ncient Beit She'an, located in the Jordan Valley some 30 km. south of Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), was of strategic importance because here the northward road from Jerusalem converged with the eastward road from the northern coast leading to Transjordan. This strategic position in the fertile Beit She'an Valley made Beit She'an one of the major cities in the Land of Israel.

uring the late Canaanite period (sixteenth to twelfth centuries B.C.E.), the hilltop was the seat of the Egyptian rule in the Land of Israel. Beit She’an is first mentioned by Thutmose the Third, who occupied the city. It remained in Egyptian hands until the reign of Ra'amses the Third (1198-1194 B.C.E.).

n the Hellenistic period, Beit She'an was renamed Scythopolis (city of the Scythians) and it extended southeast towards Tel Itztaba. Taken over by Pompeii in 67 C.E., Beth She’an became part of the Decapolis. It was during the Roman/Byzantine periods that Beth She’an truly flourished. The city reached its maximum size and prosperity, when a new civic center was built in the valley southwest of the Tel, surrounded by residential quarters. In the Byzantine period it was also fortified with a city wall. Most of the remains found in the course of numerous archaeological digs are from the two periods mentioned above.