Was King Herod born here?

Last week, we talked about the history of Maresha and the EPIC battle that happened below it.

This week, we'll talk about the tel, its views, and something intriguing directly below it.

The tel hasn't been full excavated yet, so I definitely need to go back in the future! Also, to see the Sandahanna (St. Anne's) ruins. We could see it from far away, but there wasn't time to go close to it. Still, the view of it surrounded by spring's beautiful was enough for a first visit!

The 360-degree views from the top are incredible!

Below the tel, on the way to the cave with the olive press, are these interesting ruins. The villa here has been partially reconstructed, and it's too dangerous to walk on right now. It's from the Hellenistic era, and a hoard of 25 coins were found under the floor of one of the rooms. The latest coin was 113 BC, and it's assumed the house was destroyed that year (or else there would have been newer coins).

Excavation revealed cisterns directly underneath the village, which stored rain water.

The reason this is interesting, is because when Maresha was conquered by John Hyrcannus I, he left a small group there. At the time, this area had Idumean immigrants. Idumean comes from the word "Edomean", or from Edom. These were descendants of Esau, BibleWalks says this fulfills the prophecy of Obadiah 1:19: "and they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau".

Josephus says that the Hasomeans force-converted the Idumeans to Judaism, allowing them to remain there.

Who do we know, from about 50 years later, was an Idumean?

King Herod.

Was he born here at the base of tel Maresha? Could this area have been his hometown? The presence of this villa (and others not excavated by it prove a settlement here, and the findings of the coins prove the time period. History tells us the Idumeans were here. What about Herod 'the Great'?

We don't know, but it is intriguing to think about!

Where God gave victory over 1 MILLION Cushites

It's not everyday you learn about a Bible story while seeing the exact place it happened!

My favorite part of Bet Guvrin/Maresha National Park was the ancient tel of Maresha. It wasn't a name I knew of from the Bible, and while I have read its story several times in the past, I didn't remember it. So it was like I was experiencing the story for the first time!

Settled in Joshua 15, the city was fortified by King Rehoboam in 2 Chronicles 11: 5-8. Today, the path at the top is actually not solely the chalky limestone the area is famous for, but the top of walls of the ancient city. On this beautiful spring-like day, the Judean hills glowed green, with bright red anemones waving at the sky, and the sun gave views that took my breath away.

The path below is not sand; its the top of the ancient city walls that Rehoboam fortified!

Then, came King Asa.

The year was 900 BC, and 2 Chronicles 14 tells the story of the son of Shishak in Cush (Ethiopia) sending an army of 1 MILLION Cushites (Ethiopians) against Judah. 

King Asa rode out to a valley in the lower Judean hills with an army of 580,000 and their chariots. Asa cried out to God and said, "'Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, Lord our God, for ewe rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. Lord, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against you'"

The LORD struck down the Cushites before Asa and Juda. The Cushites fled, and Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar. Such a great number of Cushites fell that they could not recover; they were crushed before the LORD and his forces. The men of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder."

WOW! And, when you are standing on top of tel Maresha, the only place in the area where this could have happened is this one clearing below.

I have to say, sitting on top of that tel, walking on its walls, then hearing the reading of this story while looking at the valley and the beautiful Judean hills in a 360-degree view is can only be summed up in 1 word:

EPIC.

Next week, we'll talk about what's at the base of this tel!

Gladiators, wild animals, and a fortress, oh my!

Like I said last week, Bet Guvrin is HUGE. There's so much to it! I think you could spend all day in this park and still not see everything. from the caves running under the lush (in winter) Judean hills to what we're going to explore this week: the Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader era ruins!

WOW!

So, let's start with the Roman amphitheater. 

This elipitcal amphitheater is amazing to explore. You can walk through the stands (complete with cut-outs of 'audience members'), stroll through the area, and then walk through the gladiator sections. It's actually the only Roman amphitheater in Israel that is completely open to the public, and walking through it gives you a good idea what it was actually like. 

Built in the 2nd century, during the Bar Kochba revolt, its purpose was to keep the bloodthirsty Roman garrison happy and entertained, holding up to 3,500 people. There are even places next to the walls with openings for the wild animals to emerge from their cages (below).

