The Bar Kokhba revolt was a large-scale armed rebellion by the Jews of Judaea against the Roman Empire, led by Simon bar Kokhba. It was the third and final major escalation of the Jewish–Roman wars. The revolt began in 132 CE and lasted until 135 or early 136 CE, ending in the total defeat of the short-lived Jewish state. The Romans brutally suppressed the uprising; Bar Kokhba was killed during the siege and fall of Betar, the last Jewish stronghold, in 135 CE. The Roman campaigns led to the near-depopulation of Judea through widespread killings, mass enslavement, and the displacement of many Jews from the region.
Ein Gedi, also spelled En Gedi, meaning "spring of the kid", is an oasis, an archeological site and a nature reserve in Israel, located west of the Dead Sea, near Masada and the Qumran Caves. Ein Gedi, a kibbutz, was established nearby in 1954.
The Jewish–Roman wars were a series of large-scale revolts by the Jews of Judaea against the Roman Empire between 66 and 135 CE. The conflict primarily encompasses two major uprisings: the First Jewish–Roman War and the Bar Kokhba revolt, both driven by Jewish aspirations to restore the political independence lost when Rome conquered the Hasmonean kingdom. Some historians also include the Diaspora Revolt, when Jewish communities across the Eastern Mediterranean rose up against Roman rule.
Meron is a moshav in northern Israel. Located on the slopes of Mount Meron in the Upper Galilee near Safed, it falls under the jurisdiction of Merom HaGalil Regional Council.
The Judaean Desert or Judean Desert is a desert in the West Bank and Israel that lies east of the Judaean Mountains, so east of Jerusalem, and descends to the Dead Sea. Under the name El-Bariyah, it has been nominated to the Tentative List of World Heritage Sites in the State of Palestine, particularly for its monastic ruins.
The Jericho synagogue is a Jewish synagogue, located in Jericho, in the State of Palestine. The synagogue was built in the Byzantine Empire-era and is believed to date from the late 6th or early 7th century CE and was discovered in 1936. All that remains from the ancient prayer house is its mosaic floor, which contains an Aramaic inscription presenting thanks to the synagogue donors, and a well-preserved central medallion with the inscription "Shalom al Israel", meaning "Peace [up]on Israel". This led to the site also being known as Shalom Al Israel Synagogue.
The Hebron Hills, also known as Mount Hebron, are a mountain ridge, geographic region, and geologic formation, constituting the southern part of the Judean Mountains. The Hebron Hills are located in the southern West Bank.
Beit She'arim Necropolis is an extensive rock-cut necropolis located near the ancient Jewish town of Beit She'arim, 20 km east of Haifa in the southern foothills of the Lower Galilee. Part of Beit She'arim National Park, the site includes the necropolis and remains of the town. Used from the first to fourth centuries CE, its peak occurred in the late second century when the Sanhedrin, led by Patriarch Judah I, relocated to Beit She'arim, and his family was interred there. In 2015, the necropolis was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Beit She'arim, also Besara, was a Jewish village located in the southwestern hills of the Lower Galilee, during the Roman period, from the 1st century BCE to the 3rd century CE. At one point, it served as the seat of the Sanhedrin, the Judean Supreme Court.
The Cave of Letters is a refuge cave in Nahal Hever in the Judean Desert where letters and fragments of papyri from the Roman Empire period were found. Some are related to the Bar Kokhba revolt, including letters of correspondence between Bar Kokhba and his subordinates. Another notable bundle of papyri, known as the Babatha cache, comprises legal documents of Babatha, a female landowner of the same period.
Jewish military history focuses on the military aspect of history of the Jewish people from ancient times until the modern age.
Meiron was a Palestinian village, located 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) west of Safad. Associated with the ancient Canaanite city of Merom, excavations at the site have found extensive remains from the Hellenistic and Early Roman periods. The remains include a 3rd-century synagogue, attesting to Meiron's prominence as a local religious centre..
Judea or Judaea is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the present day; it originates from Yehudah, a Hebrew name. Yehudah was a son of Jacob, who was later given the name "Israel" and whose sons collectively headed the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Yehudah's progeny among the Israelites formed the Tribe of Judah, with whom the Kingdom of Judah is associated. Related nomenclature continued to be used under the rule of the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. Under the Hasmoneans, the Herodians, and the Romans, the term was applied to an area larger than Judea of earlier periods. In 132 CE, the Roman province of Judaea was merged with Galilee to form the enlarged province of Syria Palaestina.
Umm el-Qanatir, also spelled Umm el-Kanatir, recent Israeli name Ein Keshatot, is a former ancient Jewish synagogue and archaeological site, located on the Golan Heights, in modern-day Syria, whose main phase is dated to the mid-5th–8th centuries. Excavations have revealed a Roman-period Pagan and later Jewish settlement, who left behind the ruins of a synagogue when they abandoned the town after it being destroyed by the catastrophic 749 earthquake. The archaeological site is located 10 km (6.2 mi) east of the Dead Sea Transform, and 1 km (0.62 mi) southwest of Natur.
Adullam Grove Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in central Israel, south of Beit Shemesh, managed by the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority.
Ancient synagogues in Palestine refers to synagogues and their remains in the Land of Israel/Palestine region, built by the Jewish and Samaritan communities from the time of the Hasmonean dynasty during the Late Hellenistic period, to the Late Byzantine period.
The Bar Kokhba refuge caves are natural caves that were used for shelter by Jewish refugees during the later phases of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Most of the refuge caves were located in the Judaean Desert, nestled within steep cliffs far away from settlements, many overlooking the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley. Some were also found in ravines flowing into the Dead Sea, while others were nestled within the Judaean Mountains. Unlike the other two hideout systems used by the rebels, the man-made rock-cut hiding complexes, and the hard-to-reach cliff shelters which often contain hewn installations, the refuge caves remained largely untouched by human intervention.
Ancient Jewish art, is art created by Jews in both the Land of Israel and in the Diaspora prior to the Middle Ages. It features symbolic or figurative motifs often influenced by biblical themes, religious symbols, and the dominant cultures of the time, including Egyptian, Hellenistic, and Roman art.
Daroma (Aramaic) or Darom (Hebrew), both meaning 'South', was the name of the southern Hebron Hills in the Late Roman and Byzantine periods. The term is used in Eusebius's Onomasticon and in rabbinic literature. By the late tenth century, the Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi was still referring to part of the region of Beth Guvrin by this name.
Ein Neshut is an archaeological site where remains of a Jewish settlement from the Talmudic period and an ancient synagogue were discovered in the center of the Golan Heights.
