Bible maps of Israel and the Middle East Bible Overview

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1 The Jordan River is fed

by headwaters that start
near the base of Mount
Hermon, on what is now
the Syria-Lebanon
border. After descending
into the Sea of Galilee, it
continues south to the
Dead Sea. The river
winds through 124 miles
of the Rift Valley, which
is an average of 6 miles
wide and mostly dry
apart from the river.

2 Elevations vary greatly

throughout the region.
Jerusalem sits atop the
hills of Judah at 2,474
feet above sea level,
whereas the surface of
the nearby Dead Sea is
1,378 feet below sea
level (the lowest point
on Earth). On the east
side of the Dead Sea,
the elevation quickly
rises back up to 2,680
feet at Mount Nebo.
From Jerusalem to the
west, the elevation
drops more gradually
through foothills, called
the Shephelah in
Hebrew, to the coastal
plains and the shores of
the Mediterranean.
3 There were two major
arteries for international
trade that traversed the
land. The coastal
highway, or Via Maris,
followed along the coast
of the Mediterranean
and cut through the
Jezreel Valley and along
the shore of the Sea of
Galilee, before heading
north into Damascus.
The other major route,
the King’s Highway, was
located to the east along
the high fertile plain
beyond the Dead Sea
and the Jordan River.
The two routes
converged on
Damascus, where the
route splits toward
Antioch to the north, and
towards Mesopotamia to
the east.

4 The shaded areas in this

map represent the 12
tribal territories. Levi did
not receive land and the
territory of Joseph was
divided between his two
sons. The cities included
in the map are
mentioned in the Bible
as important during the
pre-monarchic period,
and many of them were
used to define
boundaries between
tribes.

5 After the death of King

Solomon, the kingdom
was divided in two. The
southern kingdom
consisted only of the
tribes of Judah and
Benjamin and thus
became the kingdom of
Judah, with Jerusalem as
its capital. The northern
kingdom consisted of
the remaining tribes and
was called Israel.
6 The area shaded in pink
is Moab. A flat and arid
plain extends east from
the banks of the Dead
Sea before ascending
sharply some 4,000 feet,
to the plain above. The
upper plain is a more
fertile stretch of land
that extends about 15
miles from the
escarpment east to the
Arabian Desert. Dibon,
the capital city of Moab
in the biblical era, is
located in the northern
region of the upper
plain.

7 Upon his death in 4

B.C.E., the kingdom of
Herod the Great was
divided among three of
his surviving sons.
Antipas was given the
region to the east of the
Jordan known as Perea,
along with Galilee. Philip
was given the region to
the northeast of the Sea
of Galilee, known as
Gaulanitis. Archelaus
was given the regions of
Idumea, Samaria, and
Judah but his tumultuous
rule would last only two
years, until the Romans
deposed him and
transformed his territory
into a Roman province
known as Judea.
8 The region of Galilee
includes the Sea of
Galilee (about 13 miles
long and 8 miles wide)
and the surrounding
areas to the west. Lower
Galilee is characterized
by sprawling valleys,
whereas upper Galilee is
characterized by higher
elevations. The tallest
peak of upper Galilee,
Mount Meron, rises to
almost 4,000 feet.
Important settlements
were concentrated
mostly in lower Galilee,
in the mountains and
valleys and along the
shores of the Sea of
Galilee.

9 Capernaum was a small

fishing village located
along the northwest
shore of the Sea of
Galilee. While there,
Jesus healed several
people and taught in the
town synagogue.

10 Samaria was the capital

of the nothern kingdom
of Israel, built by King
Omri in the ninth
century B.C. The city
was situated atop a hill
rising some 300 feet
above the surrounding
valleys below.

11 Jericho of the Old

Testament is located on
the modern-day mound
known as Tell es-Sultan.
Most references to
Jericho in the New
Testament refer to the
area southwest of Tell
es-Sultan that developed
around a huge palace
complex first built by the
Hasmoneans and later
rebuilt and expanded by
Herod the Great.
12 Bethlehem is located
less than 5 miles from
Jerusalem, in the hills of
Judah. King David and
his family were from this
small shepherding
village and Jesus was
born here.

13 This map highlights

many of the important
locations in Egypt during
biblical times. Memphis
(located south of
modern-day Cairo) was
the capital of the
Egyptian Old Kingdom
and was succeeded by
Thebes in later times.

14 Alexander the Great

founded his namesake
city, Alexandria, in 331
B.C.E. in Egypt. A very
large Jewish population
quickly began to
develop at Alexandria
and at the time of the
early church there were
as many as one million
Jews living in Egypt.

15 Antioch of Syria is
located along the
Orontes River. The city
also became a centre for
early Christianity. It was
at Antioch that followers
of Jesus were first called
'Christians' (Acts 11:26).

16 Corinth is located along

the Peloponnesian coast
of Greece, about 48
miles from Athens. Its
proximity to the Isthmus
of Corinth put Corinth at
a very strategic
crossroads. After the
apostle Paul left Athens,
he spent a year and a
half preaching here,
where he met Aquila and
Priscilla. Paul would later
pen two letters to the
church at Corinth.
17 Rome is located near the
Mediterranean coast on
the western side of
central Italy, along the
Tiber River. The site was
inhabited as early as
753 B.C. and became
the capital of the Roman
Empire in the latter part
of the first century B.C.
One of the Pauline
Epistles is addressed to
the Christian church at
Rome and the record of
Paul’s missionary
activities ends with Paul
under house arrest in
Rome.

18 Mesopotamia, 'the land

between rivers,'
(modern day Iraq) is the
birthplace of the earliest
civilisations on the
planet. Ultimately, these
nations developed into
the Neo-Assyrian Empire
and Neo-Babylonian
Empire, which
dominated the early first
millennium B.C.

19 Nineveh is located in
Upper Mesopotamia,
along the Tigris River, in
the modern-day city of
Mosul, Iraq. The site was
settled in prehistoric
times, in an
agriculturally rich area
located along the major
trade routes of ancient
Mesopotamia. The book
of Jonah describes the
Assyrian capital as 'an
exceedingly large city, a
three days' walk across'
(Jonah 3:3).

20 These maps have been

kindly made available to
FreeBibleimages by the
Society of Biblical
Literature.