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.
|
Must-see attractions nearby:
|
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. In the fourth century B.C. the Phoenicians founded a colony here - a departure from their usual practice of establishing their settlements on the coast. In the third century B.C. the town was Hellenised and, under the name of Marissa, became the chief place in the province of Idumaea. Around 160 B.C. it was taken by Judas Maccabeus during his advance from Hebron to Ashdod (1 Maccabees 5,66), and about 115 B.C., in the reign of the Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus I, it was forcibly Judaised along with the rest of Idumaea. The town was finally destroyed in 40 B.C.
The site was identified as the Biblical city of Mareshah by an American scholar, Edward Robinson, in 1838 and was excavated by the Palestine Exploration Fund in 1900.
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. In the fourth century B.C. the Phoenicians founded a colony here - a departure from their usual practice of establishing their settlements on the coast. In the third century B.C. the town was Hellenised and, under the name of Marissa, became the chief place in the province of Idumaea. Around 160 B.C. it was taken by Judas Maccabeus during his advance from Hebron to Ashdod (1 Maccabees 5,66), and about 115 B.C., in the reign of the Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus I, it was forcibly Judaised along with the rest of Idumaea. The town was finally destroyed in 40 B.C.
The site was identified as the Biblical city of Mareshah by an American scholar, Edward Robinson, in 1838 and was excavated by the Palestine Exploration Fund in 1900.
Related Attractions
Read More
St Anne's Church
St Anne's Church, to the east of the road from Mareshah to Bet Guvrin, was built by the Crusaders in the 12th century. The central apse is well preserved.
