Bethmaus, (Greek: Βηθμαούς) or Beth Maʿon (Hebrew: בית מעון), also called Maon, was a Jewish village during the late Second Temple and Mishnaic periods, and which was already a ruin (Tell Maʿūn) when Kitchener visited the site in 1877.

[4] Others place the ancient Bethmaus (Ma'on) where is now the Arab ruin, Khirbet Nadhr ad-Din, saying that with the passing of time, the old namesake was transferred to Tell Maʿūn, a short distance away.

There, they convened a meeting with the principal persons of Tiberias, to discuss a plan to demolish a house built by Herod the Tetrarch in Tiberias, and which had the figures of living creatures in it (contrary to Jewish law), but to restore the royal furniture of that house, consisting of candlesticks made of Corinthian brass, and of royal tables, and of a great quantity of uncoined silver, to the king.

The seventh-century poet, Eleazar ben Killir, echoing the same tradition, also wrote a liturgical poem detailing the 24-priestly wards and their places of residence.

[17] In extant Turkish documents dating to May 1566, the Ottoman ruler, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, ordered that water be drawn from Beth Maʿon and brought to Tiberias,[18] the purpose of which is not now known, although thought to have been for agricultural crops.