| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Shfela,Israel, |
| Part of | Caves of Maresha andBet-Guvrin in theJudean Lowlands as a Microcosm of the Land of the Caves |
| Criteria | Cultural: (v) |
| Reference | 1370 |
| Inscription | 2014 (38thSession) |
| Coordinates | 31°35′35″N34°53′54″E / 31.59306°N 34.89833°E /31.59306; 34.89833 |
  Location of Maresha in Israel | |
Maresha was anIron Age city mentioned in theHebrew Bible, whose remains have been excavated at Tell Sandahanna (Arabic name), anarchaeological mound or 'tell' renamed after its identification toTel Maresha (Hebrew:תל מראשה). The ancientJudahite city becameIdumaean after thefall of Judah in 586 BCE, and afterAlexander's conquest of the region in 332 BCE becameHellenised under the nameMarisa orMarissa.[1][2] The tell is situated inIsrael'sShephelah region, i.e. in the foothills of theJudaean Mountains, about 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) south ofBeit Gubrin.[2]
Excavations revealed that Maresha was inhabited (not necessarily continuously) during theIron Age, thePersian period, and theHellenistic period.[3] TheHasmonean rulerJohn Hyrcanus seized Maresha in 113/112 BCE, leading to its decline and eventual desertion. The city faced its ultimate destruction at the hands of theParthians in 40 BCE.[4]
Maresha was first excavated in 1898–1900 by the British archaeologistsBliss andMacalister on behalf of thePalestine Exploration Fund (PEF) and again after 1989 by Israeli archaeologistAmos Kloner on behalf of theIsrael Antiquities Authority (IAA).[1] Most of the artifacts of the British excavation are to be found today in theIstanbul Archaeology Museums.[citation needed]
This site is now protected as part ofBeit Guvrin-Maresha National Park and its burial caves are recognized byUNESCO as aWorld Heritage Site.[5]
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The location of Maresha in relation toEleutheropolis (Beit Gubrin) has been noted byEusebius in hisOnomasticon, who wrote:
Maresa(Joshua 15:44). Tribe of Judah. It is now a deserted site about 2 milestones from Eleutheropolis.[6]
C.R. Conder andH.H. Kitchener of thePalestine Exploration Fund surmised that Maresha should be identified withKhurbet Mar'ash, a ruin3⁄4 mile south ofBeit Jibrin, based on a phonetic similarity of their names.[7] It was not untilJ. P. Peters and Hermann Thiersch explored the ruins ofKhurbet Sandahannah (grid position 140111PAL) in 1902 that they discovered a Greek funerary inscription in an adjacent burial cave (known as the Sidonian burial Cave) which explicitly identified the site as Maresha.[8][9][10] Today,Khurbet Sandahannah is an archaeologicaltell comprising 24dunams (5.9 acres), with its "lower city" incorporating into it an additional 400dunams (98 acres).
Maresha was one of the cities ofJudah during the time of theFirst Temple and is mentioned as part of the inheritance of the biblicaltribe of Judah in theBook of Joshua.[11]
Later, in the secondBook of Chronicles, it is named as one of KingRehoboam's fifteen fortified cities.[12] In2 Chronicles it is the site of abattle against an invadingEthiopian army.[13]
According to theMadaba Map, Maresha was the place "whence cameMicah the Prophet".[14] In the 6th century BCE, as result ofZedekiah's rebellion against the Babylonian kingdom and its kingNebuchadnezzar II, the latter occupied the Judean kingdom and sent many of its inhabitants into exile. This marked the end of Maresha as a Judahite city.
Following these events,Edomites who had lived east and south of theDead Sea migrated to the area and Maresha emerged as a major Idumean city.[15] Hence, from the Persian rule and throughout the Hellenistic kingdoms' rule in the region (6th – 1st century BCE), Maresha was part of the area known asIdumea, aHellenised form of Edom. During the period of Persian rule,Phoenician colonies were encouraged to spread out along the coastal regions ofPalestine and in the adjacent hill country ofJudea, whence their early settlement in Maresha took its rise.[15]
With the conquest of the region byAlexander the Great the city was settled by retired Greek soldiers as was then custom. Thus Maresha reached its zenith, developing as aHellenistic city encompassing a multitude ofGreek and oriental cultures includingSidonians andNabataeans. With the advent of Hellenisation, the settlement pattern changed, as most everywhere in the region, and the city expanded far beyond the constraints of the fortified, raisedtell or mound of Iron Age Maresha. Maresha became the center of an administrative district in thePtolemaic empire, while from 200 BCE onward the center of a Seleucid administrative district.[15]
The city began its decline during theMaccabean Revolt against theSeleucid Empire (2nd century BCE) when the city was used as base to combat the rebels.[16] TheBook of Maccabees reports thatJudas Maccabeus and his forces marched through Marisa in around 163/2 BCE when the city was burnt during Judas' conquest of the Idumaean region,[17][18] fromHebron to Azotus (Ashdod).[19]
Following the rebellion and its success,John Hyrcanus conquered the city in c. 112 BCE, forcibly converting its inhabitants to Judaism.[20][15]
In 63 BCE, as part of the arrangements made byPompey in the region, Maresha, along with all of Edom, was separated from the Jewish kingdom and returned to Idumea. In 47 BCEJulius Caesar then annexed the city to Judea.[21]
Maresha was finally destroyed in 40 BCE by theParthians as part of the power struggle betweenAntigonus of theHasmoneans who had sought their aid andHerod, who was a son of the convertedAntipater the Idumaean and was being supported by the Romans.
