{{Short description|Valley in Syria}} [[File:Yarden 044PAN21.jpg|thumb|350px|Butayhah Basin by the Sea of Galilee]]
The '''Butayhah Basin''' ({{langx|ar|بقعة البطيحة|Buq'at al-Butayhah}}<ref name="Buqat al Buţayḩah">[https://www.mindat.org/feature-295422.html Buq‘at al Buţayḩah, Israel], Mindat.org, accessed 23.1.2022.</ref>; {{langx|he|בקעת הבטיחה|4=Bethsaida Valley}}) is a valley by the northeast shores of the Sea of Galilee at the steep foothills of the central Golan Heights (administered by Israel).<ref>[https://www.galilandgolan.com/about-the-golan "About the Golan"], galilandgolan.com, re-accessed 23 Jan 2022.</ref>
==Etymology== thumb|Majrassa nature reserve in Butayhah basin
The name of the valley ''Buq'at al-Butayhah'' is also spelled ''Bik'at Beteiha'',<ref name="Buqat al Buţayḩah"/><ref>Ben-Avraham, Zvi et al. (1980). [https://www.academia.edu/55904535/Magnetic_survey_of_Lake_Kinneret_central_Jordan_Valley_Israel "Magnetic survey of Lake Kinneret–central Jordan Valley, Israel"]. ''Marine Geophysical Researches'' '''4''' p. 269. {{doi|10.1007/bf00369102}}. Accessed 23 Jan 2022.</ref> or ''el-Batikha''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Picard, Leo |title= Vom Bodensee nach Erez Israel: Pionierarbeit für Geologie und Grundwasser seit 1924 |page= 113 |editor= Erhard Roy Wiehn |publisher= Hartung-Gorre |location= Konstanz |year= 2021 |orig-year= 1996 |language= de |isbn= 978-3891917992 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=6Ss7EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA113 |access-date= 23 January 2022}}</ref><ref>[https://www.gov.il/en/departments/news/15082018_1 The Ministry of Health Advises to Visit Israel's North as Normal], 15.8.2018, accessed 23.1.2022.</ref>
''Bethsaida Valley'' is the modern, administratively assigned name used by Israeli authorities, derived from the ancient town of Bethsaida, best known from the New Testament. In Hebrew ''beit'' means house, and ''tzed'' means both hunting and fishing.<ref name=Case>{{cite news |title= Where Is Biblical Bethsaida, Where Jesus Walked on Water? The Case of This Jordan River Mound |location= Ruth Schuster for Haaretz |date= 19 August 2020 |url= https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2020-08-19/ty-article/.premium/where-is-biblical-bethsaida-where-jesus-walked-on-water-the-case-of-e-tell/0000017f-e218-d75c-a7ff-fe9d2e240000 |access-date= 24 January 2022}}</ref> The resulting name means either "house of the fisherman" or "house of the hunter".<ref name=Franz>{{cite web |last= Franz |first= Gordon |title= Text and Tell: The Excavations at Bethsaida |website= PlymouthBrethren.org |date= 10 November 2007 |edition= 2nd, revised and updated from the one published in ''Archaeology in the Biblical World'', (1995) 3/1: 6-11 |url= http://plymouthbrethren.org/article/5091 |access-date= 24 January 2022}}</ref> The Hebrew ''Beit-tzaida'', adapted to Greek phonetics (the New Testament was written in Greek) and transliterated to Latin, yields Bethsaida.<ref name=Case/>
== Wetlands == The Jordan River and the streams coming down from the Central Golan create a landscape of swamps and open water surfaces, variously called deltas, estuaries or lagoons.
The following five rivers or streams flow through the valley (west to east): Jordan, whose upper course ends here, at the northern edge; then Meshushim (Wadi el-Hawa in Arabic; collects the waters of the Katzrin and Zavitan streams), Yehudiya (with Batra as a tributary), Daliyot, and Sfamnun/Sfamnon ({{langx|he|נחל שפמנון}} Nahal Sfamnon). The wetlands are protected as part of the {{ill|Majrase – Betiha (Bethsaida Valley) Nature Reserve|he|שמורת מג'רסה}}.<ref name=mabe>{{cite web |title= The Majrase – Betiha (Bethsaida Valley) Nature Reserve |publisher=Israel Nature and Parks Authority |location= Jerusalem |year= 2019 |url= https://en.parks.org.il/reserve-park/the-majrase-betiha-bethsaida-valley-nature-reserve/ |access-date= 19 January 2022}}</ref> The reserve covers 6.930 dunams,<ref name=Gold>{{cite web |last1= Goldstein |first1= Hava |last2= Kaplan |first2= Didi |title= השפעות סביבתיות בפיתוח שמורת הבטיחה |trans-title= Environmental impacts in the development of the Betiha Reserve |publisher= Israel Nature and Parks Authority |location= Jerusalem |date= 27 May 2004 |url= http://old.parks.org.il/BuildaGate5/general2/data_card.php? |access-date= 24 January 2022 |archive-date= 3 January 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160103204029/http://old.parks.org.il/BuildaGate5/general2/data_card.php |url-status= dead }}</ref> some of it agricultural land,<ref name=Attract>{{cite web |title= Majrassa Nature Reserve |website= Attractions-in-israel.com |date= 20 September 2011 |url= http://www.attractions-in-israel.com/galilee/galilee-national-parks/majrassa-nature-reserve-%E2%80%93-majrase-estuary-daliyot-river-estuary |access-date= 16 June 2019 |archive-date= 1 July 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190701200146/http://www.attractions-in-israel.com/galilee/galilee-national-parks/majrassa-nature-reserve-%E2%80%93-majrase-estuary-daliyot-river-estuary/ |url-status= usurped }}</ref> and represents a sequence of habitats (river, marshland, lagoon, and lake habitat).<ref name=Gold/>
The Meshushim River, which has already received the waters of Zavitan, and the Yehudiya River, merge shortly before reaching the lake and form the '''Zaki''' estuary, while Daliyot River creates the '''Majrase'''<ref name=JP>{{cite book |last= Bar-Am |first= Aviva |title= Israel's Northern Landscapes: Guide to the Golan Heights, Eastern Galilee and Lake Kinneret |year= 2008 |via=The Jerusalem Post, "A river runs through it", 7 August 2008 |url= https://www.jpost.com/local-israel/around-israel/a-river-runs-through-it |access-date= 23 January 2022}}</ref> or Majrassa estuary, also known as the '''Daliyot River estuary'''. The Majrase is the largest freshwater nature reserve controlled by Israel.<ref name=Attract/>
==Archaeology== Multiple archaeological sites, including dolmens, suggest that it was settled by farmers and fishermen since the early Bronze Age. From the Second Temple period through the Byzantine period it was densely populated.<ref name=mabe/>
==References== {{commons category|Baticha valley}} {{reflist}}
{{Coord|32.8845|35.6381|display=title}}
Category:Sea of Galilee Category:Bethsaida