Bet Shean
[key], town, NE Israel, in the Jordan River valley, c.300 ft (90 m) below
sea level. Situated in a fertile farming region, it is a center for
agricultural experiments. Textiles are manufactured. Archaeological
excavations have traced settlements on the site back to the Bronze Age: Bet
Shean was the site of an Egyptian administrative center during the XVIII and
XIX dynasties (see Egypt), a Scythian
city from c.625 to 300 b.c., and the biblical city Beth-shan. In 64
b.c. it was taken by the Romans, rebuilt, and made the center
of the Decapolis. The
modern Bet Shean was established in 1949 by Israeli settlers. Archaeological
finds include temples of the Canaanite Bronze Age, a Hellenistic-Roman
temple, and a Byzantine monastery. The town is also known as Beisan.
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