Bersabe ();(), or Beer Sheba of the Galilee, was a Second Temple period Jewish village located near the town of Kefar Hananya which marked the boundary between the

Upper Galilee The Upper Galilee ( he, הגליל העליון, ''HaGalil Ha'Elyon''; ar, الجليل الأعلى, ''Al Jaleel Al A'alaa'') is a geographical-political term in use since the end of the Second Temple period. It originally referred to a mounta ...

and the Lower Galilee, as described by

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

, with Upper Galilee stretching from Bersabe in the

Beit HaKerem Valley Beit HaKerem Valley ( he, בקעת בית כרם), also known as al-Shaghur ( ar, الشاغور, al-Shāghūr), is a valley in the Galilee region in northern Israel. The valley is the dividing feature between the Upper Galilee featuring relati ...

to Baca (Peki'in) in the north. Bersabe was one of several towns and villages of Galilee fortified by Josephus during the

First Jewish–Roman War The First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), sometimes called the Great Jewish Revolt ( he, המרד הגדול '), or The Jewish War, was the first of three major rebellions by the Jews against the Roman Empire, fought in Roman-controlled ...

, being one of the most defensible positions and where insurgents from across Galilee had taken up refuge against the

Imperial Roman army The Imperial Roman army was the military land force of the Roman Empire from about 30 BC to 476 AD, and the final incarnation in the long history of the Roman army. This period is sometimes split into the Principate (30 BC – 284 AD) and the Do ...

when the surrounding countryside was plundered. The ancient village has been identified with the present site of ''Khirbet es-Saba'', a hilltop ruin within a distance of less than a kilometer of the village Kafr 'Inan (Kefr ʿAnan), at the eastern fringe of the Beit HaKerem Valley, and rising some above sea-level. The same site has been rendered by other authors under the name ''Khirbet Abu esh-Shebaʿ'', a little northwest of Kefr ʿAnan and closely adjoining Farradiyya/

Parod Parod ( he, פָּרוֹד) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located in the Upper Galilee near Safed, it falls under the jurisdiction of Merom HaGalil Regional Council. In it had a population of . History The community was founded in 1949 by Jew ...

to their southwest. The site lies eastward of the Arab town of er-Rameh, along Route 85, and about southwest of Safed. In 1873, Kitchener and Conder, on a surveying mission with the Palestine Exploration Fund, visited the site and mentioned it as being "a large ruin, which stands upon the terraced hill top." A survey later conducted at the site reveal that the village had occupied an area of about 70

dunams A dunam (Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount o ...

(17.3 acres).Aviam (2008), p. 41 From a prospect on Mount Kefir in the

Mount Meron Mount Meron ( he, הַר מֵירוֹן, ''Har Meron''; ar, جبل الجرمق, ''Jabal al-Jarmaq'') is a mountain in the Upper Galilee region of Israel. It has special significance in Jewish religious tradition and parts of it have been decla ...

range, as one looks out over the hilltop ruin of Bersabe, the square layout or lines where once stood the walls of the town can still be distinguished.Aviam, M. (1983), p. 38 The line of the ancient wall extended over an area comprising the upper third of the hill. The thickness of the northernmost wall, where the hill was easily accessible, is measured at , and was built with three semi-circular watch towers. The easternmost wall was built in a zig-zag configuration. The walls were constructed of fieldstones.

Fate of town's defenders

There are no surviving written records on the fate of the town's defenders, although Josephus alludes to it in his ''Life's Autobiography'' (§ 65) where he writes: “...I was in the power of the Romans before Jerusalem was besieged, and before the same time, Jotapata was taken by force, ''as well as many other fortresses'', and a great many of the Galileans fell in the war.” Elsewhere, Josephus writes (''The Jewish War'' 4.7) that after the fall of

Tarichaea Tarichaea ( gr, Ταριχαία or Ταριχέα), alternative spellings Taricheæ/Tarichaeae/Tarichee; Tarichese; Tarichess, is the Greek place name for a historic site of disputed location. It was situated along the shore of the Sea of Gali ...

