太人定居在了这座城市中，

随着时间的推移，政府住房被建立以满足新增人口的住房需求，就像许多其他的发展中城镇一样。

近年来，这座城市逐渐依靠旅游发展，成为了一个吸引基督徒朝圣者及以色列国内旅游者的主要加利利地区中心。

在宗教节日期间，提比利亚古老的公墓及犹太会堂也吸引着大批的犹太朝圣者。

提比利亚在加利利湖岸有一个小小的港口，以供渔业使用及旅客的活动。

自20世纪90年代起，因为持续的干旱及不断从湖中抽出淡水导致提比利亚湖水的水位下降，该港口对于渔业的重要性逐渐减低，

预计到2014年，随着以色列海水淡化设施的全面启动，提比利亚的湖水将恢复原来的水位（比现在高近6米）。

从2007年起，提比利亚与江苏省无锡市结为友好城市。

Tiberias is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee (called "the Kinneret" in Hebrew), Lower Galilee. Established in 20 CE, it was named in honour of the emperor Tiberius.

Tiberias was venerated in Judaism from the middle of the 2nd Century and since the 16th century has been considered one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Hebron and Safed. In the 2nd–10th centuries, Tiberias was the largest Jewish city in the Galilee and the political and religious hub of the Jews of Palestine.

It has been known for its hot springs, believed to cure skin and other ailments, for thousands of years.

Tiberias was founded sometime around 20 CE in Herodian Tetrarchy of Galilee and Peraea by the Roman client king Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. Herod Antipas made it the capital of his realm in the Galilee and named it for the Roman Emperor Tiberius. 

The city was built as a spa and developed around 17 natural mineral hot springs (Hamat Tiberias). It was populated mainly by Jews, with its growing spiritual and religious status exerting a strong influence on balneological practices.

The Jewish oral tradition holds that Tiberias was built on the site of the Israelite and later Jewish village of Rakkat, first mentioned in the Book of Joshua. In Talmudic times, the Jews still referred to it by this name. Conversely, in The Antiquities of the Jews, the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus calls the village with hot springs Emmaus, located near Tiberias. 

This name also appears in The "Wars of the Jews" writings.

The city of Tiberias became almost entirely Jewish since 1948. Many Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews settled in the city, following the Jewish exodus from Arab countries in late 1940s and the early 1950s. Over time, government housing was built to accommodate much of the new population, like in many other development towns.

Over time, the city came to rely on tourism, becoming a major Galileean center for Christian pilgrims and internal Israeli tourism. The ancient cemetery of Tiberias and its old synagogues are also drawing religious Jewish pilgrims during religious holidays.

Tiberias consists of a small port on the shores of the Galilee Lake for both fishing and tourist activities. Since the 1990s, the importance of the port for fishing was gradually decreasing, with the decline of the Tiberias lake level, due to continuing droughts and increased pumping of fresh water from the lake.

It is expected that the lake of Tiberias will regain its original level (almost 6 meters higher than today), with the full operational capacity of Israeli desalination facilities by 2014.

Tiberias is a sister city with Wuxi无锡, Jiangsu, since 2007