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Betar (ancient village)

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This article is about the ancient Jewish town destroyed during theBar Kokhba Revolt.For other uses, seeBetar (disambiguation).
Betar
בֵּיתַּר
Walls of the Betar fortress.
Betar (ancient village) is located in the West Bank
Betar (ancient village)
Shown within the West Bank
LocationBattir,West Bank
RegionJudean Mountains
Coordinates31°43′48″N35°08′08″E/ 31.73°N 35.135556°E/31.73; 35.135556
Grid position163/126PAL
Typesettlement
Part ofRoman Judea

Betar(Biblical Hebrew:בֵּיתַּר,romanized:Bēttar), also spelledBeitar,BetharorBether,was an ancientJewishtown in theJudaean Mountains.Continuously inhabited since theIron Age,[1]it was the last standing stronghold of theBar Kokhba revolt,and was destroyed by theImperial Roman ArmyunderHadrianin 135 CE.[2][3][4]

Ancient Betar's ruins can be found at thearcheological siteofKhirbet al-Yahud(Arabic:خربة اليهود,lit. 'Ruin of the Jews'[5]), located about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) southwest ofJerusalem.It is located in thePalestinianvillage ofBattir,which preserves Betar's ancient name.[6]Excavationsat the site have uncovered evidence of the Roman siege and destruction, such asdefensive wallsandarrowheads.

TheIsraeli settlementand cityBeitar Illit,named after the ancient city, is also located nearby.

Etymology

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Bēttarmight mean the "place of the blade", based on the variant spelling found in theJerusalem Talmud(Codex Leiden), where the place name is writtenבֵּיתתֹּרBēṯ-Tor,[7]the name may have simply been a contraction of two words, meaning "house of a dove." Alternatively, the name may have meant “house ofJether,"a Judean clan living in this area of theJudean Mountainsduring theFirst Temple periodaccording to1 Chronicles 2:53.[8]

Location

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Betar was perched on a hill about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) southwest ofJerusalem.Deep valleys to the west, north, and east of the hill surround it. It was situated on a declivity that rises to an elevation of about 680 metres (2,230 ft) above sea-level. TheRoman roadthat connected Jerusalem withBeit Gubrinbefore going on toGazapassed through theValley of Rephaim,which is to the north. It connects by a saddle to another hill to the south, where the remains of the ancient Roman camps can still be seen from the air.[9]

History

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Iron Age

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The origins of Betar are likely in theIron AgeKingdom of Judea,as evidenced by pottery findings dating to Iron Age II, the 8th century BCE until the fall of the kingdom.[10]It is not mentioned in theMasoretic Textof theHebrew Bible,but is added in theSeptuagint(Codex Sinaiticus) as one of the cities of theTribe of JudahafterJoshua15:59.[11][12]

Between the two revolts

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Following thedestruction of Jerusalemduring theFirst Jewish–Roman War,in 70 CE, Betar's importance grew. It is believed that early inHadrian's rule, Jewish institutions relocated there, probably due to the city's proximity to the destroyed Jerusalem.[9]

Bar Kokhba revolt

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During theBar Kokhba revoltagainst the Romans, Betar functioned as the last stronghold ofBar Kokhba,the revolt's commander.[12]A large moat was dug on the south-side of the stronghold, believed to have been made by the inhabitants of the town either before or during the siege, in order to enhance the town's natural defences.[12]Today, modern houses have been built in the depression, along with the planting of fruit trees. Although the general ruin is now used by the villagers of Battir for growing olive trees, along thepurlieuof the site can still be seen the partial, extant remains of a Herodian wall and a Herodian tower.[12]

Siege of Betar
Part of Fourth Phase ofBar Kokhba Revolt

Fortifications of ancient Betar
DateSummer 135 CE[citation needed]
Location
Judea,Judea Province,Roman Empire
Result Roman victory
Belligerents
Jews Roman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Simon Bar Kokhba
Units involved
Legio V[13]
Legio XI[13]

TheBabylonian Talmud(Sanhedrin95;Gittin58,et al..) and theMidrash(inLamentations Rabbah) mention the city Betar, the siege, and the fate of its inhabitants. The siege was also mentioned byEusebiusandHieronymus.According to Eusebius, "The war reached its height in the eighteenth year of the reign of Hadrian in Beththera, which was a strong citadel not very far from Jerusalem; the siege lasted a long time before the rebels were driven to final destruction by famine and thirst and the instigator of their madness paid the penalty he deserved."[9]

Roman Inscription found near Battir mentioning the 5th and 11th Roman Legions

According to Kennedy and Riley, the size of the two largest camps discovered nearby (A and B) would indicate that there was enough for 6000 and 1800 soldiers during the siege of the city, respectively. It is not definite that Camps C, E, and F were actually temporary Roman camps, but if they are contemporaneous with the addition of more troops in Camps C, D, E, and F, the overall siege force may have been around 10–12,000 soldiers.[14]A stone inscription bearingLatincharacters and discovered near the city shows that theFifth Macedonian Legionand theEleventh Claudian Legiontook part in the siege.[13]

Aftermath

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The destruction of Betar in 135 put an end to theJewish–Roman warsagainstRome,and effectively quashed any Jewish hopes for self-governance in that period. Following the Fall of Betar, the Romans went on a systematic campaign of wiping out the remainingJudeanvillages, and hunting down refugees and the remaining rebels, with the last pockets of resistance being eliminated by the spring of 136,[15]as mentioned in the chronicle ofCassius Dio.

