Galilee Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Byzantine period === After the completion of the Mishnah, which marked the conclusion of the [[Tannaim|tannaitic]] era, came the period of the ''[[amoraim]]''. The [[Jerusalem Talmud]], the principal work of the amoraim in Palestine, is primarily discussions and interpretations of the Mishnah, and according to academic research, most of it was edited in [[Tiberias]]. The vast majority of the ''amoraim'' named there, as well as the majority of the settlements or place names referenced, were Galileans.<ref name="Leibner2009" /> By the middle of the fourth century, the Jerusalem Talmud's compilation and editing processes abruptly came to a halt, as Talmudic scholar Yaacov Sussmann put it: "The development of the Jerusalem Talmud seems to have abruptly ceased, as if severed by a sharp and sudden blade".<ref>Sussmann 1990: 67β103</ref><ref name="Leibner2009" /> Demographically, during the fourth century the entire region witnessed a significant population decrease, resulting in the abandonment of several notable settlements.<ref name="Leibner2009" /> In approximately 320 CE, Christian bishop [[Epiphanius of Salamis|Epiphanius]] reported that all the major cities and villages in Galilee were entirely Jewish.<ref>Epiphanius'', Panarion'' 30.11.9β10</ref> During the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] period, however, Galilee's Jewish population experienced a decline, while Christian settlement grew. Archaeological data indicates that in the third and fourth centuries, several Jewish sites were abandoned, and some Christian villages were established on or near these deserted locations. Certain settlements, such as [[Rameh|Rama]], [[Magdala]], [[Kafr Kanna]], [[Daburiyya]], and [[Iksal]], which were materially Jewish during the Roman period, were now predominantly inhabited by Christians or had a significant Christian population. Safrai and Liebner argue that the decline of the Jewish population and the expansion of the Christian population in the region were separate events that happened at different times. Throughout this period, religious segregation between Christian and Jewish villages endured, with few exceptions like [[Capernaum]] and perhaps [[Nazareth]], due to their sanctity in Christian tradition.<ref name="Leibner2009" /> Leibner has proposed tying the end of the Palestinian Amoraic period, the impact of historical occurrences like the [[Historiography of Christianization of the Roman Empire|Christianization of the Roman Empire]] and of Palestine, the apparent cessation of activities of at least some of the [[Beth midrash|''batei midrash'']] and the transformation of the Galilee from a densely populated Jewish area to a collection of communities surrounded by non-Jewish areas to this demographic crisis. He assumed that Christian population in Galilee was not composed of Jews who converted to Christianity. This is supported by the fact that trustworthy historical records, which mention Jewish conversion to Christianity in Byzantine Palestine, refer to individual cases rather than entire villages, unlike the records from the western part of the empire.<ref name="Leibner2009" /> Eastern Galilee retained a Jewish majority until at least the seventh century.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Leibner|first=Uzi|title=Settlement and Demography in Late Roman and Byzantine Eastern Galilee|url=https://www.academia.edu/7438063|language=en}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page