Pictures from the Holyland » Negev

Beer-Sheva / Beersheva

dgrushko — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:36:49 +0000

Tel Beersheva (Beersheba) sits near the confluence of the Beersheva and Hebron Rivers, where settled land meets the desert. The Bible designates Beersheba as the southern boundary marker of ancient Israel. It was located nearly thirty miles southwest of Hebron, bordering the relatively arid Negev region that lay farther south.The city came to be called Beersheva, “the well of seven” or “well of the oath,” when Abraham made a covenant with Abimelech, the king of Gerar. It was sealed through Abraham’s gift of seven ewe lambs to Abimelech, giving the sojourning Abraham a well and water rights in a land he did not own. Access to water was an important provision at this point for Abraham, one for which he blessed the Lord. He remained in the vicinity of Beersheva to enjoy it for some time. Abraham’s son, Isaac, made a similar pact with Abimelech . The tribe of Simeon was originally the recipient of several cities in the area, including Beersheva . (The tribe of Simeon was not allocated its own territory but was given a number of cities in that of Judah.) The city also appears in the list of those allotted to the tribe of Judah. Samuel’s sons were judges in the city of Tel Beersheva .

Vestiges of the ancient settlement in Beersheva include pottery from the Chalcolithic period, attesting to the existence of a settlement on the site in the 4th millenium B.C. .

Following a hiatus of over two thousand years, there was renewed settlement on the Tel during the beginning of the Iron Age – the Israelite period, which continued for three hundred years.

The city was built during the period of King David or King Solomon.

The city gate – 9th century B.C.

A Well – nearby the gate.

Drainage channel

Inner city gate – 8th century B.C.

The streets of ancient Be’er Sheva are laid out in a grid, with separate areas for administrative, military, commercial and residential use. The town is regarded as the first planned settlement in the region. The site is also noteworthy for its elaborate water system and huge cistern, carved out of the rock beneath the town. The building were made of sun-baked mud bricks placed on top on unhewn stones in order to prevent the bricks from disintegrating.

The city street

The Basement House

Dwellings

The storehouse

Horned Altar – Reconstruct based upon remnants of the original Altar. The stones of which were discovered in walls of buildings on the Tel.

The Water System

The Walls and the entrance to the water system

The reservoir was planned for daily use in times of siege. Five chambers were hewn in the bedrock . Floodwater from the nearby Hebron stream was directed into the system through an underground channel.

Nitzana /Nessana

dgrushko — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 07:27:53 +0000

Nitzana is an ancient Nabatean city located in the Negev desert in Israel close to the Egyptian border. It may have been a station on the eastern branch of the ancient Spice Route, serving pilgrims and merchants traveling to Sinai or central Egypt. The Nabatean towns of the Negev were typically founded around the first century BC, conquered by Romans two centuries later, and inhabited by Byzantine Christians since the 4th century until the wars of the 7th century.

A large number of papyrus scrolls dating from the fifth to seventh century was discovered there. One of the scrolls describes the deeds of St. George who resisted the anti-Chrisitan laws given by the Roman Empire.

The Steps to the upper city

The Well

The Priest house

The Church

The Ottoman Hospital – built on the ruins of the Nabatean-Byzantine city.

A water tower – part of the Ottoman train station at Nizana (Hu’ga-el-Hafir).

Shivta

dgrushko — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 14:05:35 +0000

Shivta differs from the other Nabatean cities in the Negev Desert in that it does not sit on any commerce route. The settlement was not fortified and therefore can be considered a large agricultural village. Shivta was founded during the early Roman period (first century B.C.) and Roman-period ruins are visible in the southern part of the city. Most of the findings, however, are from the Byzantine period (fourth to seventh centuries A.D.).

The City as several name : Shivta, Sobota, subeita, isbeita.

Since Shivta has no natural water sources, its residents used runoff water. Shivta is a model of careful urban planning: the streets leading from the northern part of the city drain into large collection pools.

The city entrance

The city street

Water Canal - take the water to a well or a pool.

Well

Water Pool

The city Houses

Wine Press

The Stable

The Northern Church

Baptistery

The 2nd Church

The Southern Church

A reconstructed Farm

Avdat

dgrushko — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 20:39:55 +0000

The city of Avdat was founded in the third century B.C. . It was a station on the Incense Route (“station number 62″), along which incense and spices originating in the Arabian Peninsula and the Far East were transported, via Petra and the Negev Highlands, to the Mediterranean ports. The most important port for the export of this merchandise was Gaza, from here incense and spices were sent to the centers of the Roman Empire.

Avdat (in Greek: Oboda) was a seasonal camping ground for Nabataean caravans travelling along the early Petra – Gaza road in the 3rd century B.C. . The town of Avdat was founded at the site in the late 1st century B.C. and named after the Nabatean King Obodas who was revered as a deity and, according to tradition, was buried there (hence the name in Arabic: Abdah). Recent excavations have shown that the town continued to be inhabited by the Nabataeans continuously from this period until its destruction by earthquake in the early seventh century A.D.

Numerous terraced farms and water channels were built throughout the region in order to collect enough run-off from winter rains to support agriculture in the hyper arid zone of southern Israel. At least five wine presses dated to the Byzantine period have been found at the site.

In the late third or early fourth century A.D. the Roman army constructed an army camp measuring 100 x 100 m. and contained eight long multi-chambered structures that could accomoodate a few hundred soldiers.