Get this, it wasn't uncovered until the mid-1990s! I was maybe 10-11 years old. That's how long it laid under the surface! Incredible!

Close to the amphitheater is the Crusader Fortress. This area fascinating as well!

Like its BC story, Bet Guvrin's AD story is fascinating as well. The city was granted 'free status' by Emperor Septimus Severus in 200 AD, and it controlled the area between the coastal plain and the Dead Sea in that region. It became an important junction, and the city build up despite the lack of springs there, as the city benefited from Roman-era aqueducts.

The Jewish population in the area grew, and then in the Byzantine era, Bet Guvrin became an important Christian center. Then it was conquered by the Mamluks in the 6th century, then the Crusaders came and built a church (as well as the fortress), and then it was conquered by the Ottomans, who turned the church into a mosque.

Because of that, you can see the mix of materials everywhere in this fortress- and it cracked me up! You can even see it in the photo above: see how the rocks change? But I'm going to take you on a closer tour so you can see it all:

Can you see the random columns stuck in the walls? And closed entrances/arches?

There's another one! The arch below is intentional- to fortify the wall. 

But see how stones, column bases, etc. don't match each other as far as time period?

Below, right, is the church-turned-mosque:

The view from above!

Now, down into the fortress.... Only a few pictures here because we ran through it quickly.

The mix of materials cracks me up. It's like the builders were like, "Hey, this fits!" Which, honestly, is what I would do. And it matches the history of using found materials and building on former foundations.

There's such a wide mix that throughout the park are stations with flip books where you can find what you are seeing and see what era it was from, what kind of stone, etc. My friend, who was in the middle of furnishing her apartment was looking through it, and I teased her that she was looking for ideas. I mean, it was basically a giant HGTV warehouse, haha.

Can you see the base of the arch starting to curve out from the wall on the left?

That's it for this portion of Bet Guvrin. Next week is my favorite part: Maresha!

Oh yeah, one final photo. This is a simulation of a dig as you walk onto this part of Bet Guvrin, and it was awesome! One of my friend said that 'models' were the same from our Hebrew textbook, haha.

A whole new (underground) world!

Caves, caves, and more caves!

When I think of Bet Guvrin, that's first what comes to mind. But there's so much more to this park. It's HUGE and will be a 4-part series probably. 

But today, CAVES!

There are so many caves carved in this area because of the rocks in the region are soft and chalk-like. It's this beautiful, creamy color and easy to quarry. So in this park are MANY caves that served as dove-cotes, quarries, cisterns, storerooms, tombs, and storage chambers. One of the caves was basically a maze, which I couldn't document clearly because you can't see the change of directions in a still photo. But it was A-MAZE-ING!!!

My favorites, though, were the Bell Caves. These bell-shaped caves were formed by quarrying in the Byzantine and Early Muslim periods. Their shape and the different colors of the earth, in addition to the light coming from the top, make them an incredible sight. Today, they are tourist attractions and also places for events like weddings and concerts. Can you imagine?!?

Also, I definitely heard bats in here. No, gracias!

This bedrock here (darker spot below) was about 20 feet off the ground, and it shows a closed off tunnel from the Bar Kochba Revolt (135-137 AD)! WOW!

The quarry:

But that's not the only kind of cave in Bet Guvrin. Here is the Polish cave. It originally a cistern that also doubled as a dovecote. It was given this name because of an inscription on a stone inside. During WWII, Polish soldiers visited the cave and carved an eagle, 1943, and Warsaw, Poland on the rock: 

Then, there's the Columbarium. This cross-shaped cave was also a dove-cote that held more than 2,000 birds! Being so close to Jerusalem, these were likely raised for sacrifices, as well as being used for food and their droppings for fertilizer. There are over 85 dove-cote caves found in the area of Maresha alone with 10s of thousands of niches!

This photo is an example of the soft, chalk-like rock the caves are carved from:

Then, a cave with an ancient oil press:

Finally, a Sidonian tomb! The artwork in here was so unique (and interesting). The animals had almost human-like faces.

Those are just a few of the caves in this 1,250 acre park. It's too much to see in a few hours. I definitely need to go back and spend more time there!