A freshwater lake about thirteen miles long and eight across, fed and drained by the Jordan, lying some 700 feet BELOW sea level in a basin ringed by hills — which is why the sudden squalls the Gospels describe are a real feature of the place and not a literary device: cool air spilling down the ravines onto warm water raises a violent chop in minutes. It carries four names in the Bible (the Sea of Galilee, of Tiberias, of Chinnereth, and the lake of Gennesaret) and supported a serious fishing industry, with salting works at Magdala and a fleet whose gear the Gospels describe in detail. ⚠ Almost all of Jesus' recorded ministry happens within a short walk of this shoreline: Capernaum, where he settled (Matthew 4:13), sits on its north-west shore, and the towns he taught in ring its northern end. The 'mountain' of the Sermon is one of the slopes above it.