אום אל עומדן | |
![]() | |
Location | Israel |
---|---|
Coordinates | 31°53′02″N34°59′48″E / 31.88389°N 34.99667°E |
Type | Settlement, synagogue |
History | |
Periods | Second Temple period (Hellenistic with Hasmonean period, Early Roman period); Late Roman, Byzantine and Early Muslim periods |
Cultures | Jewish |
Site notes | |
Excavation dates | 2000–2003 |
Archaeologists | Alexander Onn and Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah [1] |
Condition | In ruins |
Public access | Yes |
Umm el-Umdan (Arabic for 'Mother of Pillars') or Khirbet Umm el-Umdan (khirbet = ruins of) is a Jewish archaeological site within the municipal boundaries of the Israeli city of Modi'in, [2] between the city of Modi'in and Latrun. Archaeological excavations at the site discovered the remains of a Jewish village. The findings show that the place was inhabited during the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Early Muslim periods. [2] [3] The village was destroyed during the Bar Kokhba revolt. [2]
The Arabic name of the site, Khirbet el 'Eumdan or Khirbet Umm el-‘Umdan, means 'mother of columns', named after the remains visible at the site. [4] [1]
French archaeologist Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau visited the site in 1873 and suggested the ruins were the remains of a church. [4] Rescue excavations were carried out at the site between 2000 and 2003 ahead of the planned construction of residential buildings for Modi'in. [1]
The excavations conducted at the site since 2001 revealed mainly the remains of a Second Temple period Jewish village. The village was established in the 4th or 3rd century BC and continued up to the Bar Kokhba revolt, The archaeological findings include narrow streets, remains of buildings, ritual baths, rock-cut tombs and a synagogue. [2] [5] After the Bar Kokhba revolts the top part of the site reveals evidence of terraces, winepresses and burial caves from the late Roman and Byzantine periods. The lower part of the site was used as a burial area in the late Muslim period[ clarification needed ]. [2]
It was first built during the Hasmonean period and stood between the end of the 2nd and the late 1st century BCE, when it was rebuilt during the Herodian period. [6] [3] The synagogue of the late Roman period was destroyed in the Bar Kokhba revolt. [2]
The Umm el-Umdan synagogue should not be confused with a second 1st-century BCE synagogue discovered at nearby Qiryat Sefer/Modi'in Illit at the site of Khirbet Badd 'Isa, on the Ascent of Beth-Horon (see here and here).
Two column rows with 4 columns on each side, whose bases were unearthed, split the later-phase synagogue into three naves. Underneath this late structure, the remains of a Hasmonean-period structure were found, probably also a synagogue and beneath it, the remains of a smaller building from the Hellenistic period. [2] [7]
West of the synagogue a mikve was discovered, dated to the Herodian period (the second phase of the synagogue). [2] [6] During the Hasmonean period (the first phase of the synagogue) there was already a sitting bath in the courtyard; [6] it seems that during the Hasmonean period there was a bath in the courtyard west to the synagogue. [2]
Burial complexes dating to the Second Temple period were found to the east and south of the village. [5] The most notable one was discovered 100 meters east of the village. A luxurious burial complex that was used during the Hasmonean period pre-dating the use of ossuaries up to the 1st century CE when ossuaries were already in use. The finding indicate that burial customs are the same as seen in Hasmonean burial complexes in Jerusalem, Jason's Tomb and[ citation needed ] even Tomb of Shahin. [8] [ irrelevant citation ]
The location of the Hasmonean village of Modi'in was never firmly established. [2] Today, researches suggest that based on the archaeological finding at Umm el-Umdan it can be identified as the village of Modi'in. Furthermore, its location almost perfectly matches the location seen in the Madaba map. [2]
Umm Tuba is a Palestinian Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem part of Sur Baher; it is northeast of Har Homa and Bethlehem, and southeast of Kibbutz Ramat Rachel. It has a population of 4,000. After the 1967 Six-Day War, Umm Tuba was incorporated into the municipal district of Jerusalem.
Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut is a city located in central Israel, about 35 kilometres (22 mi) southeast of Tel Aviv and 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of Jerusalem, and is connected to those two cities via Highway 443. In 2022 the population was 99,171. The population density in that year was 1,794 people per square kilometer.
Sur Baher, also Tsur Baher, is a Palestinian neighborhood on the southeastern outskirts of East Jerusalem. It is located east of Ramat Rachel and northeast of Har Homa. In 2006, Sur Baher had a population of 15,000.
al-Midya is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the western West Bank, located west of Ramallah. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the village had a population of over 1,533 inhabitants in 2017.
