Maresha
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tel Maresha (Hebrew: תל מראשה), also Marissa, is an antiquity site in Israel's southern lowlands.
The tel was first excavated by the British archaeologists Bliss and McAlister on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund. The majority of the artifacts are to be found today in the Museum of Archaeology in Istanbul.
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[edit] History
Maresha was one of the cities of Judea during the time of the First Temple and is mentioned among the conquests of the ancient Israelites in the Book of Joshua and later in the Books of Chronicles as one of King Rehoboam's fortifications.
In the sixth century, as result of Zedekiah's rebellion against the Babylonian kingdom and its king Nebuchadnezzar II, the latter occupied the Judean kingdom and sent many of its inhabitants into exile. This marked the end of Maresha as a Jewish (or Judean) city.
Following these events, Edomites who had lived south of the Dead Sea migrated north to the area. Hence, from the Persian rule and throughout the Hellenistic kingdoms' rule in the region (sixth - first century), Maresha was part of the area known as Idumea.
Maresha emerged as a major Edomite city and with the conquest of the region by Alexander the great the city was settled by retired Greek soldiers as was then custom. Thus Maresha developed as a Hellenistic city encompassing a multitude of Greek and oriental cultures including Sidonians and Nabataeans.
[edit] Decline and fall
The city began its decline during the Hasmonean Maccabee rebellion against the Seleucid Empire (second century BCE) when the city was used as base to combat the rebels.
Following the rebellion and its success, it is believed that the Jewish king John Hyrcanus conquered the city (112 BCE) and forcibly converted its inhabitants. Most opposed the conversion, many abandoned their homes and the city quickly withered into decay.
In 63 BCE, as part of the arrangements made by Pompey in the region, Maresha, along with all of Edom, was separated from the Jewish kingdom and was granted independence.
Maresha was finally destroyed in 40 BCE by the Parthians as part of the power struggle between Antigonus of the Hasmoneans who had sought their aid and Herod, who was a son of the converted Antipater the Idumaean and was being supported by the Romans.
The area remained barely inhabited until the second century when the Roman city Eleutheropolis was established on the adjacent hills.
[edit] Today
Today Maresha is part of the Israeli national park of Beit Guvrin. Many of the ancient city's olive presses, columbariums and water cisterns can still be seen. Furthermore, Archaeological Seminars, under the license of the Israel Antiquities Authority, conducts excavations of Maresha's many quarried systems and invites visitors to participate.
