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ARAD Israel.

A fortress on the S border of Judea, 30 km E of Beersheba, occupied from Biblical times to the Early Arab and Mameluke period. The site has been extensively excavated. Ten occupation levels have been unearthed, of which the earlier five represent a series of Israelite Iron Age royal fortresses. The earliest remains of the Classical period are sherds of the 5th-4th c. B.C. (Stratum V, the Persian period), which included Attic imported wares. In the Hellenistic period (Stratum IV, 3d-2d c. B.C.) a tower 18 m square was built in the center of the mound. This was replaced in the Early Roman period (Stratum III, 1st c. A.D.) by a fortress (25 x 20 m) which consisted of a central courtyard surrounded by rooms on two of three sides. This fortress probably formed part of the Flavian limes Palaestinae.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Y. Aharoni & R. Amiran, “Excavations at Tel Arad,” Israel Exploration Journal 14 (1964) 131-47; M. Avi-Yonah, The Holy Land from the Persian Period to the Arab Conquests (536 B.C. to A.D. 640). A Historical Geography (1966).

A. NEGEV

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