destruction suffered by many other Jewish cities, including Jerusalem. Coins minted in the city at the time of the First Revolt carried the inscription Neronias and Eirenopolis, "City of Peace." After the revolt, symbolism used on the coins was little different from other surrounding pagan city coins with depictions of laurel wreaths, palm trees, caduceus', and ears of barley.
Just prior to the Bar Kokhba revolt, the city's name was changed to Diocaesarea. Following the Bar Kokhba revolt in 132–135, many Jewish refugees settled there, turning it into the center of religious and spiritual life in the Galilee. Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, one of the compilers of theMishnah, a commentary on the Torah, moved to Tzippori, along with the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish religious court. Before moving toTiberias by 150, Jewish academies of learning, yeshivot, were also based there. Diocaeserea, so named in honor of Zeus and the Roman Emperor, became not only a center of spiritual and religious study, but also a busy metropolis of trade because of its proximity to important trade routes through Galilee.
Diocaesarea was destroyed by the Galilee earthquake of 363, but rebuilt soon afterwards, and retained its importance in the greater Jewish community of the Galilee, both socially, commercially, and spiritually. Jews and pagan Romans lived peacefully alongside one another during the Byzantine period, and the city welcomed a number of Christians as well.
[edit]Islamic conquest and the Crusaders
Ya'qubi noted that Saffuriyyah was taken during the first conquest by the Arab armies in Palestine, in 634. The city was incorporated into the expanding Umayyad Caliphate, and al-jund coins were minted by the new rulers. Saffuriya was engaged in trade with other parts of the empire at the time; for example, cloaks made in Saffuriyya were worn by people in Medina. Umayyad rule was replaced by Abbasid rule, and Arab and Islamic dynasties continued to control the city,
