Ancient Ein Haseva (Hatzeva) [Biblical Tamar]

An Israelite Fortress on the Border with Edom

The eastern area of the Iron Age complex ...

Overview: The oasis, identified as Biblical Tamar and Roman Tamara, is located in the Arabah valley. It receives its waters from the spring of Ein Hazeva. The frontier location, situated on the crossroads of major ancient routes, was a perfect place for a fortress and inn. Archaeological excavations have reconstructed a number of fortresses and installations dated to the Israelite Kingdom -- Nabatean -- Roman and Early Arab periods (4)

Remains of several Israelite fortresses at Ein Hatseva are located on a low hill in the Arava Valley some 35 kilometres south of the Dead Sea. The spring (ein) -- a source of fresh water in this desert region -- and the strategic position of the hill at the intersection of the main Arava road and the Negev-Edom road were the reasons for the building of consecutive fortresses on this spot over the course of about 1000 years. Each fortress served as the military and administrative center for the region as well as a caravan station (1) ...

The ruins of Hatseva had already been surveyed at the beginning of the century and identified as the Biblical Tamar and as the Roman Tamara (ibid) ... The site (Ain Husub) was first described by Alois Musil who arrived there in 1902 and documented the large jujube tree that stood there and sketched Mesad Hazeva, the nearby aqueducts and the trees next to the spring (2).

Ezekiel 48:28: ... the border shall be even from Tamar unto the waters of strife in Kadesh ...

The Jujube tree photographed by Alois Musil in 1902 at ‘En Hazeva (from Arabia Petraea 1907:206)

(3) The Fortresses at ˓En Ḥaṣeva by Rudolph Cohen in The Biblical Archaeologist (1994)

Large scale excavations at ˓En Ḥaṣeva have provided one of the most important recent discoveries in the Arabah. Excavators have exposed a succession of fortresses -- from the Byzantine and early Islamic period to the Iron Age -- occupying this crucial crossroads of ancient commerce. In both Roman and Iron Age periods the Ḥaṣeva fortress was among the most immense in the region. Excavation is finally clarifying the true nature of the site which has been known and visited for over a century (3).

As early as the nineteenth century researchers touring the area of ˓En Ḥaṣeva, one of the most abundant springs of the Arabah, noted remains beside the spring. Alois Musil visited the area in 1902 and prepared a sketch of the square fortress which had projecting corner towers. He saw an additional multi-roomed structure adjacent to the fortress in the south as well as the remains of a bathhouse in the east. Musil identified the fortress with the caravanserai (ibid).

An immense fortress, four times larger than the previous fortress, was built during the 9th or 8th Century BC (Iron age II -- the Israelite period). It included a casemate wall surrounding the large site (100m x 100m), 3 towers and a four chambers gate on the north side. Sections of the fortress were reconstructed by the archaeologists on all sides of the mound (Stratum 7b). The fortress was destroyed and blazed following the Assyrian conquest by Sennacherib (ibid).

Apparently this unusual collection can be ascribed to the end of the seventh or the beginning of the sixth centuries BCE and is apparently concurrent to the remains of the late Stratum 6 Iron Age fortress. We attribute this fortress to the reign of Josiah (639-609 BCE), the last period of efflorescence and expansion of the Judean monarchy before the Babylonian conquest. The smashing of the cult vessels may have been part of Josiahs religious reform (ibid).

Hazeva was one of the stations on the road from the Nabatean capital city Petra to the ports of the Mediterranean Sea and also to the center and north of Israel. The archaeologists identified in Stratum 5 sections of a small Nabatean fortress -- temple and storage room under the ruins of the Roman fortress (4).

The building of the Roman fortress at Ḥaṣeva occupied two clearly distinct stages. Stratum 4 offered a typical square fortress (castellum circa 46x46 metres) ... The Stratum 3 Roman fortress at Ḥaṣeva is the largest of its kind known in the Arabah (ibid).

