Rakkath

RAKKATH (răk'ăth, Heb. raqqath). One of the fortified cities assigned to the tribe of Naphthali (Josh.19.35). It is near the Sea of Galilee. There is some evidence that Tiberias was built on the ruins of Rakkath.

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RAKKATH răk’ ĭth (רַקַּ֥ת; LXX Δακεθ, LXX Alexandrinus Ρεκκαθ, LXX Lucian Ράκκαθ; meaning uncertain).

A fortified city in Naphtali. Jewish tradition identified it with Tiberias, but modern scholarship identified it with Khirbet el-Quneitireh, a small ancient site near the W shore of the Sea of Galilee c. a m. and a half N of Tiberias.

Bibliography

W. F. Albright, “The Jordan Valley in the Bronze Age,” AASOR, VI (1926), 26; Y. Aharoni and M. Avi-Yonah, The Macmillan Bible Atlas (1968), maps 17, 21, 72, 108, 113.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

The Greek is obviously the result of confusing the two names Rakkath and Hammath, taking "r" in the former for "d". Rakkath was one of the fortified cities in Naphtali (Jos 19:35). It is named between Hammath and Chinnereth. Hammath is identified with the hot baths to the South of Tiberias. There are traces of ancient fortifications here. The rabbis think that Tiberias was built on the site of Rakkath. Certain it is that Herod’s town was built upon an ancient site, the graves of the old inhabitants being disturbed in digging the new foundations (Neubauer, Geog. du Talmud, 208).