Sea of Galilee

The Sea of Galilee is Israel's largest freshwater lake, approximately 53 kilometers (33 miles) in circumference, about 21 km (13 miles) long, and 13 km (8 miles) wide; it has a total area of 166 km², and a maximum depth of approximately 43 meters. At 209 meters below sea level, it is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth and the second-lowest lake in the world after the Dead Sea, a saltwater lake. It is not a sea by any normal definition; it is called a sea by tradition. The lake is also known on modern maps as Lake Galilee or Lake Tiberias. The name Galilee refers to the region of Galilee in which it is located. In modern Hebrew it is known by its biblical name, Yam Kinneret (ים כנרת), "Sea of Kinnereth" (Numbers 34:11; Joshua 13:27). The name may originate from the Hebrew word kinnor ("harp" or "lyre") - which the lake's shape resembles. It has also been called the Lake of Gennesaret or the Sea of Gennesaret (Greek: Γεννησαρέτ Strong's G1082 - Gennēsaret, of Hebrew origin, cf H3672 כנרות Kinnĕrowth, Chinneroth or Cinneroth or Chinnereth = "harps"). (Luke 5:1) after the name of a small fruitful plain which lies on its western side.

The Kinnĕrowth is fed by underground springs, but its main source is the Jordan River, which flows through it from north to south.

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Galilee

Galilee (Arabic al-jaleel الجليل, Hebrew hagalil הגליל), meaning "circuit", is a large area overlapping with much of the North District of Israel. It is traditionally divided into three areas:

1. Upper Galilee,
2. Lower Galilee and
3. Western Galilee.

Galilee embraces more than one-third of present-day Israel, extending "from Dan on the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, to the ridges of Mount Carmel and Gilboa on the south, and from the Jordan valley on the east away across the splendid plains of Jezreel and Akko to the shores of the Mediterranean on the west."

The Western Galilee, also called the "Northern Coastal Plain" strays from north of Haifa up to Rosh Hanikra in the border between Israel and Lebanon.

The Lower Galilee strays from Mount Carmel and Mount Gilboa ridge in the south to the Beit HaKerem Valley in the north. Its eastern border is the Jordan River.

The Upper Galilee strays from Beit HaKerem Valley in the south to the Lebanese border in the north. Its eastern border is the Sea of Galilee and the mountains of the Golan Heights. The "Finger of the Galilee" (Etzba ha-Galil) is a region of the upper Galilee and contains the towns Metula and Qiriyat Shemona and the rivers of Dan and Banias.

Most of the Galilee consists of mountainous terrain, at heights of about 500-700 meters. There are several high mountain such as Mount Tabor. The relatively low tempartures and the large amounts of rain pouring every year made the Galilee a center of blossom and wildlife. The streams and waterfalls (mainly in the upper Galilee), along with vast fields of green and colorful flowers made it a popular tourist attraction in Israel.

At and before the time of Jesus, the region of the Galilee had been populated by Gentiles, people who were of neither Jewish nor Samaritan ancestry. Galilee was not part of Judea proper but at times was under Judean control. Galilee was separated from it by a sliver of the Gentile Decapolis and by the ethnically mixed transitional region Samaria. The cultural and fundamentalist, religious Jews (Judeans), considered the region to be lower than the half-breeds of Samaria and therefore, morally, spiritually and physically "unclean".

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Sea of Galilee

The Sea of Galilee is Israel's largest freshwater lake, approximately 53 kilometers (33 miles) in circumference, about 21 km (13 miles) long, and 13 km (8 miles) wide; it has a total area of 166 km², and a maximum depth of approximately 43 meters. At 209 meters below sea level, it is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth and the second-lowest lake in the world after the Dead Sea, a saltwater lake. It is not a sea by any normal definition; it is called a sea by tradition. The lake is also known on modern maps as Lake Galilee or Lake Tiberias. The name Galilee refers to the region of Galilee in which it is located. In modern Hebrew it is known by its biblical name, Yam Kinneret (ים כנרת), "Sea of Kinnereth" (Numbers 34:11; Joshua 13:27). The name may originate from the Hebrew word kinnor ("harp" or "lyre") - which the lake's shape resembles. It has also been called the Lake of Gennesaret or the Sea of Gennesaret (Luke 5:1) after the name of a small fruitful plain which lies on its western side.

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