Hyrcania (fortress)

Hyrcania
Ὑρκανία
	The ruins of the fortress at the acropolis of Hyrcania
	Shown within State of Palestine
Location	Bethlehem Governorate, West Bank
Region	Judea
Coordinates	31°43′11″N 35°21′56″E / 31.71972°N 35.36556°E
Type	Fortification
History
Builder	John Hyrcanus or Alexander Jannaeus
Founded	2nd or 1st century BC
Abandoned	14th century CE
Periods	Hellenistic to Late Middle Ages
Cultures	Hellenistic-Jewish, Byzantine
Site notes
Archaeologists	Oren Gutfeld and Michal Haber (2023, HUJI)

Hyrcania (Ancient Greek: Ὑρκανία; Arabic: خربة المرد "Khirbet el-Mird"; Hebrew: הורקניה Horcania) was an ancient fortress in the Judean Desert. It was built by Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus or his son Alexander Jannaeus in the 2nd or 1st century BCE^[1] (in the Hellenistic part of the Second Temple period).

Initially destroyed by Gabinius,^[2] the fortress was rebuilt and greatly expanded by King Herod (r. 37-4 BCE; Roman period).^[1]^[3] After Herod executed his son Antipater, he was interred there.^[2] After Herod's death Hyrcania was abandoned, only to be resettled during the Byzantine period, when a late-5th century monastery named Kastellion was established on the ruined fortress, which remained active until the early 9th century.^[1] There was a short-lived attempt by monks to rebuild in the 1920s-30s.^[3] The ancient ruins can still be seen today.

The site is located on an isolated hill about 200 m above the Hyrcania valley, on its western edge. It is about 5 km west of Qumran, and 16 km east of Jerusalem. Until the start of a 2023 archaeological campaign, the site had not yet been thoroughly excavated.^[1] Until then, knowledge about the ruins of the site was based on a limited number of test pits.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Unique Byzantine Psalm inscription in New Testament Greek discovered in Judean Desert. Gavriel Fiske for Times of Israel, 27 Sep 2023. Accessed 2 Oct 2023.
^ ^a ^b Rogers, Guy MacLean (2021). For the Freedom of Zion: the Great Revolt of Jews against Romans, 66-74 CE. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 539. ISBN 978-0-300-24813-5.
^ ^a ^b Wright, G. R. H., and J. T. Milik. "The Archaeological Remains al El Mird in the Wilderness of Judaea." Biblica, vol. 42, no. 1, 1961, pp. 1–27. Accessed via JSTOR, 2 Oct. 2023.

[ToI23-1] Unique Byzantine Psalm inscription in New Testament Greek discovered in Judean Desert. Gavriel Fiske for Times of Israel, 27 Sep 2023. Accessed 2 Oct 2023.

[:6-2] Rogers, Guy MacLean (2021). For the Freedom of Zion: the Great Revolt of Jews against Romans, 66-74 CE. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 539. ISBN 978-0-300-24813-5.

[Wright-3] Wright, G. R. H., and J. T. Milik. "The Archaeological Remains al El Mird in the Wilderness of Judaea." Biblica, vol. 42, no. 1, 1961, pp. 1–27. Accessed via JSTOR, 2 Oct. 2023.

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