Per archegonial evidence, the vicinity wasn't inhabited immediately after the revolt.[16]Sometime laterBittar,the newgentilesettlement and now aPalestinianvillage in the present, was established in the subsequent centuries.

Archeological findings

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Carrol who surveyed the site wrote about the fortifications that were hastily built, two underground cavities located on the eastern slopes he suggested were burial complexes, later to be identified as oil presses. He also found on the southwest edge of Betar a burial cave with a standing pit and shelves around it and on top of the cave asheikh's grave was built. He described another entrance next to it.Charles Clermontdescribed anossuarythat was claimed to be found from Betar.[17]

Pottery shard found and collected by Carrol were examined byWilliam F. Albrightwho dated them to the Iron Age, Persian, Hellenistic, and the Early Roman period. In addition, shard from the late Roman, Byzantine, and Arab period. The "Warren cup"that is now displayed in theBritish Museum,was allegedly found in Betar. Ceramic findings at the site include blacksmith tools, bowl fragments cooking pots and jugs. Lamp fragments characteristic to the 1st and 2nd century CE, as well as slingshot stone and ballista stone projectiles. Several explorers reported acolumbariumcave and an IAA inspector documented a hewn cutmikveh.[17]

Talmud narrative and Jewish tradition

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According to theJerusalem Talmud,Betar remained a thriving town fifty-two years after the destruction of theSecond Temple,until it came to its demise.[18]Modern chroniclers push back the destruction of Betar some years later, making the time-frame brought down in the Jerusalem Talmud hard to reconcile, even if, according to Jewish tradition, the destruction of the Second Temple occurred in 68 CE. Either the time-frame carried in the Talmud is a gross error, or else some of the dates used by modern-day chroniclers are purelyanachronistic.[19][20]

Siege

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According to theJerusalem Talmud,the city was besieged for three and a half years before it finally fell (Jerusalem Talmud,Taanit4:5 [13][21]). According to Jewish tradition, the fortress was breached and destroyed on the fast ofTisha B'Av,in the year 135, on the ninth day of the lunar monthAv,a day of mourning for the destruction of the First and the Second Jewish Temple.[22]Earlier, when the Roman army hadcircumvallatedthe city (fromLatin,circum-+vallum,round-about +rampart), some sixty men of Israel went down and tried to make a breach in the Roman rampart, but to no avail. When they had not returned and were presumed to be dead, theChazalpermitted their wives to remarry, even though their husbands' bodies had not been retrieved.[23]

Massacre

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The massacre perpetrated against all defenders, including the children who were found in the city, is described by the Jerusalem Talmud inTaanitandLamentations Rabbah.

The Jerusalem Talmud relates in Ta'anit 4:5 that the number of dead in Betar was enormous and that the Romans "went on killing until their horses were submerged in blood to their nostrils." The Romans killed all the defenders except for one youth whose life was spared,Simeon ben Gamaliel II.

According to theBabylonian Talmud,Berakhot48b, Hadrian had prohibited the burial of the dead, and so all the bodies remained above ground; however, they miraculously did not decompose. Years later, Hadrian's successor,Antoninus Pius,allowed the dead a decent burial. During that time, the Sages ofYavnemade it a rule to acknowledge God's goodness by adding "He that is good and who does good" (Hebrew:הטוב והמטיב) in the grace said over meals.

Rabbinical explanation

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Rabbinical literature ascribes the defeat to Bar Kokhba killing his maternal uncle, RabbiElazar Hamudaʻi,after suspecting him of collaborating with the enemy, thereby forfeiting Divine protection.[24]

Sources

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Accounts of the Fall of Betar inTalmudicandMidrashicwritings reflect and amplify its importance in the Jewish psyche and oral tradition in the subsequent period. The best known is from theBabylonian Talmud,Gittin57a–58a:

Rabbi Yohanan has related the following account of the massacre:[25]"The brains of three-hundred children were found upon one stone, along with three-hundred baskets of what remained ofphylacteries(Hebrew: tefillin) were found in Betar, each and every one of which had the capacity to hold three measures (threeseahs,or what is equivalent to about 28 liters). If you should come to take [all of them] into account, you would find that they amounted to three-hundred measures. "Rabban [Shimon] Gamliel said:" Five-hundred schools were in Betar, while the smallest of them wasn't less than three-hundred children. They used to say, 'If the enemy should ever come upon us, with thesestyli[used in pointing at the letters of sacred writ] we'll go forth and stab them.' But since iniquities had caused [their fall], the enemy came in and wrapped up each and every child in his own book and burnt them together, and no one remained except me. "