It remains unclear where the city of Marissa was located after Hyrkanus captured it and apparently forbade its inhabitants from living in the upper city, where a garrison was stationed.[22] Very meager remains from the time up to 40 BCE were found in one corner of the upper city, and almost none in the large lower city surrounding it, which once covered an area of 320dunams.[22] If indeed neither the upper nor the lower city were reinhabited at least in part, the one remaining possibility mentioned by Amos Cloner is that the name of Maresha was transferred to the nearby hill of Bet Guvrin, which could have been used as the main settlement of the district for several decades, from the end of the second century BCE until its destruction by the Parthians.[22] A first-century BCE coin, presumed to have been minted by the citizens of Maresha, was discovered during excavations at Bet Guvrin, which can be interpreted as an argument in favour of this suggestion.[22]
After the demise of Maresha, the neighbouringIdumean/Jewish town of Beth Gabra orBeit Guvrin succeeded it as the main settlement in the area.[23] Shaken by two successive and disastrous Jewish revolts against Roman rule in the 1st and 2nd centuries, the town recovered its importance only at the beginning of the 3rd century when it was re-established as a Roman city under the new name ofEleutheropolis. By the time ofEusebius of Caesarea (d. 340 CE), Maresha itself was already a deserted place: he mentions the city in hisOnomasticon, saying that it was at a distance of "two milestones fromEleutheropolis".
The Palestinian Arab villageBayt Jibrin, standing on the site of ancient Eleutheropolis, was depopulated during the1948 Arab-Israeli war. In 1949 KibbutzBeit Guvrin was established on part of Bayt Jibrin's lands. Most of the archaeologically important areas of ancient Maresha and Beit Guvrin/Eleutheropolis are now part of theBeit Guvrin-Maresha National Park.
Archaeological excavations have been conducted at the site from 1972 to 2002 by Amos Kloner and from 2002 until 2014, by Bernie Alpert and Ian Stern, initially on behalf of the Archaeological Seminars Institute and theIsrael Antiquities Authority (IAA).[24] From 2014 excavation and publication work continued on behalf of the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology ofHebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Less than 10 percent of the caves surrounding Tel Maresha have been excavated. Located some 400 meters above sea level, the bedrock is soft chalk, lending itself to the hewing of caves which were used as quarries, cisterns, tombs, animal mangers, olive presses and dovecots (columbaria). Many of the caves are linked by an underground maze of passageways.[25]
During excavations at Tel Maresha, archaeologists uncovered a lead weight with a Greek inscription that read: "Year 170 (corresponding to 143/2 BCE), theagoranomos [= "market inspector"] being Antipater, son of Heliodorus, and Aristodamus, son of Ariston (?)."[26] The calendar year is written according to theSeleucid era counting, during which same yearSimon Thassi of theHasmonean dynasty assumed power.
Among the major archaeological finds at this site is the Heliodorus Stele.[27] This stele recounts events in Judaea prior to the Maccabean revolt and offers important historical evidence for events that would precede events which modern day Jews commemorate during the holiday of Chanukah.
Approximately 500ostraca were found in Tell Maresha alone, 400 of which discovered since 2000. Included among these are both dated and undateddockets, tags with personal names and a number of letters of correspondence.[28]
In 2022, a large number of knucklebones were found. Some were used to play games (for example,knucklebones) and others to contact the gods (astragalomancy). Those that bear writing were in Greek.[29]
Today Maresha is part of theIsraelinational park ofBeit Guvrin. Many of the ancient city's olive presses,columbaria and water cisterns can still be seen. Furthermore, the Archaeological Seminars Institute, under the license of theIsrael Antiquities Authority, conducts excavations of Maresha's many quarried systems, and invites visitors to participate.
_in_Maresha.jpg)
Maresha (Marisa, Marissa) ... Maresha (Marissa is the Greek form of the Hebrew name)
Apollophanes, [son of] Sesmaios, thirty-three years chief of the Sidonians at Marise, reputed the best and most kin-loving of all those of his time; he died, having lived seventy-four years; see also the Greek inscription inNEAEHL, Vol. 3, ed. by E. Stern, Jerusalem 1993, p. 955.
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