 As the first to mention this tradition was Marinus Sanutus, it was most likely a Crusader-era invention.It was a vassal of Megiddo in the fourteenth century BCE, according to the Amarna letters.Josephus mentions the city Japha (Yafa) in his "Life of Flavius Josephus" (§ 37 and 45) and "The Jewish War" (Book 3, chapter 7, verse 31) as being the largest village in Galilee, and where at one time he took-up residence, providing for the village's defence and describing its capture by the Imperial Roman army in "circa" 63 CE.