Horvat Maon/Horvat Ma'on,130] Vlada Nikolsky (07/07/2010)
"Horbat Ma‘on: Final Report"
In '' HA-ESI'' Volume 122 (2010). Accessed 8 Feb 2024. Arabic: Khirbet Ma'in or Tell Máîn ( SWP map No. 25), is an archaeological site in the Hebron Hills, West Bank, rising above sea level, where the remains of the ancient town of Ma'on () have been excavated. The town, now a ruin, is mentioned in the

Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua ( he, סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎ ', Tiberian: ''Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ'') is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Isra ...

() and the Books of Samuel (). It still had a Jewish population during the Roman and Byzantine periods, and a

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

was discovered there. The site is located about southeast of Yatta.

Etymology

The Hebrew name is variously spelled as Horvat Ma'on, Horvat Maon, or Hurbat Ma'on. Tel Ma'on is sometimes also used. The Hebrew word ''ma'on'' means 'dwelling', 'habitation'. Horvat, horbat, hurbat, hurvat are transliteration variants of the Hebrew word for 'ruins' and direct equivalents of the Arabic

khirbet The glossary of Arabic toponyms gives translations of Arabic terms commonly found as components in Arabic toponyms. A significant number of them were put together during the PEF Survey of Palestine carried out in the second half of the 19th cent ...

. Tell is the transliteration of the Arabic word, tel of the Hebrew one, both meaning mound created by accumulation of settlement layers.

In ancient sources

Hebrew Bible

The site is first mentioned as one of the cities of Judah.Amit (n.d.), pp. 222–223 Maon was the place of birth of Nabal the Carmelite. In , "the wilderness of Maon" is mentioned as a place of refuge for David when he fled from king Saul. The site is not referred to again in biblical sources.

Late Roman (?) and Early Byzantine period

After the destruction of the

Second Temple The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited ...

, there is again a reference to the site, when Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai is said to have gone up to Maon of Judah. In the early 4th century CE, Maon was mentioned in Eusebius' ''

Onomasticon Onomasticon may refer to: *Onomasticon (Eusebius) *Onomasticon of Amenope *Onomasticon of Joan Coromines *Onomasticon of Julius Pollux *Onomasticon of Johann Glandorp *''Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum Onomasticon may refer to: *Onomasticon (Eusebius ...

'' as being "in the tribe of Judah; in the east of Daroma."Chapman & Taylor (2003), p. 72. During the Late Roman-Early Byzantine period, ''Darom'' or ''Daroma'' (Hebrew and Aramaic for "South") became a term used for the southern Hebron Hills in rabbinic literature and in Eusebius' ''Onomasticon''. At the time, the Hebron Hills were demographically separated into two distinct districts, with only the southern one retaining a Jewish population along with a newer, Christian one.

Archaeology

Occupation periods

Archaeologists have discovered at the site potsherds dating back to the Early Bronze Age, the Iron Age (

Israelite period The history of ancient Israel and Judah begins in the Southern Levant during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. "Israel" as a people or tribal confederation (see Israelites) appears for the first time in the Merneptah Stele, an inscripti ...

) including jar handles bearing the palaeo-Hebrew inscription

LMLK LMLK seals (with LMLK meaning 'of the king') are ancient Hebrew seals stamped on the handles of large storage jars first issued in the reign of King Hezekiah (circa 700 BC) and discovered mostly in and around Jerusalem. Several complete jars w ...

, 'for the king', and from the Hellenistic period.

Sherd In archaeology, a sherd, or more precisely, potsherd, is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery, although the term is occasionally used to refer to fragments of stone and glass vessels, as well. Occasionally, a piece of broken p ...

s have also been found ''in situ'' from the Roman and Byzantine periods, as well as from the Middle Ages. Wine and olive presses from the Roman and Byzantine periods were discovered on the west slope of the tell. Magness, Jodi (2003). ''The Archaeology of the Early Islamic Settlement in Palestine''. Eisenbrauns, Vol.1, pp
96

97
Accessed 8 Feb 2024. The ancient synagogue of Ma'on is dated to the Byzantune period (see below). The absence of material traces from the late 7th-early 8th century are an indication of the abandonement of the village at that time.

Byzantine-period synagogue

A synagogue dating back to the Byzantine/ Talmudic period was discovered at Hurvat (Horbat) Ma'on. Two occupation phases were discerned, covering the 4th/5th through the 7th century.

19th-century observations

C.R. Conder of the

Palestine Exploration Fund The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, and is the oldest known organization in the world created specifically for the study ...

visited the site in 1874, during which time a brief description was written of the site:

Tell Maʻîn –– A mound some 100 feet high. On the west are foundations, caves, and cisterns, and foundations of a tower about 20 feet square. The masonry in this tower is large, with a broad irregular draft and a rustic boss. One stone was 3 feet 8 inches long, 2 feet 9 inches high, the draft about 3 inches wide. There is also a round well-mouth, 5 feet diameter, cut out of a single stone. Conder &
Kitchener Kitchener may refer to: People * Earl Kitchener, a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom ** Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener (1850–1916), British Field Marshal and 1st Earl Kitchener ** Henry Kitchener, 2nd Earl Kitchener (1846–1937) ...
(1883), p
415
/ref>

Modern era

Horbat Maon is situated SE of the Arab town of Yatta, on the north side of regional highway 317. Today, on the northern slope of the tell are settled several families who have recently moved there from Yatta.

Gallery

File:Tel-Maon-183.jpg, The ancient hill of Tel Ma'on, South Hebron Hills File:Tel-Maon-195.jpg, Tel/Horvat Ma'on near Hebron File:Tel-Maon-569.jpg, Stone troughs at the well of Ma'on File:Tel-Maon-216.jpg, Staircase File:Tel-Maon-194.jpg, Ancient remains File:Tel-Maon-210.jpg, Ancient structures File:Tel-Maon-227.jpg, Ancient wall File:Tel-Maon-574.jpg, Remnants of Byzantine fort at Horvat Ma'on File:Tel-Maon-199.jpg, Detail File:Tel-Maon-196.jpg, Ancient stones

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * *

External links

*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 25:
IAAWikimedia commons
(''Tell Máîn'' shown on upper part of map) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tell Maon Populated places disestablished in the 8th century Book of Joshua Books of Samuel Hebrew Bible cities District of Hebron Judea (Roman province) Ancient Jewish settlements of Judaea Biblical geography Ancient Jewish history Archaeological sites in the West Bank Ancient synagogues in the Land of Israel Hebron Hills