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Three surprises awaited us when we began excavating at the summit of Mt. Berenice, high above Old Tiberias. The first surprise lay in what was not found at the site: no evidence at all was uncovered of Queen Berenice's palace, which everyone had expected to find on the peak which bears her name. The second surprise was one that excited the imagination: a mysterious cult stone discovered in the inner sanctuary of a Byzantine church. The third surprise, and the most important of all, was that the Byzantine church was rebuilt on a grand scale during the early Islamic period. This survey is devoted to the finds of Mt. Berenice and our attempt to assess their significance.
The site is reached from the north by an all-vehicle gravel road, built especially for the excavations by the Jewish National Fund. The road winds up from Tiberias' southern neighborhood to the saddle between Mt. Berenice and the Poriah ridge. This road never existed in the past: the ancient ascent to the top of the hill was from the east, by way of a path that sloped up the cliff face from the city below. In the Byzantine period, the path entered the city through a gate, of which remains were unearthed in the current excavations, then climbed the Poriah ridge, and continued west to the harbors of the Mediterranean.
The pinnacle-like nature of the site, soaring up sheer from the Sea of Galilee, provides the visitor with a breath-taking view of the lake and the sites around it, perhaps the finest and most interesting panorama in the region. The city of Tiberias lies in the palm of your hand beneath you. Across the lake, looming behind Kibbutz Ein Gev, are the remains of the ancient city of Susita (Hippios), in its day the most important on the eastern shore. To the north, one can make out the sites of the ancient fishing villages of Capernaum, Heptapegon (Tabgha) and Migdal-Tarichaeae. Beyond them in the distance are the two highest peaks in the country: Mt. Hermon to the north, and Mt. Meron to the northwest. To the south, one's attention is drawn to the Jordan Valley, and beyond it to the mouth of the Yarmuk River and the mountains of Gilead.
The spectacular view from the summit of Mt. Berenice was one of the considerations in selecting the site for archaeological excavation and eventual development as a tourist attraction. It appears that similar considerations motivated the ancients. In the light of the excavations, it is certain that the builders of the site's Byzantine church selected the location, not only because it
