Nitzana (Nabataean city)

Tel Nizzana (Hebrew תל ניצנה, also Tel Nitzana, Tell is called settlement mound ) is an ancient settlement mounds in Israel on the border with Sinai Peninsula in close proximity to Nizzana. Here the ancient settlement was Nizana ( Νιζάνα ) or Nessana. It is one of the Ramat Negev Regional Council (Hebrew מועצה אזורית רמת נגב Mo'azza Asorit Ramat Negev ).

History of Research

First excavations took place from 1935 to 1937 under the direction of Harris Dunscombe Colt. In the summer of 1986, Dan Orman and Joseph Shereshevsky have begun to excavate the remains of the settlement. During the excavations, the foundations of residential buildings, stairs were exposed up to the top of the hill, a church and a chapel. Today, the area is designated as a National Park.

In 2006, the Archaeological Museum in the nearby desert town Nizzana (Hebrew נִצָּנָה, ניצנה ) was named in the western Negev desert after Ben -Zion Chalfon.

History

The roots of the earliest history of settlement dating back to the 3rd century BC as a city of the Nabataeans.

The settlement was a trading post on the way from Eilat to Gaza. In the early 2nd century AD Emperor Hadrian moved the trade route from Eilat to Damascus. Nevertheless Nizzana grew under Byzantine rule. In the late 3rd century AD, the fortress with stables for horses and camels has been extended. In the 4th century, the church was attached to the north end of the settlement. In the 7th century came 60 meters southeast of the fortress St Mary's Church added.

Excavations from 1935 to 1937 a main chamber of the 6th and 7th century, and scrolls were discovered at this point in Greek and Arabic, which inform about the everyday life and the life of the Nabataean society 505-689 AD, the last phase of the Byzantine administration and the earliest phase of Arab Islam. The fonts have the best documented of all previous findings in this area of the Negev. The control register of 587-9, the city with 1,500 inhabitants and 116 houses. At this time the route from Gaza to Eilat was restored and pilgrims visited St. Catherine's Monastery.

There private documents and certificates mainly for official character were found, including a text fragment of Virgil and the Latin and Greek epic poem Aeneid, fragments of John's Gospel ( Papyrus 59) and finds from church archives of the early 7th century, and the personal papers of George Synkellos and archives of the military of the most loyal Theodosians. The name research shows that the most Nabataean inhabitants of the city were Christianized and Romanized during the 1st century. It also documents the takeover of power by a Byzantine patriarch. Many place names in the Negev are known exclusively from these writings. One of the younger scrolls describes the coinage under Abd al -Malik, whose caliphate replaced the Roman domination by military force.

After the arrival of Islam from the population increased steadily until the settlement was abandoned in the 8th century.