Mnemotrix Israel, Ltd.
can help you explore the Holy Land in your own special way.
We will design a custom tour for you and your friends, group, or family,
which can include these off the beaten track historical sites.
Come Tour, Explore, and Excavate with us!
Avdat - Nabatean City in the Negev Highlands
Avdat is located on a mountain ridge in the center of the Negev highlands. At this point, where the routes from Petra (in present-day Jordan) and Eilat converge and continue to the Mediterranean coast, the Nabateans established a road station for their caravans.
The little we know about the Nabateans comes from Roman historians and geographers. They were nomadic tribes from northern Arabia who wandered and traded, then established permanent settlements and finally created an independent kingdom with Petra, in the mountains of Edom, as their capital.
At the climax of their power, from the first century BCE to the first century CE, the Nabatean kings ruled regions that today belong to Jordan, Syria, and Israel. Their contact with the Hellenistic world had great influence on their material culture, uniquely manifest in their architecture.
The Nabateans accumulated great wealth from their trade in costly perfumes and spices from East Africa and Arabia which they transported by camel caravans to the southern Mediterranean coast, with Gaza serving as the main depot and port. The Negev was the direct overland link to the Mediterranean coast, and the Nabatean way stations at the main crossroads in the Negev, developed into cities.
In this inhospitable desert region, the Nabateans developed an agriculture based on terraces built on the hillsides. To capture flood waters, they constructed dams in the valleys; to collect rain water, they cut cisterns in the rock. These measures, initiated by the Nabatean central administration, established their control over the Negev and guaranteed the caravans safe passage.
The Nabatean kingdom was conquered by the Romans in 106 CE and annexed to the Roman Empire. Devoid of its caravan trade, Avdat fell into decline. In the third century it became a short-lived settlement which was destroyed in the earthquake of 363. In the sixth century, under Byzantine rule, a citadel and a monastery with two churches were built on the acropolis and residential quarters were established on the slopes. This city was destroyed, probably by earthquake, and abandoned in the seventh century.
Shivta - Largest Restored Nabatean Settlement near the Edge of Israel
Shivta's colossal ruins reach back to the 1st or 2nd century BCE when the great Nabataean traders built it. It is the largest restored settlement of the six Nabataean settlements in the Negev. The Nabataeans chose this site because goods traded with the Far East and Arabia were transported from Eilat through here and on to Gaza and Rafah.
While they were energetic tradesmen, the Nabataeans were even more famous as water conservationists. They set the pattern for others intent on settling in this desiccated region. Their method was to catch rainwater, and to harness the flood-waters that flow suddenly in the Negev.
They built reservoirs cut out of rock and lined with a covering of small stones and a kind of cement that prevented seepage. They also constructed dams, and built terraces. Roofs were flat and cisterns were used. The water they collected was used to irrigate their farms. The produce from Shivta also maintained their strategically sited camp at Nitzana, 20 kilometres southwest.
With the Roman conquest, Shivta was used as a supply centre for the northern Negev. It flourished again under Byzantine occupation from the 4th-6th centuries when it was used to protect the Negev populations and pilgrims on their way to Mt. Sinai.
However, following the Moslem conquest, it declined and was deserted after the 14th century. It was excavated by a joint Anglo-American expedition in 1935.
The ruins include reservoirs, wine presses, Byzantine churches and residences, including an extraordinarily well-preserved Byzantine dwelling house with three curved stone arches on the ceiling and a stone table and chairs in a corner.
At the start of the sixth century AD an earthquake damaged much of Shivta (also known as Sobota). After this time a number of people were buried within the churches, with Greek inscriptions dating them from the years 595 to 679 AD.
Yatir Ruins - Little Known Wine Growing District Then and Now
Located in the northeastern gateway to the Negev Desert in Southern Israel, the Yatir Ruins are northeast of Be'er Sheva and west of Massada and the Dead Sea. Irrigation is based on natural precipitation (280 mm of rain per average year), thus eliminating the necessity to draw on Israel's precious water reserves. Its unique feature is the forest, which grows on the edge of the desert, the largest of Israel's man-planted forests.
The biblical town of Yatir was inhabited by the Cohanim. Ira and Gever - two of King David's heroes - were born in Yatir. The Yatir Ruins include the remains of an ancient church and an ancient Jewish public building considered to have been a synagogue as it is facing the direction of Jerusalem. It was probably this synagogue which served the small Jewish community of Yatir until it was conquered by the Muslims during the 7th century AD.
An inscription in the synagogue honors one Rabbi Issi Hakohen, who "plastered the walls of this synagogue, which shook with joy on the day of the wedding feast of his son, Rabbi Yohanan Hakohen, the scribe. Peace unto Israel. Amen."
During the late Roman and Byzantine Christian eras, Jews were often forced out of Jerusalem. Yet here, in the arid hills 50 kilometers south, they not only clung stubbornly to life, but even prospered. The synagogue, for example, was built on the highest ground, as stipulated in the Talmud (Tosefta, Megilla 4). Indentations for mezuzot can be seen in the door lintels. An outer courtyard in the foreground of a burial cave allowed one who did not enter the cave to retain his state of ritual purity. The mikvaot (ritual baths) included water channels built as specified by Halacha.
The tenuousness of life on these slopes is evident throughout the remains of the city. It is laced, for example, with an intricate system of aqueducts, channels and cisterns.
Moreover, much of the community's life seems to have been conducted underground. Many of the houses and industrial installations sit above caves that provided cool shelter in the summer, as well as supplemental rooms or shelter for animals. Some caves probably served as homes in themselves.
That sense of insecurity can be seen in the houses on the outskirts of the city; their outer walls, without doors or windows, served as a defense against desert marauders. The houses were also connected by a series of tunnels that served as an escape route leading to and beyond the synagogue.
The synagogue could become a fortress, with a huge rolling stone that could seal the front entrance in times of danger.
Today a boutique winery flourishes in the Yatir region, even as grapes were
grown and pressed into wine in this area in ancient times.
