Sea Of Galilee

The Sea of Galilee, also known as Lake Tiberias, Gennesaret Lake or Kinneret, is a freshwater lake situated in northern Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth and the second-lowest lake overall after the Dead Sea. Although both records were reconsidered after the discovery of Lake Vostok beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, the Sea of Galilee remains a key geographical and cultural landmark. Measuring roughly 53 km in circumference, about 21 km in length and 13 km in width, it covers an area of around 166 km² at full capacity and reaches a maximum depth of approximately 43 metres. The lake receives most of its water from the Jordan River, which flows from north to south, supplemented by underground springs. Its outflow is controlled at the southern end by the Degania Dam.

Geography and geological setting

The Sea of Galilee occupies a basin within the Jordan Rift Valley, a segment of the great Afro–Arabian rift system formed by the separation of the African and Arabian tectonic plates. This geological setting makes the region prone to seismic events and indicates a history of volcanic activity, reflected in the basaltic rocks that characterise the nearby landscape. The lake is bordered by the Golan Heights to the east and the Galilee region to the west, forming a natural freshwater reservoir that has sustained human settlement for millennia.

Names and etymology

Throughout its long history the lake has been known by various names, closely tied to the principal settlements along its shore.
The modern Hebrew name Kineret—derived from the biblical Kineret or Kinerot—appears in the Hebrew Bible and is also present in Ugaritic texts relating to the ancient city of Kinneret. Although popular etymology links the name to kinnor (“harp” or “lyre”), believing the lake resembles the shape of this instrument, scholarly consensus favours an origin in the Bronze and Iron Age city of Kinneret, excavated at Tell el-‘Oreimeh.
Biblical and early Jewish sources commonly use the term sea (Hebrew yam, Greek thalassa). The Lake of Gennesaret, appearing in the Gospel of Luke, represents a Greek adaptation (limnē Gennēsaret) of the Hebrew name. The Babylonian Talmud and Josephus refer to it as the Sea of Ginosar, after the fertile plain on the western shore.
By the late first century CE, the designation Sea of Tiberias became widespread, named after the Roman-founded city of Tiberias. This form appears in the New Testament and Roman literature, and in Arabic as Buhayrat Tabariyya. During medieval Islamic rule, the lake was sometimes called Bahr al-Minya, after the Umayyad palace complex at Khirbat al-Minya.

Prehistoric settlement

Archaeological discoveries show that the surroundings of the Sea of Galilee hosted human communities long before the advent of agriculture. In 1989 remains of a hunter–gatherer camp were found beneath the lake’s southern waters. The most remarkable nearby site is Ohalo II, located on the western shore: a late Natufian-period village dating to around 23,000 years ago. The site includes semi-subterranean huts, tools and plant remains and is considered one of the earliest examples of a sedentary settlement preceding the Neolithic Revolution.

Early Iron Age societies

During the Iron Age, the region witnessed the development of fortified towns and political entities. Archaeological work suggests that settlements on the northeastern shores—such as Tel Dover, Tel Ein Gev, Tel Hadar, Tel Bethsaida and Tel Kinrot—may be associated with the biblical Kingdom of Geshur in the early Iron Age and with the southern expansion of Aram-Damascus during the later Iron Age. These sites indicate a zone of cultural and political interaction between local polities and larger regional powers.

Hellenistic and Roman periods

Situated along the Via Maris, the ancient route linking Egypt to northern empires, the Sea of Galilee supported vibrant Hellenistic and later Roman towns. Cities such as Hippos on the Golan Heights and Tiberias on the western shore flourished. Flavius Josephus highly praised the region, remarking on its natural beauty and fertility. He also noted a robust fishing industry: around 230 boats reportedly worked the lake. The famous Sea of Galilee Boat, a well-preserved first-century wooden vessel, was discovered in 1986, offering further insight into local fishing practices.
The New Testament situates much of Jesus’ ministry on or near the Sea of Galilee. The Gospels recount that Jesus called his first disciples—Peter, Andrew, James and John—from among the fishermen working on its shores. Many significant episodes, such as the Sermon on the Mount, the calming of the storm, walking on water and the miraculous catch of fish, occur in this landscape. After the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE, Jewish cultural and religious life gravitated toward the Galilee, with Tiberias emerging as a centre of scholarship where the Jerusalem Talmud was compiled.

Middle Ages

With the transition from Byzantine rule to the Umayyad Caliphate in the seventh century CE, the region experienced decline in some of its settlements. The Umayyads built the lakeside palace at Khirbat al-Minya, but outside Tiberias, many towns were gradually abandoned. In 1187 the lake played a strategic role during the Battle of Hattin, where Saladin’s forces defeated the Crusader army by cutting it off from access to fresh water.
During early Ottoman rule the lake remained of limited strategic significance. Tiberias later revived in the sixteenth century as part of Jewish resettlement initiatives, but turbulence, including the city’s destruction in 1660, hindered sustained development. In the eighteenth century Zahir al-‘Umar rebuilt Tiberias and restored its regional importance.

Early twentieth-century developments

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Jewish agricultural pioneers established Kinneret Farm, adjacent to Moshavat Kinneret. This training centre played a pivotal role in the emergence of the kibbutz movement. Several early collective settlements—including Degania Alef, Kvutzat Kinneret and Ein Harod—were founded by groups trained there. The area also became closely associated with major cultural figures such as poets Naomi Shemer and Rachel Bluwstein, both buried in the Kinneret cemetery.
After Britain and France took control of former Ottoman territories following the First World War, the 1920 Franco–British Boundary Agreement broadly defined the border between Mandatory Palestine and the French Mandate for Syria, running through the Sea of Galilee. Subsequent adjustments refined the boundary, but the lake remained a key geographical reference point.