Times: One of the oldest mosques in the world unveiled on the shores of Tiberias

The British newspaper The Times reported that archaeologists in Israel believe that they have found the remains of one of the oldest mosques in the world on the shores of Lake Tiberias.

She said

that the mosque was found under the ruins of a building that was originally identified as being from the Byzantine period, and it could have been established as early as 635 AD by a companion who was the leader of the Islamic armies that conquered the Levant. In the seventh century.

The mosque is located on the outskirts of Tiberias, overlooking the western shore of the lake.

The discovery was announced last week at an academic conference after 11 years of excavation by a team led by Katia Citrine Silverman of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

She explained that the excavation of the site took place in the 1950s, when a columned structure was found and identified as a market from the late Byzantine era.

However, recent excavations have discovered pottery shards and coins from the early Islamic era.

Combined with the multi-level design of the foundations, this indicates that the site was an Islamic site.

Archaeologists have identified the remains of a mosque dating back to the eighth century, but other excavations have revealed that the remains date back to the seventh century.

Historians know the sites of ancient mosques, but they are hidden beneath existing mosques and inaccessible to archaeologists.

The oldest remains of a mosque were found in the ancient city of Wasit, east of Baghdad, and it dates back to 703 AD.

Archaeologists believe that the discovered mosque in Tiberias was built decades ago, and may have been founded by Sharhabeel bin Hasna, one of the companions and commander of the army who conquered that area.

"We cannot say with certainty that this was Sharhabeel, but we have historical sources that say that he established a mosque in Tiberias when he opened it in 635 AD," said Dr. Citrine Silverman.