Jotopata
City crossed by the small group of apostles on their way to Antioch of Syria.
Description
Peter drives the cart carrying the two exiles (John of Endor and Syntyche), from Nazareth to Ptolemais. To keep their next stop at Jiphthahel discreet, Peter questioned a shepherd about the road leading to Jotapata, nearby.“Jotopata in the winter months is isolated. There is only one road to go there, but it is not possible to go there with lambs… You cannot carry anything on your shoulders because there are passes where you proceed more with your hands than with your feet, and lambs cannot swim. There are two rivers, which are often flooded, and the very road is a torrent that flows on a rocky bed. [...]”[1]This is the only reference to this village in the work.
Its name
Jotapata, Jothbatha, Yotbata, Jetebatha, Yodefat. The name "Yodefat" (or Yotbata) could be derived from the Hebrew "yofi", which means "beauty". Thus, Yodefat could mean "beautiful" or "the beautiful". Another possible interpretation is related to the Hebrew root "yod-fat", which could mean "he has added beauty".
Where is it mentioned in the work?
GRM 315.
Learn more about this place
Locality located about ten kilometers north of Sephoris. Flavius Josephus describes it as: “It was the strongest fortress of Galilee, being situated on a mountain, and inaccessible rocky cliffs on all sides, except for the northern part, from where it could be approached”.[2] The archaeological site was rediscovered only in 1992-1994.[3] It is mentioned only twice in the Bible.[4]
To reach Jotapata from the south, one must cross the Beit Netofa valley. This plain, well drained today, is nevertheless still subject to flooding. On the 1870 surveys, it appears as a marshy area. This justifies Maria Valtorta's account which describes the difficulties encountered by the apostles, in the middle of winter, to reach Jiphthahel passing near this muddy plain... The cartographer H. H. Kitchener testified in 1881: “It is an easy road for riders, but at places impassable for vehicles”.[5]
During the First Jewish-Roman war (66-73), it was the site of a major siege carried out by Roman forces under the command of Vespasian. The heroic resistance and fall of Yodefat are detailed by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who himself was a commander of the Jewish forces during the siege.[2]
Explore
- 32° 50’ 19’’ N / 35° 16’ 22’’ E /
- +470m.
Notes and references
Article partially based on the Geographical Dictionary of the Gospel, by Jean-François Lavère.
- ↑ GRM 315.1.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 F. JOSEPHUS, The Jewish War 3,7-7.
- ↑ By M. Aviam, Israel Antiquities Authority and W. S. Green, University of Rochester.
- ↑ Numbers 33,33-34 and Deuteronomy 10,7.
- ↑ H. H. Kitchener, The Survey of western Palestine 1881, p. 291: “This is an easy road for horsemen, but impassable for wheeled vehicles in places”.