Tabgha

Tabgha (الطابغة, al-Tabigha; עין שבע, Ein Sheva which means "spring of seven") is an area situated on the north-western shore of the Sea of Galilee in Israel and a depopulated Palestinian village. It is traditionally accepted as the place of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes (Mark 6:30-46) and the fourth resurrection appearance of Jesus (John 21:1-24) after his Crucifixion. The village population was expelled in 1948 during Operation Broom. The site's name is derived from the Greek name Heptapegon ("seven springs"). The name was later shortened to "Tapego", and was eventually changed to "Tabgha" in Arabic, since Classical Arabic has no p, g and o sounds and replaces these sounds by b, gh and a or u. St. Jerome referred to Heptapegon as "the wilderness/lonely place" (erêmos, as the location is also described in the Gospels). In the Byzantine period, the water of the springs at Heptapegon was collected in three water towers (Birket Ali edh-Dhaher at Ein Nur Spring, Hammam Ayyub, and Tannur Ayub) and sent via an aqueduct to the Plain of Ginosar, where it was used for irrigation; the three towers seem to be recorded in the mosaic floor of the 5th-century Church of the Multiplication at Tabgha. A map from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 by Pierre Jacotin showed Tabgha, marked by the word Moulin (mill in French). The 4th-century tower-like octagonal reservoir at Ein Nur Spring and the aqueduct it connected to are traditionally attributed to Ali, a son of the 18th-century ruler Dhaher (or Zahir) al-Umar. The reservoir is locally known as Birket Ali edh-Dhaher, "Pool of Ali edh-Dhaher". In 1881, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) stated that the masonry of the structures indicates an Arab origin, thus agreeing with this tradition. The area now taken by the Church of St Peter's Primacy was known during the Crusader period as Mensa Christi, or Mensa Domini.