GALILEA. — Historical name designating the portion of the Palestinian plateau north of the plain of Esdraelon. The name Gállí (“circle,” “district”), originally reserved for the mountainous country of Nephthali, was gradually extended to the lands of Chabul (I Reg. 9, 11), to the district of Zabulon, and to the entire territory near the lake of Genesareth (Is. 8, 23). Inhabited for the most part by pagans, it was called gállí hag-gójim, “Galilee of the Gentiles” (Is. 9, 1; I Mach. 5, 14; Mt. 4, 16).
With the invasion of Theglathphalasar III it became an Assyrian province (II Reg. 15, 20). The few Jews who, upon their return from exile, had settled in G. were transferred by Simon Maccabee to Judea in 150 (I Mach. 5, 14-25). Aristobulus I (104-105) compelled the inhabitants to adopt Judaism (Fl. Josephus, Antiq. Jud., XIII, 11, 3), and in the time of Queen Alexandra G. was predominantly Jewish. Incorporated into the Kingdom of Herod, at his death it was Herod Antipas (v.). Politically divided into Upper and Lower G. by the Tiberias–Acre (Ptolemais) line, it bordered to the north on the territory of Tyre, to the south on Samaria, to the west on Phoenicia, and to the east on the frontier of the Kingdom of Agrippa (Fl. Josephus, Bell. Jud., III, 3, 1). It was so densely populated that, according to the certainly exaggerated figures of Fl. Josephus, each village had more than 15,000 inhabitants (Vita, XIII, 14, 32). The Galileans had a special dialect or pronunciation (Mt. 14, 70; Lc. 22, 59), and, because of their very liberal spirit, were little esteemed by conservative Jews (Jo. 1, 46; 7, 52). G. owes its entire history to the Gospel. Nazareth (v.) in G.; from Galilee he chose his Apostles. The centres of his ministry were the synagogues, the hills, and especially the northern shore of the lake, with Capharnaum, Corozain, and Bethsaida.
Little is known about the development of Christianity in G. (Act. 9, 31). After the catastrophe of 70, it became a Jewish religious centre, as shown by the numerous synagogues discovered in this century, together with the celebrated rabbinical schools from which the Palestinian Talmud was formed.
Donato Baldi
GALILEA. - In medieval monasteries, it almost consistently bore the name of galilea for the vestibule that connected the church with the outer courtyard, the cloister, and the cemetery.
It appears in a very simple form as a small rectangular hall in the monastery of S. Scolastica at Subiaco; nearly identical were those of the abbey of Farfa and Durham Cathedral. It expands in Cluniac monasteries, where, by the mid-12th century, it develops into a three-naved forecourt, almost a small church (Chazy, Charité-sur-Loire, Vézelay). Its use remains uncertain: it has been suggested that it served as a processional station or for penitents; it is more likely that it was a place
of burial for distinguished laypeople, as well as a waiting area for the poor.