Aseka

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Aseka (Heb. עזקה, Septuagint Αζηκα - the name means cave) is a city in Judah . It is located in the Schefela , the coastal plain between the Judean mountains and the Mediterranean.

Biblical evidence

Aseka is mentioned seven times in the Hebrew Bible . In Jos 10,10  EU the city is mentioned as a theater of war during the conquest of the Israelites. Accordingly, Aseka can also be found in the list of captured cities in Jos 15.35  EU . Aseka is also a theater of war in 1 Sam 17.1  EU . In Jer 34,7  EU the city is reported that it could withstand the onslaught of the king of Babylon .

Neh 11.30  EU lists Aseka among other places as a populated area in the post-exilic period.

The founding of the city in 2 Chr 11.9  EU is attributed to King Rehoboam of Judah. The note, however, probably dates from the 7th century.

Archaeological development

Aseka is identified today with the Tell Zakarīye archaeological site . At the beginning of the 19th century, Frederick J. Bliss and RA Stewart Macalister began the excavations at Tell. They uncovered a bell-shaped grave that was decorated with several crosses. They found Christian graffiti in a larger cave. The pottery found indicates a settlement in Byzantine times. A bathhouse also dates from this time, but its structures were found away from the tell. Later settlement structures are not found. They are only told in Felix Fabri's travelogues .

The name Tell Zakarīye was given to the place by the map of Madaba , which shows a church of St. Zacharias there, which is also suggested by later sources such as Theodosius' De situ terrae sanctae . According to Theodosius, it is probably a station on the pilgrimage from Askalon to Jerusalem .

Today some walls and caves can still be seen.

Web links

Commons : Aseka  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Eckhard J. Schnabel: Original Christian Mission . R. Brockhaus, 2002, ISBN 3-417-29475-4 , p. 724 .
  2. ↑ Erich Zenger u. a .: Introduction to the Old Testament . 5th edition. W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-17-018332-X , p. 721 .
  3. ^ Samuel R. Wolff: Villain or Visionary? RAS Macalister and the Archeology of Palestine . Routledge, 2017, ISBN 978-1-351-53770-4 , pp. 77 .
  4. ^ Friedrich August Arnold: Palestine. Historically and geographically with special consideration of Helmuth's map for theologians and educated Bible readers . Eduard Anton, Halle 1845, p. 175 .

Coordinates: 31 ° 42 '  N , 34 ° 56'  E