Mosque Name: Tiberias Umayyad Mosque
Country: Israel
City: Tiberias
Upper Mosque Year of construction 740 CE / 112 AH
Lower Mosque Year of construction 670 CE / 50 AH
GPS: 32.776276 35.543996
ArchNet: https://archnet.org/publications/6797
Gibson Classification: Upper Mosque Qibla: Mecca
Gibson Classification: Lower Mosque Qibla: Unknown
For a Link to the Qibla Tool Click Here
Description:
There are three old mosques in ancient Tiberias located on the western shore of Lake Tiberias. The large mosque, known as the Umayyad Mosque has two mosques located on top of the other.
The upper mosque is known as the Umayyad Tiberias Friday Mosque. Archeologists have dated this mosque to approximately 740 AD (112 AH). This mosque has a Mihrab niche and faces Mecca in Saudi Arabia, making it one of the earliest Umayyad mosques to have a Saudi Mecca Qibla.
The earlier mosque, under the Umayyad Friday Mosque is an ongoing active excavation. Coins and ceramics nestled among at the base of the crudely crafted foundations helped date the earlier structure to around 660-680 AD. Since it has not been excavated, the Qibla direction is unknown.
There is a smaller mosque in Area D, mentioned by David Stacy. (Stacey, David, 2004. Excavations at Tiberias, 1973-1974: The Early Islamic Periods, IAA Reports 21, Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 79-80. )
View of the excavation
The Mosque has a grey/brown roofed structure beside it.
References:
Cytryn-Silverman, Katia, 2009. “The Umayyad Mosque of Tiberias”, Muqarnas 26: 37-61. https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789047429333/Bej.9789004175891.i-386_003.xml
Cytryn-Silberman, Katia, 2021. “From Tiberias to Tabariyya: Islamization of the Classical City”, in: “Tiberias – the Hub of the Land, a Zoom Workshop following Excavations, Insights and New Research – Celebrating 2000 Years to the Establishment of the City”, January 14th, 2021, https://www.ybz.org.il/?CategoryID=493&ArticleID=8064#.YBWj0Xkxk2x.
Miller, Shulamit, and de Vincenz, Anna, 2018. “Tiberias and Hammat Tiberias, Berenice Channel”, Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel 130, https://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/Report_Detail_Eng.aspx?id=25434&mag_id=126.
Shulamit Miller, Anna de Vincenz. “Fig. 56_1 from Israel/Tiberias/Mosque ID 56”. (2021) In Early Islamic Mosques Database. Hagit Nol (Ed.) . Released: 2021-11-14. Open Context. http://opencontext.org/media/b8594899-ed3b-48fc-9ae1-1c4d1092f56b
St. Laurent, Beatrice, and Awwad, Isam, 2018. “Capitalizing Jerusalem and Beyond: A Preliminary Note on Muʿāwiya’s Urban and Imperial Vision 635-800”, in: Markus Ritter and Mattia Guidetti (eds.), Proceedings of the 10th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, vol. 1: Islamic Archaeology, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 653-666.
Stacey, David, 2004. Excavations at Tiberias, 1973-1974: The Early Islamic Periods, IAA Reports 21, Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 79-80.
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