Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park

Coordinates: 31°35′49.06″N 34°54′2.33″E / 31.5969611°N 34.9006472°E / 31.5969611; 34.9006472
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Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park
Bell cave at Beit Guvrin National Park
Map
LocationSouthern District, Israel
Nearest cityKiryat Gat
Coordinates31°35′49.06″N 34°54′2.33″E / 31.5969611°N 34.9006472°E / 31.5969611; 34.9006472
Official nameCaves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Judean Lowlands as a Microcosm of the Land of the Caves
TypeCultural
Criteriav
Designated2014 (38th session)
Reference no.1370
RegionMiddle East

Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park is a national park in central Israel, containing a large network of caves recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.[1] The national park includes the remains of the historical towns of Maresha, one of the important towns of Judah during the First Temple Period,[2] and Bayt Jibrin, a depopulated Palestinian town known as Eleutheropolis in the Roman era.[3] However, Maresha and Bayt Jibrin are not part of the UNESCO site, which covers only the cave network.[4]

Archaeological artifacts unearthed at the site include a large Jewish cemetery, a Roman-Byzantine amphitheater, a Byzantine church, public baths, mosaics and burial caves.[5]

It is located 13 kilometers from Kiryat Gat.

History

Tel Maresha (1940s Survey of Palestine
map with modern overlay)
Maresha dwellings

The earliest written record of

Hasmonean king John Hyrcanus I captured and destroyed Maresha in 112 BCE, the region of Idumea[7] remained under Hasmonean control. In 40 BC the Parthians
devastated completely the "strong cite", after which it was never rebuilt.

Beth Gabra or Beit Guvrin succeeded Maresha as the main town of the area. Conquered by the Roman general

Bar Kochba revolt (132–135 CE), it was re-established as a Roman colony and in the year 200 it received the title of a city and the ius italicum, under the new name of "Eleutheropolis", 'city of freemen'. Sources from the Byzantine period mention both Christian and Jewish personalities living in the city. A large Jewish community existed during the Roman and Byzantine Periods and famous Tannaim and Amoraim resided here.[8]

Archaeological excavations

Israelite stratum were identified by them on the mound. Many of the ancient city's olive presses, columbaria
and water cisterns can still be seen.

Both Maresha and Beit Guvrin/Eleutheropolis were excavated after 1989 and 1992 respectively by the Israeli archaeologist Amos Kloner. Important finds at the latter site were the amphitheater built by the Roman army units stationed there, a large Roman bath house, and from the Crusader period a fortress integrating the walls of the Roman amphitheater and bath house, as well as an attached church.

Burial caves

demons; the three-headed dog Cerberus guards the entrance to the underworld; a bright red phoenix symbolizes the life after death.[9]
The Tomb of the Musicians is decorated with a painting showing a man playing the flute and a woman playing the harp.

Bell caves

"The Polish Cave" with columbarium (dovecote)

There are about 800 bell-shaped caves located in the area. Many of the caves are linked via an underground network of passageways that connect groups of 40–50 caves.

Bell Caves at the Beit Govrin National Park

The largest bell caves are in the east part of the park. They have been dug since prehistoric times, the excavations reaching their zenith in the Hellenistic period and during the Byzantine and Early Arab Period, when blocks of chalkstone extracted from the caves were used for construction work (buildings, etc.).[10] The bell caves consist of limestone in their upper-layer (to a depth of about one to two meters), beneath which is rock consisting solely of a beige-colored, soft chalkstone,[11] utilized by its early inhabits for carving caverns and dwellings. There are numerous bell caves within the park grounds and events are held in one of them. They are large (over 60 feet (18 m) high), airy and easily accessible.

Columbaria

The National Park is known for some of the best preserved columbaria from the Hellenistic and Roman periods. One of the largest is located on the west side of Tell Maresha (Khurbet es Sandahannah), described by

Kitchener in their Survey of Western Palestine, and formerly known by its local inhabitants as Es Sûk.[12]
It has been carved underground from the soft chalkstone endemic to the area, and built with tiers of niches capable of housing hundreds of brooding pigeons.

