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RAMET EL-KHALIL Occupied Jordan.

Site 2.4 km N of Hebron and 900 m above sea level, where there was an oak named Ogiges, or Terebinthos according to Josephus (AJ 1.186; BJ 4.533), near which Abraham lived, 6 stadia from Hebron. According to Hieronymus (Commentar to Zechria 9.2) Hadrian sold captives of the Bar Kohbah revolt into slavery here. A market is mentioned in both Jewish and Early Christian sources; a pagan altar is mentioned as well. Eusebius (Vita Const. 3.53) states that Constantine the Great destroyed the altar and built a church in its place.

Excavation below the area of the Constantinian church has uncovered remains of the Middle Bronze and Iron Age occupation of the 9th-8th c. B.C.; it seems probable that a high place existed here even at this early date. Above these remains were traces of the Hellenistic settlement. To the time of Herod the Great belongs a massive wall, similar to that around the Cave of Machpelah at Hebron. The wall was rebuilt by Hadrian, who also built a temple close to the E wall of the enclosure in which a statue of Hermes was found. The Constantinian church was built above the ruins of the temple; the church was destroyed during the Persian invasion of A.D. 614 but was subsequently rebuilt. From a deep well within the sacred compound came 1331 coins, ranging in date from Hellenistic to the time of the Crusaders, except for the period A.D. 70-135 when the site was temporarily abandoned.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. E. Mader, Die Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen im heiligen Bezirk, Ramat el-Halil (1957).

A. NEGEV

hide References (2 total)
  • Cross-references from this page (2):
    • Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 1.186
    • Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War, 4.533
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