Ein Hemed is a national park and nature reserve in the hills seven kilometres west of modern Jerusalem and some 12 kilometres west of the Old City. It is also known by the Latin name it received from the Crusaders, Aqua Bella, and as Khirbat Iqbalā in Arabic. The park is located on the path of an old Roman road, also used in later periods. The road connected the coastal plain with Jerusalem, passing through Bab al-Wad. A fortified Hospitaller building from the Crusader period, relatively well preserved, is arguably the main attraction beside the streams and lush vegetation.
Khirbat Umm Burj was a Palestinian Arab village in the Hebron Subdistrict, sometimes designated in modern maps as Burgin. Its ruins are today located within the borders of Israel. It occupied an extensive site, stretching about 30 dunams on the crest of a hill, rising some 430 metres (1,410 ft) above sea level, and commanding a good prospect of the surrounding region. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on October 28, 1948, during the third stage of Operation Yo'av under the command of Yigal Allon. The site is located 17 km northwest of Hebron.
Khirbat Zakariyya was a Palestinian village in the Ramle Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on July 12, 1948, under the second stage of Operation Dani. It was located 9 km (5.6 mi) east of Ramla.
Ancient synagogues in Israel refers to synagogues located in Israel built by communities of Jews and Samaritans from antiquity to the Early Islamic period.
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.
Huqoq or Hukkok was an ancient Jewish village, located 12.5 km north of Tiberias. The area had been settled since ancient times and is mentioned in the Book of Joshua. The Palestinian village of Yaquq later stood at Huqoq's location, and a fort named Hukok was built near the site on 11 July 1945, later followed by a kibbutz.
Horvat 'Ethri, or Umm Suweid, is an archaeological site situated in the Judean Lowlands in modern-day Israel. Excavations at the site have uncovered the remains of a partially restored Jewish village from the Second Temple period. The site features an ancient synagogue, wine presses, cisterns, mikvehs, stone ossuaries, and an underground hideout system.
Khirbet Qana, is an archaeological site in the Lower Galilee of Israel. It has remains of a settlement from the Hellenistic period to the Early Arab period. Findings including Hasmonean coins and ostraca using the Jewish script indicate its population in ancient times was predominantly Jewish.
Khirbet Almit is an archaeological site in the West Bank, occupied from the Middle Bronze Age to the Ottoman period. It is located in the Judaean Desert about 4 km northeast of Mount Scopus and about 1.5 km southeast of 'Anata. The site is situated on the top of two peaks of one hill at an altitude of 638 meters above sea level, near Nahal Zimri and on the border of the Nahal Prat Nature Reserve.
Adullam-France Park, also known as Parc de France-Adoulam, is a sprawling park of 50,000 dunams (ca. 12,350 acres) in the Central District of Israel, located south of Beit Shemesh. The park, established in 2008 for public recreation, features two major hiking and biking trails, and four major archaeological sites from the Second Temple period. It stretches between Naḥal Ha-Elah, its northernmost boundary, to Naḥal Guvrin, its southernmost boundary. To its west lies the Beit Guvrin-Beit Shemesh highway, and to its east the "green line" – now territories under joint Israeli-Palestinian Arab control – which marks its limit.
Khirbet Kurkush is an archeological site in the West Bank. It lies between the Israeli settlements of Bruchin and Ariel and near the Palestinian town of Bruqin, in the Salfit Governorate of the State of Palestine.
Modi’in, also Modi’im, and later, Moditha, was an ancient Jewish city located in Judea, near the modern city of Modi'in, Israel. First mentioned in the Books of Maccabees, it was the hometown of the priestly Hasmonean family, who assumed leadership over Judea following the victorious Maccabean uprising.
Khirbet el-ʻAqd or Horvat ʻEqed is an archaeological site in the Latrun salient of the West Bank, approximately 22 km northwest of Jerusalem. The site, situated on a hill, contains the ruins of an ancient fortified town dating from the Hellenistic period through the Bar Kokhba revolt, after which the site was ultimately abandoned.
Khirbet el-Qutt is an archaeological site occupied from the Early Bronze Age through the Byzantine and Early Muslim periods. The site is located on and around a hill between the present-day village of Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya and Israeli settlement Ma'ale Levona. The discovery of subterranean hiding complexes and mikvahs in the 20th and 21st century indicated that the site had become a Jewish settlement during the Second Temple period, and that its inhabitants were participants in the Bar Kokhba revolt.
Hurbat Ashun is an archaeological site that was on the outskirts of the city of Modi'in, which the main ruins are of a Jewish settlement from the Second Temple period. Today the site is in the heart of "Moreshet" neighborhood.