Bethsaida
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(house of fishing) (Matt. 11:21; Mark 6:45; Luke 9:10; John 1:44). Under this designation, two cities in Judea are mentioned in Holy Scripture: a) one of them was located on the eastern bank of the Jordan, near its mouth at the Sea of Tiberias. Beyond the city stretched the steppe, or wilderness, of Bethsaida, where the Lord fed 5,000 men, apart from women and children, with five loaves and two fishes (Matt. 15:17–21 [as given]); here too He healed a blind man (Mark 8:22). This city was otherwise called Bethsaida-Julias, in honor of Julia, daughter of Augustus Caesar.
Traces of it are found in the ruins of the locality et-Tell, at the mouth of the Jordan into the Sea of Galilee; b) the other city was called Bethsaida of Galilee, and was located northwest of the Sea of Galilee, near Capernaum and Chorazin (Matt. 11:21). This city was the birthplace of the apostles Andrew, Peter, and Philip (Mark 14:70; John 1:44; 12:21). The Lord often visited this city and worked many miracles here. According to Robinson, at present on the site of the city there are only ruins, heaps of grass-grown stones, and the poor settlement of Ain et-Tabigha.