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
