What is Tiberias?

An idolatrous town in Galilee, filled with painted women, statues, and theaters, Tiberias lies on Jesus' route from Nazareth to the desert. As a boy he visits Tiberias with his Uncle Simeon, when the rabbi/healer is summoned to rid a rich Roman lady of devils. Young Jesus faints when she runs naked down the street. Simeon tells him that God has damned the city. As an adult, entering the teeming city festooned with Roman eagles, Jesus recalls the carcass of a dead mule he once saw in a bog and associates it with Sodom and Gomorrah. An old man tells Jesus that Tiberias is a whore, mounted by "Greeks, Romans, Bedouins, Chaldeans, Gypsies and Jews."