Browse By Subject
CARTA MAP BANK®
Browse By Product

Selected Books & maps

Bible Maps


Homepage / People and Places of the Bible / Galilee

Galilee


Galilee, a diverse region in the northern part of the land of the Gospels, was the focal point of most of Jesus' ministry. The region is separated from the hills of Samaria by the vast Esdraelon (Jezreel) Valley, a geological basin which serves not only as the agricultural breadbasket of the entire area but also as a wide-open corridor channeling international traffic between West and East, between the lands of the Mediterranean and those of Transjordan. Jesus' boyhood home of Nazareth was located high on a limestone ridge overlooking the Jezreel Valley from the north; no doubt the valley's rich and storied history helped to shape his messianic awareness.

The limestone hills of Galilee are high and rugged in the north (over 600 meters, hence the term "Upper Galilee"), and lower in the south ("Lower Galilee"). Upper Galilee resembles the higher parts of the hill country of Judea in many respects, particularly in its agricultural base and general isolation from the larger world around, although Upper Galilee is wetter and more productive.

Lower Galilee is characterized by a series of parallel hilly ridges separated by broad fertile valleys, and it is here that most of the population of first-century Galilee lived. The relatively low terrain of Lower Galilee makes for fairly easy travel throughout, and serves to pull the region together as a self-contained unit while at the same time linking it to its neighbors. Nestled amidst basalt hills to the east lies the jeweled Sea of Galilee, the only freshwater lake of any consequence on the entire eastern Mediterranean seaboard and the primary natural resource of all of Galilee.



Biblical Towns and Cities:
Acco (Acre, Akko) Ashdod Bethlehem
Jerusalem Judea
Samaria Syria (Syro-Phoenicia) Masada
Qumran Siloam Tunnel and Inscription Map of Israel
Ai Arad (Tel Arad) Ashkelon
Avdat Beersheba (Tel Beer Sheva) Beit Guvrin
Beth Arabah (Kasar el Yehud) Beth Haggan (Jenin) Beth Shan
Bethany Bethsaida Caesarea
Cana Capernaum Dan
Dead Sea (Salt Sea, Asphalt Sea) Emmaus En Dor
Gath Gaza Gergesa (Kursi)
Gezer Gibeon Haifa
Hammath Gader Hazor Hebron
Herodium Horns of Hittin Jericho
Jezreel Joppa Jordan River
Kadesh Barnea Kiriath Jearim Korazin
Lachish Lod Mampsis
Mamre Mar Saba Megiddo
Mt. Ebal Mt. Gerizim Mt. of Temptation
Mt. Tabor Muhraqa Nazareth
Ophrah Panias (Caesarea Philippi) Safed
Samarie (Sebaste) Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret) Sepphoris
Shepherd's Field Shiloh Shivta
Sodom Tabgha Tiberias
Canaan Moab; Moabites

Pilgrim map of the holy land