The army camp

The city fortress

The southern villa

The Roman tower

The main street to the fortress

The Roman burial cave

The Byzantine house

A wall was built around the later town, including a large area of man-made caves, some of which were partially inhabited in the Byzantine period. Under Byzantine rule, in fifth and sixth century, a citadel and a monastery with two churches were built on the acropolis of Avdat. Saint Theodore’s Church is the most interesting Byzantine relic in Avdat. Marble tombstones inserted in the floor are covered with Greek inscriptions. St. Theodore was a Greek martyr of the fourth century. The Monastery stands next to the church and nearby a lintel is carved with lions and it marks the entrance to the castle.

The city of caves

Houdreds of dwellings were built on the western slopes of Avdat in front of and sometimes behind many rock-hewn caves that were part of the city during the byzantine period. The caves served for the storage of agricultural produce.

The Nabatean temples

The southern gate

The southern church

A number of tombs were found in the floor of the church, covered with marble slbs and bearing inscription.

The northern church

The city’s cathedral and the earlier of the two churches.

Baptistery

The Byzantine Bathhouse

The Well – the water to the bathhouse came from nearby well, nearly 70 meters deep.

The Wine Press

Five wine press were found in Avdat, attesting to a flourishing wine-making industry during the Byzantine period.

The town was totally destroyed by a local earthquake in the early seventh century AD and was never reinhabited.

Mamshit

dgrushko — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:32:51 +0000

Mamshit is the Nabatean city of Memphis/Mampsis. In the Nabatean period, Mamshit is situated on one of the important branches of the Incense Route – it sat on the route from the Idumean Mountains to the Arava, which passed through Ma’ale Akrabim and continued on to Beersheva or to Hebron and Jerusalem. Mamshit appears in the ancient mosaic floor of Madaba. The city covers ten acres and is the smallest but best restored city in the Negev Desert. The once-luxurious houses have unusual architecture not found in any other Nabatean city.

A permanent settlement was first established during the middle Nabatean period, in the mid-first century A.D. . Most of the city’s buildings – mainly grand private dwellings – were built in the late Nabatean period, in the 2nd century A.D. , after the Nabatean kingdom was annexed to Rome in 106 A.D. .

The gate

The Main Street

The tower

The wealthy house

A grand building in the center of which is a rectangular courtyard surrounded by rooms.

The Flour Mill

The “Nabatu house ” – The largest house found in the city

The Frescoes House

The Stables

When trade in Mamshit waned with the Roman occupation, the occupants found another way to make a living: raising hoses. The residents of Mamshit bred the renowned Arabian horse, which brought great wealth to their city. Two stable complexes are found in Mamshit. One adjacent to the “Nilus Church” and the other in “Nabatu house”.

The city’s buildings continued in use during the late Roman period, in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D. , and at the end of the 3rd century A.D. it was surrounded by a wall. Apparently at the beginning of the 5th century A.D., two churches were built , the Western Church – Nilus Church , and the Eastern Church. The Church were in use until the Persian invasion (614 AD or 636AD). During the Byzantine period Mamshit also received support from the authorities for being a frontier city. When this funding dried up, at the time of Justinian, the city died a natural death.
“Church of St. Nilus”

“God, save your servant Nilus, lover of Jesus, who founded this building. Preserve him and his household”

The Eastern Church

“Church of the Martyrs” – this church was part of a monastery complex.

Baptismal chamber

The Market

Public reservoir

Byzantine bathhouse

Arad

dgrushko — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 08:37:03 +0000

Arad, a Canaanite city southwest of the Dead Sea, is mentioned in the Bible as one of the cities located in the eastern Negev whose inhabitants prevented the Israelites from entering the “Promised Land”: “When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive” (Numbers 21:1).

The King of Arad appears in the list of Canaanite kings vanquished by Joshua Bin-Nun during the conquest of the Land of Israel (Joshua 12:14). An account is also given of the Kenite tribe which settled in Arad, as is stated: “And the descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the city of palms into the wilderness of Judah, which lies in the Negeb near Arad” (Judges 1:16). In an inscription uncovered in the city of Karnak, Egypt, Arad appears in a list of cities subjugated by Pharaoh Shishak, king of Egypt, in the year 925 B.C. The locales ancient name – “Tel Arad” – has been preserved among the Arabs to this day.

The area was first settled during the Chalcolithic period, around 4000 B.C.. Excavations at the site have unearthed an extensive Bronze Age Canaanite settlement which was in use until approximately 2650 B.C.. The site was then apparently deserted for over 1500 years until resettled in the Israelite period from the 11th century B.C. onwards, initially as an unwalled village, and then as a garrison-town.

The Lower City

The Canaanite City

The Wall

The Western Gate

The main street

Residential Buildings – “Aradian House”

Well

The well was constructed towards the end of the time of the Judean Kingdom, to a depth of 52 feet.

The Canaanite Temple

The Israelite Fortress Mound

With its important strategic position on the south-east desert flank of the kingdom of Judah, the fortress was sacked and rebuilt a number of times, until ultimately destroyed by the Edomites in 597 BCE whilst Jerusalem was under siege from the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar. Among the most fascinating artifacts unearthed from this time are ostraca that mention the House of Yahweh.

Fortrees Gate

The Shrine

A shrine with a squre altar was built in the fortress. The shrine includes an inner courtyard, sanctuary and the Holy of Holies. A monument was found inside the Holy of Holies,whose entrance is flanked by two incense altars.

The Holy of Holies

The view from the fortress