Horvat Maʿon (Hebrew) or Tell Maʿin / Khirbet el-Maʿin[1] (Arabic) is an archaeological site located 20 kilometres (12 mi) southwest of Gaza, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) southwest of Kibbutz Nirim in the Negev, the arid southern portion of Israel; in the Roman period, the site is thought to have formed the western boundary of the Limes Palaestinae.[2]

A different Maon (Khirbet Ma'in), southeast of Hebron, near Carmel and Ziph, is mentioned in Joshua 15:55 in the tribal territory of Judah, and not to be confused with Horvat Maon of the Negev.[3][4] Others have sought to place Horvat Maon of the Negev with Beth-baal-meon (Joshua 13:17) and Beth-meon (Jeremiah 48:23).[5]

Horvat Maʿon, under the name Menois, was the capital of Saltus Constantinianus,[6] also known as Saltus Constantiniaces,[7] an administrative district formed by either Constantine the Great or Constantius II.[8]

Excavations there have uncovered the Maon Synagogue, known for its mosaics adorned with various animals and likely built around 600 CE.[9][10] The date of the mosaic has been alternatively given as the first half of the 6th century, based on its style.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Negev & Gibson (2005), p. 314
  2. ↑ Chiat, Marilyn J. (2020), "Limes Palaestinae", Handbook of Synagogue Architecture, Providence, R.I.: Brown Judaic Studies, p. 243, JSTOR j.ctvzpv521.14
  3. ↑ Amit, David (n.d.). "Hurvat Ma'on". In Ben-Yosef, Sefi (ed.). Israel Guide - Judaea (A useful encyclopedia for the knowledge of the country) (in Hebrew). Vol. 9. Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, in affiliation with the Israel Ministry of Defence. pp. 222–223. OCLC 745203905.
  4. ↑ David Noel Freedman; Allen C. Myers (31 December 2000). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Amsterdam University Press. p. 854. ISBN 978-90-5356-503-2.
  5. ↑ Na'aman, N. [in Hebrew] (1999). Karel van der Toorn; Bob Becking; Pieter Willem van der Horst (eds.). Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 147. ISBN 978-0-8028-2491-2.
  6. ↑ Aharoni, Y. "The Land of Gerar." Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 6, no. 1, 1956, p. 30. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27924640.
  7. ↑ Steven H. Werlin (7 August 2015). Ancient Synagogues of Southern Palestine, 300-800 C.E.: Living on the Edge. BRILL. p. 264. ISBN 978-90-04-29840-8.
  8. ↑ Hagith Sivan (2008). Palestine in Late Antiquity. OUP Oxford. p. 337. ISBN 978-0-19-928417-7.
  9. ↑ Yeivin, S. "A Year's Work in Israel." Archaeology, vol. 11, no. 4, 1958, pp. 244–245. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41663614.
  10. ↑ "One of the Most Spectacular Mosaic Floors Ever Discovered in Israel was Restored and Renovated and Can Now be Seen by the General Public," (30/3/09), Israel Antiquities Authority.
  11. ↑ Negev, Avraham & Gibson, Shimon. Mosaics. Archaeological encyclopedia of the Holy Land, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005, pp. 314-315.


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