Cave dwellings

There are a number of cave-like dwellings carved from the chalkstone bedrock, some of which display a vast extension of networks and passageways, with staircases descending down into the depth, made with step-like balustrades, and replete with cisterns for storing water and millstones for grinding olives. These caverns and dwellings, though not situated on the eminence of the Tell itself, were considered part and parcel with the city of Maresha itself, as they were later enclosed by a wall that encompassed both the city and its expanded suburbs.[13] The largest and most impressive of these caverns and dwelling places is that built near the Tell on its southeast side, and which the locals knew by the name Mŭghâret Sandahannah (The Cave of Saint Anne).[14] Today, in Modern Hebrew, the same cave dwelling is called Mavokh (Maze).

Church of Saint Anne

The ruins of the Church of St Anne,[15] called Sandahanna in Arabic.

Saint Anne's church was first built in the Byzantine period and then rebuilt by the Crusaders in the 12th century. The ruin is known in Arabic as Khirbet (lit. "ruin") Sandahanna, the nearby tell (mound) of Maresha being called Tell Sandahanna.[16] The freestanding remains of the apse are well preserved (see photo).

Amphitheater

The remains of a Roman amphitheater were uncovered in the mid-1990s. The amphitheater was built in the 2nd century, on the northwestern outskirts of Beit Guvrin. This amphitheater, in which gladiatorial contests took place, could seat about 3,500 spectators. It had a walled arena of packed earth, with subterranean galleries. The arena was surrounded by a series of connected barrel vaults, which formed a long, circular corridor and supported the stone seats above it; staircases led from the outside and from the circular corridor to the tribunes. It was built for the Roman troops stationed in the region after the suppression of the

Galilee earthquake of 363.[dubious – discuss][citation needed
]

Other finds

Byzantine mosaics depicting birds and animals were discovered on the hilltop in 1924.[17]

Several hundred astragali – animal knucklebone dice – used 2,300 years ago during the Hellenistic period for divination and gaming have been found at the site since 2000.[18]

Among other major archaeological finds at this site is the Heliodorus Stele. This stele recounts events in Judaea prior to the Maccabean revolt and offers important historical evidence for events which modern day Jews commemorate during the holiday of Hanukkah.[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Judean Lowlands as a Microcosm of the Land of the Caves".
  2. ^ The Guide to Israel, Zev Vilnay, Tel Aviv, 1972, p.281
  3. ^ The Guide to Israel, Zev Vilnay, Tel Aviv, 1972, p.275
  4. ^ The Caves of Maresha and Bet Guvrin, In the Judean Lowlands, As a Microcosm of the Land of the Caves, Submitted to the World Heritage Center - UNESCO By the State of Israel - January 2013, p.14: "Note: The relationship between the caves and the settlement network above them – wherever it is referred to all through this dossier – is given in order to let the reader understand the context of these caves; however, the mentioned archaeological surface remains are not a part of the proposed nomination!"
  5. ^ Bell Cave at Beit Guvrin Archived January 29, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "Joshua 15:44 - Bible Gateway". www.biblegateway.com. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
  7. ^ "Idumea". Catholic Answers. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
  8. ^ "Bet Guvrin (Beit Jibrin, Betogabris, Beth Gabra)". Carta Jerusalem. 2012-12-05. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
  9. ^ For a description of the paintings in the tomb of Apollophanes, see John P. Peeters and Herman Theirsch, Painted Tombs in the Necropolis of Marissa (London: Palestine Exploration Fund, 1905).
  10. YouTube, Lecture given at Bar-Ilan University
    . / March 2020, minutes 05:47–08:07 (in Hebrew).
  11. YouTube, Lecture given at Bar-Ilan University
    . / March 2020, minutes 07:11–07:33; (in Hebrew).
  12. ^ Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1883). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 3. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. pp. 289-290.
  13. YouTube, Lecture given at Bar-Ilan University
    . / March 2020, minutes 13:45–ff.; (in Hebrew).
  14. ^ Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1883). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 3. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund., pages 291-292 (s.v. Tell Sandahannah)
  15. ^ "Maresha - St. Anna | Huji". dig.corps-cmhl.huji.ac.il. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
  16. ^ The Holy Land: An Archeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700, Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, 1980, p.145
  17. ^ The Guide to Israel, Zev Vilnay, Tel Aviv, 1972, p.276
  18. ISSN 0075-8914
    .
  19. ^ Heliodorus Stele

External links

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