, all but two of the rebel fortresses and strongholds surrendered to the Roman army. This would have happened in the second year of the war, in the 13th year of

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 unti ...

's reign, sometime between the capture of Jotapata (in the lunar month of

Tammuz Dumuzid or Tammuz ( sux, , ''Dumuzid''; akk, Duʾūzu, Dûzu; he, תַּמּוּז, Tammûz),; ar, تمّوز ' known to the Sumerians as Dumuzid the Shepherd ( sux, , ''Dumuzid sipad''), is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with shep ...

) and the capture of

(in the month of

Elul Elul ( he, אֱלוּל, Standard ''ʾElūl'', Tiberian ''ʾĔlūl'') is the twelfth month of the Jewish civil year and the sixth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. It is a month of 29 days. Elul usually occurs in August� ...

that same year), and which effectually brought an end to the war in Galilee. The usual Roman procedure in cases involving open rebellion was to kill the able-bodied men who rose up in rebellion, but to sell into slavery all captive women and children.

Archaeological finds

Potsherds from the Iron Age, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Arab periods have been found on the site. Only one square near the ancient wall has been excavated. Mordechai Aviam who excavated the site has noted that the ancient ruin has yielded large quantities of "Galilean Coarse Ware" (GCW) and other Hellenistic and Early Roman shards and coins. Coins found at the site date from the fourth century BCE to the second century CE.Aviam (2004), p. 95 Unidentified razed structures and rock-cut cisterns are scattered across the hilltop. The site also abounds with karstic caves. Pottery found at the site proves the continuation of the settlement deep into the 3rd century CE.

Gallery

File:Hill of Bersabe as seen from West side.jpg, The hill of Bersabe (''Kh. Abu esh-Sheba'') from western side File:Hill of Bersabe - from the north.jpg, ''Khirbet Abu esh-Sheba'' (Bersabe) seen from northern side File:General view as seen from Kh. Abu esh-Sheba (Bersabe).jpg, View from Bersabe in Galilee File:Slope of Hill Bersabe (Kh. Abu esh-Sheba).jpg, Steep ascent to ''Khirbet Abu esh-Sheba'' (Bersabe) File:Cave at Bersabe (Kh. Abu Sheba).jpg, Cave at Bersabe (''Kh. Abu esh-Sheba'') File:Stone Wall - Bersabe.jpg, Old wall in Bersabe File:Stone wall at Bersabe.jpg, Ruins of Bersabe File:Tomb at Bersabe.jpg, Tomb carved from rock at Bersabe File:Pit at Bersabe (Kh. Abu Sheba).jpg, Pit at Bersabe (''Khirbet Abu esh-Sheba'') File:Khirbet Abu Sheba (Bersabe).jpg, Ruins at Bersabe File:House in Farradiyya with Kh. Abu Sheba in background.jpg, Hilltop ruin of ''Khirbet Abu esh-Sheba'' as seen from Farradiyya File:Earthenware relic from Bersabe.jpg, Loom weight discovered in ''Khirbet Abu esh-Sheba'' File:Bersabe seen from Old Kefar Hananiah.jpg, Hilltop ruin of Bersabe as seen from Kafr 'Inan

References

Bibliography

* * * Aviam, Mordechai (2008). ''The Great Revolt in Galilee'' (Exhibition Catalogue 28),

Hecht Museum The Reuben and Edith Hecht Museum is a museum located on the grounds of the University of Haifa, Israel. History The Hecht Museum was established in 1984 by Reuben Hecht, director of Dagon Silos and a founding member of the University of Haifa ...

University of Haifa The University of Haifa ( he, אוניברסיטת חיפה Arabic: جامعة حيفا) is a university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation in 1972, becoming ...

: Haifa, pp. 39–52 * * * * * (Leipzig 1907)

External links