At the end of the third or the beginning of the fourth centuries during the reign of Diocletian the fort flourished once again. The projecting towers were added at that time (Stratum 3). This late Roman fortress was part of the Diocletian frontier system that depended principally on towers -- forts and fortresses erected along strategic roads. The inhabitants of the southeastem frontier of the Roman Empire, between the Euphrates and the Red Sea, were Arab tribes called Saracens who conducted razzia with the basic aim of taking booty from the merchants and travelers who crossed the desert areas and whose destination was important commercial and trade cities including Jerusalem and Gaza. The track south from Jerusalem would have first reached Elusa, continued on to Tamara (Ḥaṣeva) positioned south of the Dead Sea and led from there to Transjordan -- Rababatora and Philadelphia (ibid).

The Roman fort fell into disuse during the second half of the fourth century CE perhaps as the result of the earthquake of 363 CE which destroyed Petra and several other sites. Over its remains Stratum 2 offered scanty and unidentifiable remnants including pottery of the sixth-seventh centuries CE (ibid).

Viewed from above its western half the gate to the Iron II fortress shows off its first entry way and chamber. Each of the gate's total of four chambers measure 2.5 x 3.3 metres. Between the gate's two halves runs a 4 metre wide passageway.

The strategic importance of ˓En Ḥaṣeva-Tamara is obvious sitting as it does at the intersection of four major routes -- one leading south to Elath, one traveling east to Edom, a third leading north to Jerusalem and the fourth leading west through Ma‘aleh ‘Aqrabim to the central Negev area. The remains of the impressive fortresses testify to the importance of the site during the Iron Age and later in the Nabataean and Roman periods. Aharoni (See A Below) believed that the system of road-fortresses was established during the time of the First Temple period in the Negev and the Arabah. These road-fortresses were to defend the kingdom and "to open up the trade routes to the countries of the south". This has once again proved to be right. Great economic importance was attached to the control of these regions because of the profitable luxury-trade with Southern Arabia and East Africa mentioned in the Bible. Biblical sources refer to the building and maritime activities undertaken during the reigns of Kings Solomon, Jehoshaphat and Uzziah who controlled Elath and Ezion-Geber. ˓En Ḥaṣeva was clearly a significant royal outpost in the Arabah until its destruction at the time of the destruction of the First Temple circa 586. Whether or not the Edomites were partners with the Babylonians in this destruction remains a question. (3).

In the Nabataean and Roman periods the importance of ˓En Ḥaṣeva increased following a prolonged abandonment lasting nearly 500 years. This points to the renewed strategic importance of the area as a whole at this time and suggests that the status of ˓En Ḥaṣeva again matched that attained during the First Temple Period. It is the massive plan of the Roman fortress at ˓En Ḥaṣeva in the third-fourth centuries CE which further identifies the site with Roman Tamara.

Excavations at the site have uncovered signs which indicate that it was still occupied in the sixth-seventh centuries CE well after its fourth century destruction, possibly because of the earthquake of 363 CE (ibid).

Casement rooms in the wall of the central area of the Iron Age II fortress. The walls of Iron II Haseva combined solid offset-inset with casement wall constrution. The walls enclosed the largest fort of the Negev equal in size to the regional administration center Beersheva.

The excavators identified the various levels of the site and marked them as Strata (level) 1-8 as summarized in the following table ... (Biblical Tamar -- Hazeva Fortress -- Ir Ovot) at BibleWalks.com

Strata Date Period Findings 1b  20th Century AD Modern Aqueduct, well, police station Kibbutz Ir-Ovot (1967- 1980s) 1a   7th-8th Century AD   Early Arab Buildings, farm 2    4th-7th Century AD Byzantine   3,4   2nd-4th Century AD Roman Square fortress (46m x 46m) with 4 corner towers Caravanserai, Bathhouse   5   1st Century BC- 1st Century AD   Nabatean Room with store jars under the Roman fortress 6   7th-6th Century BC Late 1st temple Fortress Cult vessels from Edomite shrine Four-room house   7b   8th Century BC 1st temple Immense fortress (casemate wall                     100m x 100m, 3 towers) 4 chambers gate   7a        9th-8th Century BC 1st temple Fortress (casemate wall 50m x 50m) 4 chambers gate   8   10th Century BC (Solomonic)   Unified Kingdom square fortress