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BETH-SHEAN, BETH-SHAN.—The site of this ancient stronghold, allotted to Manasseh, although in the territory of Issachar (Jos_17:11 ff., Jdg_1:27), is marked by the great mound and village of Beisân, in the throat of the Vale of Jezreel, where it opens into the Ghôr. Manasseh failed to eject the Canaanites, but at a later date they were reduced to servitude. Here the Philistines dishonoured the bodies of Saul and his sons (1Sa_31:7 ff.). During the Greek period it was known as Scythopolis; but the ancient name again prevailed in the form of Beisân. After changes of fortune in the Maccabæn struggle, and in the time immediately succeeding, it attained considerable prosperity as a member of the Decapolis (1Ma_12:40, Jos. [Note: Josephus.] Ant. XIV. V. 3, BJ III. IV. 7, etc.). There must always have been a strong admixture of heathen inhabitants (Jos. [Note: Josephus.] Vita, 6, Abhoda Zarah i. 4). It is now in the hands of a body of Circassians.
W. Ewing.