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Description
Beit She'an's location has often been strategically significant, as it sits at the junction of the Jordan River Valley and the Jezreel Valley, essentially controlling access from the interior to the coast, as well as from Jerusalem to the Galilee. Its name is believed to derive from the early Canaanite "house of tranquility".[citation needed]
Map of the Decapolis showing the location of Beit She'an, (here called by its Greek name, Scythopolis)
Map of the Decapolis showing the location of Beit She'an, (here called by its Greek name, Scythopolis)

Beit She'an is first listed among Thutmose III's conquests in the fifteenth century BCE, and the remains of an Egyptian administrative center from the XVIII and XIX dynasties have been excavated. The Bible mentions it as a Canaanite city in the Book of Joshua, and its conquest by David and inclusion in the later kingdom is noted, and large Solomonic administrative buildings destroyed by Tiglath-pileser III were uncovered from this period.[2] Its ninth century BCE biblical capture by the Pharaoh Shishaq is corroborated by his victory list.

Description
Beit She'an's location has often been strategically significant, as it sits at the junction of the Jordan River Valley and the Jezreel Valley, essentially controlling access from the interior to the coast, as well as from Jerusalem to the Galilee. Its name is believed to derive from the early Canaanite "house of tranquility".[citation needed]
Map of the Decapolis showing the location of Beit She'an, (here called by its Greek name, Scythopolis)
Map of the Decapolis showing the location of Beit She'an, (here called by its Greek name, Scythopolis)

Beit She'an is first listed among Thutmose III's conquests in the fifteenth century BCE, and the remains of an Egyptian administrative center from the XVIII and XIX dynasties have been excavated. The Bible mentions it as a Canaanite city in the Book of Joshua, and its conquest by David and inclusion in the later kingdom is noted, and large Solomonic administrative buildings destroyed by Tiglath-pileser III were uncovered from this period.[2] Its ninth century BCE biblical capture by the Pharaoh Shishaq is corroborated by his victory list.