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With his trusty sling, the shepherd boy
David would have taken aim at any lion who
dared to threaten his father's flock. This
was in the tenth century BC when lions
roamed the wilderness of Judah. If we fast
forward to the time of Jeremiah, four
centuries later, lions could be found in the
thickets of the River Jordan from its outlet
at the south of the Sea of Galilee, all the
way down to east of Jericho. (See
Jeremiah 49:19 and 50:44) |
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Copyright
2014 by Gila Yudkin |
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Beth Shean is just a few
miles west of the Jordan River where lions
once roamed |
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Only a few miles from the River Jordan, the
descendents of these very lions could have
starred in the entertainment offered to the
Roman Sixth Legion stationed in the Beth
Shean Valley during the second and third
centuries AD. Spectacularly gory gladiator
fights of man versus man or man versus beast
were probably more popular with the Roman
soldiers than the more refined cultural
programs presented in the nearby theater.
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It was in 1980 that Beth Shean's
amphitheater was discovered. It had been
built around 200 AD and used for two
centuries until the price of lions
escalated. And more than likely, the
Christians who had by then gained power
after centuries of harassment and worse,
objected to gladiator sports. |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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Beth Shean's amphitheater
discovered in 1980 |
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It seems to be more fiction than fact, that
the early Christians "were fed" as
breakfast, lunch and dinner to the lions. Late first century AD Roman historian Tacitus credits the Emperor Nero with the
persecution of the first Christians after a
devastating fire destroyed Rome in 64 AD. A
rumor began to circulate that it was Nero
himself who had started that fire so he
would have a pretext to rebuild the city.
Whether or not he had any part in setting
the fire is still being debated.
But the rumors threatened Nero's reign so he
decided to blame the subversive Christians
for igniting the fire. Tacitus writes that
Nero forced a confession from some
Christians. On this "evidence" a number of
Christians were convicted and put to death
with dreadful cruelty. Some were covered
with the skins of wild beasts and left to be
eaten by dogs. Others were nailed to the
cross. Many were burned alive and set on
fire to serve as torches at night. Nice guy
he was, Nero. |
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Rome's Colosseum, by the way, had not yet
been built. It was built a few years later
by the Emperor Vespasian. (He was the
general sent to put down the revolt in Judea
and whose son burned the city of Jerusalem,
destroying its Temple in AD 70.)
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In contrast to the Colosseum with its
capacity for 50,000 spectators, Beth Shean's
amphitheater seated a smaller crowd of eight
thousand. There was no stone floor, only
sand. Sand translated into Latin is arena. The arena's purpose was to soak up the blood
of man and beast. |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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The floor of the amphi was
made of sand, to soak up the blood of man
and beast |
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Afternoon hours in the amphitheater were
reserved for battles with beasts of prey. In
order to give these spectacles a more
authentic air, the Romans painted trees and
jungle scenes around the arena, as if to
place the animals in their natural habitat.
The wall surrounding Beth Shean's arena was
covered with light-colored stucco on which
the archeologists found traces of red paint.
In the fourth century AD, Beth Shean's
amphitheater was covered with debris and its
location lost until 1980. The lions,
however, continued to hunt their prey in the
thickets of the Jordan until the Crusader
period. |
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In 1107, a Russian pilgrim noted that
"powerful and impious Saracens [Medieval
term for Muslims] attack travelers at the
river fords" of Beth Shean. If that wasn't
enough, he added, "Many lions frequent these
parts. Great sheets of stagnant water
separate the Jordan from the town of Beth
Shean and it is there that the lions
abound." |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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Ruins of the ancient city
of Beth Shean or Scythopolis |
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But alas, no more! As we take in Beth
Shean's once bloody Roman amphitheater, we
can, in contrast, project the images of the
prophet Isaiah who left us the hope for
peaceful coexistence, Not only will the lion
dwell with the lamb but it will adapt the
ways of the more gentler animals and scorn
violence. "And the calf and the young lion
and the fatling shall dwell together…and the
lion shall eat straw like the ox." (Isaiah
11:6-7) |
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Copyright 2014 Gila Yudkin. Permission
needed for any reuse. |
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Gila
Yudkin has
been guiding pilgrims throughout the holy
land since 1978. She has never seen a lion
except at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo. However, on tour, she has seen hundreds upon
hundreds of camels! And ibex too. Her tours
are a mix of fun, fantasy and fact, where
the Bible comes alive. |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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Hundreds of camels roam
the wilderness close to the River Jordan |
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When Jacob blessed his son Judah, he called
him a lion's whelp (Genesis 49:9). This
prophecy was fulfilled when the tribe of
Judah ascended to the leadership of the
people of Israel. It also refers to the
wilderness assigned to the tribe of Judah
where lions once prowled. Today, because the
lions have become extinct, ibex wander
freely, especially in the oasis of
En Gedi. |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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Ibex flourish cause lions
are no more |
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Just last June, the camp of the Legio Sextra
Ferrata, that is the Roman Sixth Legion was
found not too far from the Beth Shean
amphitheater, right by the Megiddo junction. Apparently some of the soldiers were secret
believers in Jesus. Read about the
discovery by Armageddon
of the oldest church dated to the third
century AD
-- in a period in which Christianity
was outlawed. (Was it possible that the same soldiers
rooted for the gladiators versus the lions
(or vice versa) and then on Sunday went to
church??) |
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