Biblical narrative According to the Biblical narrative in the
Book of Joshua, the Galilee was allotted to the tribes of
Naphtali and
Dan, at points overlapping with the domain of the
Tribe of Asher and neighboring the region of
Issachar. The
First Book of Kings claims that the
Phoenician ruler
King Hiram I of
Sidon was awarded twenty cities in the region of Galilee, given to him by
Solomon, and the land was subsequently settled by foreigners during or after the time of Hiram. As part of the
Northern Kingdom, Galilee and all the land of Naphtali were
dispersed and resettled through the influx of foreigners due to the
resettlement policy of the Neo-Assyrian Empire during the 8th century BC (). The
Book of Isaiah refers to the region as (), meaning 'Galilee of the Nations' or 'Galilee of the
Gentiles' (). Though Biblical scholarship and
historical criticism has doubted the historicity of the twelve tribes themselves since the 19th century, the
Neo-Assyrian large-scale deportation and resettlement of their conquered lands was widespread during the late 8th century BCE and remained a policy for the following several centuries.
Classical antiquity The region of Galilee was under-populated during the Persian period. The resettlement of the area began with the establishment of cities along the coastal plain by
Phoenicians from
Tyre. Steadily, the coastal inhabitants built inland rural settlements for their agricultural needs, and inland fortresses for protection of caravan routes and administrative control of the hinterland, launching a new era of occupation in Galilee. With this increase in basic safety measures, people migrated into the region, and autochthonous populations expanded.The region was also inhabited by
Itureans, especially in the north. The Galileans were conscious of a mutual descent, religion and ethnicity and viewed themselves as both close to and distinct from Jews. There were numerous cultural differences, and later rabbinic literature affirms traditions that Judaic religious life in Galilee was distinct from that in Judaea due to being influenced by the native
Phoenician faith. John Elliott argues that only outsiders, like Romans, confused the Galileans with Judeans. According to the
Mishnah, Yohanan was the first to be given the title of
rabbi. The
Talmud says that Yohanan was assigned to a post in the Galilee during his training. In eighteen years he was asked only two questions of
Judaic walk of life, causing him to lament "O Galilee, O Galilee, in the end you shall be filled with wrongdoers!" In his analysis of the biblical narrative of
Jesus's crucifixion, Markus Cromhout proposes that the Romans intentionally offended the Judeans by crucifying Jesus as 'the King of Judeans', despite being Galiean. The
material culture of the 1st century Galilee indicates adherence to the Judaic ritual purity concerns.
Stone vessels are ubiquitous and
mikvehs have been uncovered in most Galilean sites, particularly around synagogues and private houses. Settlement in the area underwent a dramatic change between roughly the beginning of the first century BCE and the first half of the first century CE: many settlements were established; uninhabited or sparsely populated areas, like the eastern part of the region or hilly areas with limited agricultural potential, experienced a wave of settlement; and the size of the settled area doubled.
University of Haifa professor Menachem Mor states that the Galileans had little (if any) participation in the revolt, with the rebellion chiefly rising in the southern regions of Judaea.
Medieval and Modern periods Records thought the centuries attest to Galilean presence in villages such as
Kafr Yassif,
Biriyya, and
Alma, but no Jewish continuity in those was found in 19th and 20th century Palestine at the latest. The remaining centuries Galilean Jews had either
underwent Arabization and sometimes
Islamization, or joined the
diaspora by the
Ottoman period in Palestine. A few managed to stay on the land while maintaining
Jewish identity, as seen in the village of
Peki'in in
Mandatory Palestine, whose presence is speculated to potentially go back to the
Second Temple Period, suggesting its Jews had never left, but it is clear that the Jewish presence in the area diminished after the
revolts of ancient times and the settlement of Roman, Greek, and Syrian populations. == Dialect ==