LodLod (לוד, or fully vocalized לֹד; al-Lidd or ), also known as Lydda (Λύδδα), is a city southeast of Tel Aviv and northwest of Jerusalem in the Central District of Israel. It is situated between the lower Shephelah on the east and the coastal plain on the west. The city had a population of in 2019. Lod is an ancient city, and Neolithic remains have been discovered there. It is mentioned few times in the Hebrew Bible and in the New Testament. Between the 5th century BCE and up until the late Roman period, the city was a prominent center for Jewish scholarship and trade.
Antipater the IdumaeanAntipater I the Idumaean (113 or 114 BCE – 43 BCE) was the founder of the Herodian Dynasty and father of Herod the Great. According to Josephus, he was the son of Antipas and had formerly held that name. A native of Idumaea, a region southeast of Judah in which the Edomites settled during the classical period, Antipater became a powerful official under the later Hasmonean kings and subsequently became a client of the Roman general Pompey the Great when Pompey conquered Judah in the name of Roman Republic.
PetraPetra (Al-Batraʾ; Πέτρα, "Rock"), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō (Nabataean: *Raqēmō), is a historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Jabal Al-Madbah, in a basin surrounded by mountains forming the eastern flank of the Arabah valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. The area around Petra has been inhabited from as early as 7000 BC, and the Nabataeans might have settled in what would become the capital city of their kingdom as early as the 4th century BC.
NazarethNazareth (ˈnæzərəθ ; النَّاصِرَة, an-Nāṣira; נָצְרַת, Nāṣəraṯ; ܢܨܪܬ, Naṣrath) is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and commercial center for the Arab citizens of Israel, and became also a center of Arab and Palestinian nationalism. The inhabitants are predominantly Arab citizens of Israel, of whom 69% are Muslim and 30.9% Christian.
Dead SeaThe Dead Sea (اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū; יַם הַמֶּלַח, Yam hamMelaḥ), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and the West Bank and Israel to the west. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River. As of 2019, the lake's surface is below sea level, making its shores the lowest land-based elevation on Earth. It is deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With a salinity of 342 g/kg, or 34.
SadduceesThe Sadducees (ˈsædjəsiːz; Ṣədūqīm) were a socio-religious sect of Jews active in Judea during the Second Temple period, from the second century BCE to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. The Sadducees are often compared to other contemporaneous sects, including the Pharisees and the Essenes. Josephus, writing at the end of the 1st century CE, associates the sect with the upper social and economic echelon of Judean society. As a whole, they fulfilled various political, social, and religious roles, including maintaining the Temple in Jerusalem.
Beit She'anBeit She'an (בֵּית שְׁאָן ), also Beth-shean, formerly Beisan (بيسان ), is a town in the Northern District of Israel. The town lies at the Beit She'an Valley about 120 m (394 feet) below sea level. Beit She'an is believed to be one of the oldest cities in the region. It has played an important role in history due to its geographical location at the junction of the Jordan River Valley and the Jezreel Valley. Beth She'an's ancient tell contains remains beginning in the Chalcolithic period.
Sea of GalileeThe Sea of Galilee (יָם כִּנֶּרֶת, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, بحيرة طبريا), also called Lake Tiberias or Kinneret, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth and the second-lowest lake in the world (after the Dead Sea, a salt lake), at levels between and below sea level. It is approximately in circumference, about long, and wide. Its area is at its fullest, and its maximum depth is approximately .
GalileanGenerically, a Galilean (gælᵻ'liːən; גלילי; Γαλιλαίων; Galilaeos) is a term that was used in classical sources to describe the inhabitants of Galilee, an area of northern Israel that extends from the northern coastal plain in the west to the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan Rift Valley to the east. Later the term was used to refer to the early Christians by Roman emperors Julian and Marcus Aurelius, among others.
NegevThe Negev or Negeb (ˈnɛɡɛv; hanNégev; an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort city and port of Eilat. It contains several development towns, including Dimona, Arad and Mitzpe Ramon, as well as a number of small Bedouin towns, including Rahat and Tel Sheva and Lakiya.
