Tel Malhata south - Monastery (?)

Vertical tabs

Monastery name, type, category

Site Name:

Tel Malhata south

Identification:

Variant names: Tell Malḥata. Identified with Malatha, Maliath (TIR, pp. 176, 243), an Idumaean fortress in the northern Negev ,later fort garrisoned by Cohors I Flavia. A large Late-Roman civil settlement had developed to the south of the Tell.

Monastery name:

Monastery (?)

Monastery category:

Village

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

15,238.00

106,901.00

Coordinates, ICS system:

515,234.42

146,904.30

Geographical region:

Beer Sheba Valley

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina III

Bishopric:

Saltus Gerariticus

Topographical location:

To the south of the Tell

Distance from Roman roads:

Adjacent to the road leading southwards from the Hebron hills and ca. 1 km north of the road connecting Gaza with the Dead Sea.

Source of knowledge

HideEpigraphy

Text number	Summary
1	Two-line mosaic inscription with quotations within a tabula ansata, in the central room near the main entrance.
2	Label on both sides of a figure in orans posture, at the cenre of the mosaic pavement of the central room.

Archaeological remains

Excavated site

Excavators:

Name	Date
Baumgarten and Eldar	1981

Bibliograpy:

Eldar, I. and Nahlieli, D., 1982	39-41
Baumgarten, Y., 1982	41-42
Eldar-Nir, I. and Nahlieli, D., 1982

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

State of certainty:

Uncertain / Questionable

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

Three clusters of building were excavated in 1981. Two of them held mosaic paved halls. In a mosaic paved hall of cluster 2, two Greek inscriptions were incorporated in the colorful pavement. One of them suggests that the hall formed a part of a hospice, perhaps of a monastery (see under epigraphy). The mosaic floor of another hall, in cluster 3, was decorated with geometric motifs encompassing small crosses. The walls were covered with painted plaster. Marble plates were also uncovered there, but it was not a chapel.

Small finds

Small finds:

Category	Description
Inscription - see under epigraphy
Pottery	Dated to Byzantine period.

Detailed description

Components

Architectural evolution

Phase 1
Abandonment

Phase date

Century:

Early Christian / Byzantine

Phase date

Century:

Unknown