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Tiberias

Town (pop., 2004 est.: 40,100) and resort, northeastern Israel. Located on Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee), at 689 ft (210 m) below sea level, it is one of the lowest-lying towns in the world. It was founded c. AD 20 by Herod Antipas and named for the Roman emperor Tiberius. After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70, it became a centre of Jewish learning and later the seat of the Sanhedrin and rabbinical schools. The Talmud was edited there in the 3rd – 6th centuries. Saladin took the town from the Crusaders in 1187. The modern town was refounded under the British mandate in 1922 and became part of independent Israel in 1948. Historic sites include the tomb of the great Jewish scholar Moses Maimonides. Along with Hebron, Jerusalem, and Zefat, it is one of the four holy cities of Judaism.

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