Map of the Decapolis showing the location of Bet Sheʼan (here called by its Greek name, Scythopolis)

Bet She'an ▶ (help·info) (Hebrew: בֵּית שְׁאָן Bet Šəʼan; unofficially also spelled Beit Shean, Beth Shean; official Israeli Arabic بيت شان Bayt Šān); Arabic بيسان Baysān ▶ (help·info) is a city in the North District in Israel. The new Bet She'an was founded in 1949, a short time after the establishment of the State of Israel. The town has been called other names in the past, the most recent being Bissan which is where the name Bet She'an comes from. Bet She'an lies about 120 meters below sea level in the Jordan River Valley, about 60 km south of Tiberias. Download high resolution version (513x752, 112 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (513x752, 112 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by more than 7 million people, mainly in Israel, the West Bank, the United States and by Jewish communities around the world. ... Arabic (; , less formally, ) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... Arabic (; , less formally, ) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... North District, or Northern District, in Israel includes the following towns and cities: Afula עפולה Akko (Acre) עכו Bet Shean בית שאן Caesarea (Qesarriya) קיסריה Karmiel כרמיאל Maalot-Tarshiha Migdal HaEmeq מגדל העמק Nahariyya נהריה Nazareth נצרת Nazerat Illit נצרת עילית Sakhnin סחנין Shefa-Amr (Shfaram) שפרעם...

Bet She'an was the site of an Egyptian administrative center during the XVIII and XIX dynasties. In Hellenistic times it was a Scythian city from circa 625 to 300 B.C., and the biblical city Beth-shean. In 64 BC it was taken by the Romans, rebuilt, and made the center of the Decapolis, the "Ten Cities" of Samaria that were centers of Greco-Roman culture. The city contains the best preserved Roman theater of ancient Samaria. ôľĎÚ The Late Period of Egypt refers to the last flowering of native Egyptian rulers after the Third Intermediate Period, and before the Persian conquests. ... The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance... Scythia was an area in Eurasia inhabited in ancient times by an Indo-Aryans known as the Scythians. ... The oval forum and cardo of Gerasa (Jerash) The Decapolis (Greek: deka, ten; polis, city) was a group of ten cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in Syria and Judea (renamed Palestine in 135 AD). ... Samaria, or Shomron (Hebrew שֹׁמְרוֹן, Standard Hebrew Å omÉ™ron, Tiberian Hebrew ŠōmÉ™rôn, Arabic سامريّون SāmariyyÅ«n (but commonly called in Arabic جبال نابلس Jibal Nablus), (in the New Testament Greek Σαμαρεία, in Russian Самария ) is a term used for the mountainous northern part of the area on the west bank of the Jordan... Roman theatre at Orange, France A Roman theatre is a theatre building built by the Romans. ...

During the 6th century Byzantine period, Bet She'an housed a Christian monastery named the Monastery of Lady Mary which has a Zodiac mosaic that is still preserved today. The Byzantine Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered at its capital in Constantinople. ... As a noun, Christian is an appellation and moniker deriving from the appellation Christ, which many people associate exclusively with Jesus of Nazareth. ... Zodiac signs, 16th century , medieval woodcuts The zodiac (from Greek zoon, animal) is an imaginary belt in the heavens extending approximately 8 degrees on either side of the Suns apparent path (the ecliptic), that includes the apparent paths of the Moon and the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. ... Mosaic is the art of decoration with small pieces of colored glass, stone or other material. ...

The University of Pennsylvania carried out excavations of ancient Bet She'an in 1921–1933. They discovered many interesting relics from the Egyptian period, most of which are preserved in the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem and some in the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia, USA. Excavations at the cite are ongoing at the site and reveal no less than 18 successive ancient towns. Ancient Bet She'an is one of the most impressive Roman and Byzantine sites in Israel, but attracts relatively few tourists due to its location slightly away from the main tourist routes. The University of Pennsylvania (Penn is the moniker used by the university itself; UPenn is also common) is a private, nonsectarian, research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... The Rockefeller Museum located in Eastern Jerusalem, houses a vast collection of regional archeology unearthed in excavations conducted in the country mainly during the time of the British Mandate (1919-1948). ... Philadelphia is a village located in Jefferson County, New York. ...

Before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Bet She'an was one of the largest cities in the British Mandate of Palestine. After the war, it became much smaller. At the end of 2001 the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), reported the city had a total population of 15,700. The 1948 Arab-Israeli War is referred to as the War of Independence (Hebrew: מלחמת העצמאות) or as the War of Liberation (Hebrew: מלחמת השחרור) by Israelis. ... Map of the territory under the British Mandate of Palestine. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (הלשכה המרכזית לסטטיסטיקה) is a state organization for the creation and maintenance of numeric data related to populations vis-à-vis the ethnic makeup of Israel and its cities. ...

Demographics

According to CBS, in 2001 the ethnic makeup of the city was 99.6% Jewishand other non-Arab, with no significant Arab population. There were 35 immigrants living in the city. See Population groups in Israel. The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... -1... Population groups in Israel are the major ethnic groups of Jews and Arabs. ...

According to CBS, in 2001 there were 7,900 males and 7,800 females. The population of the city was spread out with 40.5% 19 years of age or younger, 16.6% between 20 and 29, 19.4% between 30 and 44, 14.2% from 45 to 59, 2.6% from 60 to 64, and 6.6% 65 years of age or older. The population growth rate in 2001 was -0.2%.

Income

According to CBS, as of 2000, in the city there were 4,980 salaried workers and 301 are self-employed. The mean monthly wage in 2000 for a salaried worker in the city is ILS 4,200, a real change of 3.3% over the course of 2000. Salaried males have a mean monthly wage of ILS 5,314 (a real change of 5.1%) versus ILS 2,998 for females (a real change of -1.0%). The mean income for the self-employed is 6,106. There are 470 people who receive unemployment benefits and 1,409 people who receive an income guarantee. 1 sheqel coin (1994–5). ...

Education

According to CBS, there are 16 schools and 3,809 students in the city. They are spread out as 10 elementary schools and 2,008 elementary school students, and 10 high schools and 1,801 high school students. 56.2% of 12th grade students were entitled to a matriculation certificate in 2001.