Mareshah

The ancient city of Mareshah in Judaea lies 16km/10mi east of Qiryat Gat and 2km/1.25mi south of Bet Guvrin on the road from Ashqelon via Qiryat Gat and Bet Shemesh to Jerusalem. The Arab name of the site, Tell Sandahanna, is derived from a church dedicated to St Anne. The special feature of Mareshah is the numerous caves round the tell, of which there are something like sixty in all. For a visit to this labyrinth it is advisable to take a guide from the local kibbutz.

History

Mareshah is assigned in the book of Joshua (15,44) to the tribe of Judah. The site is an irregular rectangle 160m/175yds by 150m/165yds; with an area of 24,000sq.km/29,000sq.yds, it is only a third of the size of neighboring Lachish. About 920 B.C. it was fortified by Solomon's son Rehoboam along with Lachish and fourteen other towns, "which are in Judah and in Benjamin fenced cities" (2 Chronicles 11,8-10). It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. and after the Israelites' return from the Babylonian Captivity was not reoccupied by Jews: like other places in southern Judaea and the Negev, it was resettled by Edomites, who made it their capital.