[5] The historian Josephus says that the town of Bethsaida (at that time called Julia), was situated 120 stadia from the lake Semechonitis, not far from the Jordan River as it passes into the middle of the Sea of Galilee.

Since the nineteenth century, three places have been considered as the possible location of Biblical Betsaida: the Bedouin village of Messadiye; the small, deserted settlement of El-Araj (Beit HaBek, "House of the Bey"); and the archaeological site (tel) of Et-Tell.

While Messadiye and El-Araj are closer to the Sea of Galilee, Et-Tell shows significant archaeological remains including fragments of fishing equipment.

Archaeologists tend to agree that the capital of the kingdom of Geshur was situated at et-Tell, a place also inhabited on a lesser scale during the first centuries BCE and CE and sometimes identified with the town of Bethsaida of New Testament fame.

In an attempt to rectify the problem, the following hypotheses have been devised: Excavations indicate that the settlement was founded in the 10th century BCE, in the biblical period.

[12] The et-Tell site would have been easily the largest and strongest city to the east of the Jordan Valley during the Iron Age II era.

[17] In July 2018, a group of twenty archaeologists led by Rami Arav discovered a structure identified as a city gate.

[dubious – discuss] They tentatively identified the city with biblical Zer, a name used during the First Temple period.

[22] Julias/Bethsaida was a city east of the Jordan River, in a "desert place" (that is, uncultivated ground used for grazing), if this is the location to which Jesus retired by boat with his disciples to rest a while (see Mark 6:31 and Luke 9:10).

This Byzantine period church is believed by some to have been built over the house of the apostle brothers, Peter and Andrew.

A well-protected ornamental mosaic floor, gilded glass tesserae, and a marble chancel decorated with a wreath have been found in some of the excavated rooms.

It is located on the present shoreline, but preliminary excavations, including the use of ground penetrating radar, initially revealed only a small number of ruins dating from before the Byzantine period.

Some were inclined to favor el-Mes‛adīyeh which stands on an artificial mound about 1.5 mi (2.4 km) from the mouth of the River Jordan.

[35] Even if Judas were born in Gamala, and so might properly be called a Gaulanite, he may, like others, have come to be known as belonging to the province in which his active life was spent.