Hyrkania (fortress)

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Hyrkania (also Hureqanya, Castellion) was a Maccabean fortress in Khirbet al-Mird (Chirbet Mird; chirbet el-mird), southeast of Jerusalem . It was probably built by the Hasmonean John Hyrcanus I (135-104 BC). Alexandreion (by Alexander Jannäus ), located on the west bank of the Jordan , Hyrkania and Machaerus , on the east side of the Dead Sea were the three most important castles that formed a fortress triangle around the Dead Sea. Smaller fortresses above Jericho were Dok (Dagon) and Kypros .

The monastery of Kastellion was founded in the ruins of Hyrkania in 492 by the monk father Sabas .

location

Hyrkania is located about 15 km southeast of Jerusalem on the western edge of the Bukea plain (also known as the "Hyrkania Valley") in the Judean Desert . Jericho in the Jordan Valley is also 15 km away. It is 8 km to the Dead Sea. The remains of the fortress lie on a solitary, elongated hill sloping steeply on all sides, today called "Khirbet el-Mird", which is in front of the mountains of the Judean Desert to the northeast, separated from them by an artificially deepened saddle 35 meters.

Building structure

The upper part of the castle hill extends over an area of ​​0.3 hectares and is shaped like a polygon. Minor excavations were carried out in 1960. It turned out that most of the only sparsely existing ruins date from the Byzantine era, although remains from the Maccabean period were built over or included in the masonry. In contrast, 21 cisterns were found both on the summit and on the slopes of the castle hill, some of which were built during the times of the early Hasmoneans, others during the reign of King Herod (40-4 BC). The cisterns have a capacity of 20,000 cubic meters.

Water supply

In addition to the use of the sparse precipitation within the approximately 3500 m² wall ring, Hyrkania was supplied with water from the west through two supply lines. The only 1950 meters long northern line from the relatively rain-poor Wadi Abu Schaala probably belongs to the Hasmonean phase. The second 9 km long pipeline from the much rainier Kidron Valley was probably built in Herodian times. The water carried to the castle hill was collected in the large cisterns on the mountain slope outside the wall ring. From there, as with the other Judean desert fortresses, it had to be carried to the higher-lying cisterns within the wall ring using animal or human power. It was one of the duties of the castle crew to ensure that the cisterns were always well filled.

history

The Hyrkania Castle - like the Alexandreion fortress - was first mentioned by the Jewish historian Flavius ​​Josephus in connection with the reign of Queen Salome Alexandra , who kept part of "her greatest treasures" there. The castle was probably built during the reign of King Alexander Jannäus or even by his father John Hyrcanus I, after whom it was named. Like other fortifications in Judea, Hyrkania was also founded in 57 BC. Destroyed by the Roman general Aulus Gabinius in order to remove the basis of the Hasmonean resistance against Roman rule. The castle was rebuilt later (after 37 BC) by King Herod, who, however, left the square in 33 BC. BC again had to be recaptured by rebellious Hasmoneans. 15 BC BC Herod presented the complex to his high Roman guest, the co-regent of the Emperor Augustus , Marcus Agrippa , as an example of his building activity.

Function as a state prison

Since King Herod was in irreconcilable opposition to a majority of his subjects during his reign, he had to maintain his young kingship, which he had as an Idumean in 40 BC. Had received from the hands of the Roman Senate, protect not only against external, but also against internal enemies. He therefore paid special attention to the reconstruction of the fortifications in the country from the Maccabean period. Hyrkania Castle was able to protect the capital Jerusalem against attacks from the south.

The relatively remote fortress was also used by King Herod as a state prison, where he detained his political opponents. This function made the name of the place a somber symbol during the reign of Herod. The stubborn refusal of the Jewish people to recognize the Herodian kingship as legitimate was answered by Herod “with a regime of strong hand and terrible severity. The king held the reins of rule in his hand cruelly and in horror and did not shrink from any violence or bloodshed when it was a matter of securing his rule, ”said the historian Abraham Schalit .

Many of Herod's political opponents were executed and buried in the fortress of Hyrkania, including his own son Antipater († 4 BC). The remains of a Herodian cemetery were found at the foot of the eastern slope of the castle hill.

swell

  • Flavius ​​Josephus: Jewish antiquities . (" Antiquitates iudaicae "). Fourier Verlag, Wiesbaden o. J.
  • Flavius ​​Josephus: The Jewish War . (" De bello iudaico "). Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, Munich, 2nd edition 1982.

literature

  • Günter Garbrecht./Ehud Netzer: The water supply of historical desert fortresses in the Jordan Valley . In: Wiel Dierx / Günther Garbrecht: Water in the Holy Land. Biblical evidence and archaeological research . Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2001. pp. 222-239.
  • Ehud Netzer: The Architecture of Herod, the Great Builder . Series: Text and Studies in Ancient Judaism , No. 117. Verlag Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2006.
  • Abraham Schalit: King Herod. The man and his work . Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York, 2nd edition 2001. ISBN 3-11-017036-1 .

photos

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.uni-due.de/Ev-Theologie/courses/course-stuff/lit-metzger-10Rom.htm
  2. ↑ cf. Ehud Netzer: The Architecture of Herod, the Great Builder . Series: Text and Studies in Ancient Judaism , No. 117. Verlag Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2006, p. 212.
  3. ↑ cf. Günter Garbrecht / Ehud Netzer: The water supply of historical desert fortresses in the Jordan Valley . In: Wiel Dierx / Günther Garbrecht: Water in the Holy Land. Biblical evidence and archaeological research . Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2001. p. 232, where images are also shown.
  4. ↑ cf. Günter Garbrecht / Ehud Netzer, p. 233
  5. ↑ cf. Flavius ​​Josephus, Antiquitates iudaicae , XIII 16.3.
  6. ↑ cf. Abraham Schalit: King Herod. The man and his work . Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York, 2nd edition 2001, p. 100, note 9, and p. 118.
  7. ↑ cf. Flavius ​​Josephus, Antiquitates iudaicae XVI 2,1.
  8. ↑ cf. Abraham Schalit, p. 315.
  9. ↑ cf. Abraham Schalit, p. 654.
  10. ↑ cf. Abraham Schalit, p. 341
  11. ↑ cf. Flavius ​​Josephus, De bello iudaico 1.664, Antiquitates iudaicae 15.366.

Coordinates: 31 ° 43 ′ 11 ″  N , 35 ° 21 ′ 56 ″  E