Kursi Caves and/or Tombs

View looking southward towards Kursi of an east-west slope terminating near church

There was the Byzantine monastery of Kursi and chapel to the right of the brow of the hill on the left side of the road (to the right of cave three). 

 From inside Cave #1, April 2005

Four foot wide ledge below limestone overhang

Caves #2

Cave #2 low ceiling, conglomerate cave,  January 2006

Cave  #3,  April 2005

Cave #3 was large enough to stand in, January 2006.

Kursi Hill, shows cave #3 to left and hillside cut dug while excavating Byzantine chapel, January 2006


I picked up a Franciscan guidebook in a Jerusalem guesthouse library and found mention of recesses in the wadi to the side of the Kursi monastery described as tombs.  There were other dark openings in the rocks not published here in the southwestern face of the ridge .  The study of this area has occurred to try to determine the geographical context of the Gospels and the story about the demoniac.  The demoniac was described as a Gerasene in two of the early Gospels, a Gergesene in later manuscripts, and a Gadarene in one of the Gospels.  There were limestone cave features and manmade conglomerate caves.  The rock was solid and the caves might have been hundreds or thousands of years old.  They may have been dug into conglomerate, the rock was cemented solid, a rock strata dipping to the west.

A couple of kilometers to the north was Noqeib, a steep limestone ridge much closer to the shore.  In July of 2006, I found some caves that might also have been used as tombs at one time. 

There was also a steep slope and numerous caves/tombs in the NW corner of the lake near Magdala and Hawaii Beach.      

In 2006 I found a book by W. Sanday, SACRED SITES OF THE GOSPELS, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1903.  Sanday went to Kursi although the Arabs called it Kersa at that time.  Sanday reported seeing tombs and a steep place almost at the edge of the lake.  He compared the word Kersa to Geresa.

Sanday quoted the work of one Dr. Thomson, THE LAND AND THE BOOK (1901), who was credited with having discovered the place.  Thomson wrote: "The name of this prostrate town is Kerza (sic) or Gersa as my Bedawin guide shouted it in my ear the first time I visited it, on that windy day we have been describing.  The name however pronounced by Bedawin Arabs, is so similar to Gergesa, that to all my inquiries for this place, they invariably said it was at Chersa (sic); and they insisted that they were identical, and I agreed with them in this opinion."

Sanday reprinted the work of Dr. K. Furrer, of Zurich:  "That Kersa (the first discoverer of the place, Thomson,  writes Gersa, Schumacher Kursi) may, so far as the sounds are concerned, be identified with Gerasa ... That there was a place Gerasa (Origen thought that it should be written Gergesa) on the eastern shore of the lake was known only to Origen, who on his repeated journeys to Bostra may have been acquainted with this district ... also Burchardus (1283) who remarks:  Gerasa civitas in littore maris sita Galilee, sub monte Seyr (by which he means the Golan)."

Whether or not this place was named Gerasa in the time of Christ may not be proven.  The Gospels only stated this man was from a place, not that he was or wasn't found in the place he was from.  The demoniac was sleeping in tomb(s) as he had no home.  An insane man with a criminal record sometimes wandered because as soon as his reputation became known he was no longer welcomed.  People may have offered him temporary assistance, but after he showed them scorn and abuse, would have wished he depart and not offer him assistance, but instead threats of chains and imprisonment.  Whatever he had that led him to the shore where Jesus was passing that he might be healed was powerfully moving.  

Gerasa of the Decapolis, Jerash c. 1900

This was another place Gerasa/Jerash, a city of the Decapolis about 30 miles south-east of the Sea of Galilee.

 Parable of the Mustard Seed
     A Mustard Field Along Highway 87-North Shore of Galilee
     Mustard Seeds in the Palm of a Hand
     A Branching Mustard Plant Near the Jordan River/Bethsaida
     Mustard Field March 1999
     Mustard Flowers
     Chukar Partridges
Upper Most Seats of the Synagogue
The Fig Tree
     Mt of Olives Fig Tree April 12-13, 2005
     Fig and Pomegranate trees below Siloam in Jerusalem
     Israel Photos II fig tree page
     Sycomore Fig Tree
The Good Shepherd
The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats
     Goat Herder
Camels
Eye of the Needle
Ritual Cleansing
Shechem
     The Olive Harvest of Samaria
     Mt. Ebal
     Olive Tree
Pearl of Great Price
A First Century Synagogue at Gamala
     View from the Vulture Overlook
     Overview of Gamala
     Roman Artillery Replica
A First Century Boat on Display at Kibbutz Ginosaur
     Modern Galilee Fishing Boats
Kursi
     Caves and/or tombs
     Kursi southwestern face
     Steep Slope Near the Lake
Hippos
Feeding the 5,000
     On the Mountain
     Walking on Water
     Ramot-Zelon area
     Alternate location
Mt. Hermon
The Pool(s) of Bethesda in Jerusalem
     Healing Pools
     Southern Pool
     Crusader Chapel and St. Ann Church
The Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem
     Gihon Spring
     Hezekiah's Tunnel
     Overlook of  Siloam
Tower of Siloam
     Towers
A Watch Tower in a Vineyard/Olive Grove
     Grape Vines at Beth Horan
     Towers
Mt. Precipice
     South Face
     Summit
     Over the edge
     Measuring Line
     View of Nazareth from near Megiddo
Nazareth
     The Basilica of the Annunciation
Capernaum
Healing a Paralytic in Capernaum
Bethsaida      
First Century Artifacts from Qumran and Masada
     Qumran -- 1st century pottery
     Masada -- 1st century glassware
     Masada -- 1st century pottery
     Masada -- 1st century stoneware
Waterskins and Wineskins
The Fish and the Coin
A Denarius
Casting out a demon
The Road to Jericho
     Old Roman Road
     Wilderness Above Jericho
     Old Jericho
Western Wall
Gethsemane and the Cave of  Gethsemane
Church of the Holy Sepulcher
Rolling Stone Tombs - Jerusalem
     Other Rolling Stone Tombs
Tiberias
Solar Power in Israel
Salt of the earth
Chorazin

Home Page