Carved foundations atKhirbet al-Yahud

Legacy

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Judaism

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The fourth blessing in theGrace over mealsis said to have been enacted by theḤazalin recognition of the dead at Betar who, although not afforded proper burial, their bodies did not putrefy and were, at last, brought to burial.[26]

Palestinian Folklore

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In 1874, French archeologistClermont-GanneauvisitedBattirand cited a local tradition among the localfellahinaccording which a hard stone known asHajr el Manjalik,or "the stone of themangonel,"located on a plateau nearKhirbet el-Yehud,was said to have been the location where a ruler namedEl Melek edh-Dhaherset up his cannon batteries to breach theKhirbet el-Yahud.Clermont linked this custom to a "dim memory" of some ancient siege of Battir.[27]J. E. Hanauercited a similar tale in 1894, although the fellah who showed the explorers the stone claimed that a "Neby"was the one who had" cannonaded "the Jews.[28]

Revisionist and Religious Zionism

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Further information:Betar,Mevo Beitar,andBeitar Illit

The name of the fascistRevisionist Zionistyouth movement,Betar,[29](בית״ר) refers to both the last Jewish fort to fall in theBar Kokhba revolt,[30]and to the slightly alteredHebrew abbreviationof the phrase "BeritTrumpeldor "[31]or "BritYosefTrumpeldor "(ברית יוסף תרומפלדור),lit.'Joseph TrumpeldorAlliance'.[29]

The village ofMevo Beitarwas established on 24 April 1950 bylocal-born JewsandJewish immigrantsfromArgentinawho were members of the Beitar movement, includingMatityahu Drobles,later a member of theKnesset.[32]It was founded in the vicinity of the Betar fortress location, around a kilometre from theGreen Line,which gave it the character of an exposed border settlement until theSix-Day War.

Beitar Illit,lit.Upper Beitar, is named after the ancient Jewish city of Betar, whose ruins lie 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) away. It was established by a small group of young families from thereligious ZionistyeshivaofMachon Meir.The first residents settled in 1990.[33]

References

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  1. ^A. Oppenheimer, Between Rome and Babylon, 2005, 313-9
  2. ^David Ussishkin, "Soundings in Betar, Bar-Kochba's Last Stronghold"
  3. ^D. Ussishkin, Archaeological Soundings at Betar, Bar-Kochba's Last Stronghold, Tel Aviv 20, 1993, pp. 66-97.
  4. ^K. Singer, Pottery of the Early Roman Period from Betar, Tel Aviv 20, 1993, pp. 98-103.
  5. ^Palmer, 1881, p.312
  6. ^Tamén,Conder, Claude R. (1887).Tent Work in Palestine: A Record of Discovery and Adventure(1887 ed.). R. Bentley & Son. p. 143.
  7. ^Jehiel ben Jekuthiel,ed. (1975).Talmud Yerushalmi (Codex Leiden, Scal. 3)(in Hebrew). Vol. 2. Makor Publishing Ltd. p. 644.OCLC829454181.
  8. ^"The Clans of Ephrat: Their History and Territory".Tel Aviv.13.Tel Aviv University Institute of Archaeology: 52. 1986.
  9. ^abcCorpus inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae: a multi-lingual corpus of the inscriptions from Alexander to Muhammad.Vol. IV: Iudaea / Idumaea. Eran Lupu, Marfa Heimbach, Naomi Schneider, Hannah Cotton. Berlin:de Gruyter.2018. pp. 597–598.ISBN978-3-11-022219-7.OCLC663773367.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. ^אוסישקין, דוד; Ussishkin, David (1992)."Archaeological Soundings at Betar Bar-Kokhba's Last Stronghold / חפירת בדיקה בביתר, מצודתו האחרונה של בר-כוכבא".Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies / ארץ-ישראל: מחקרים בידיעת הארץ ועתיקותיה.כג:260–275.ISSN0071-108X.
  11. ^Septuagint (Codex Sinaiticus), p. 59a,Greek:καὶ Καρεμ καὶ Γαλλιμ καὶ Βαιθηρ καὶ Μανοχω,although some texts transcribe "Θεθηρ" instead of "Βαιθηρ".
  12. ^abcdBen-Yosef, Sefi[in Hebrew](n.d.). "Battir".Israel Guide - Judaea (A useful encyclopedia for the knowledge of the country)(in Hebrew). Vol. 9. Jerusalem:Keter Publishing House,in affiliation with the Israel Ministry of Defence. pp. 88–92.OCLC745203905.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: year (link)
  13. ^abcC. Clermont-Ganneau,Archaeological Researches in Palestine during the Years 1873–74,London 1899, pp. 263-270.
  14. ^D. Kennedy & D. Riley, Rome's Desert Frontier from the Air, (1990) 103ff
  15. ^Mohr Siebek et al. Edited by Peter Schäfer.The Bar Kokhba War reconsidered.2003. P160. "Thus it is very likely that the revolt ended only in early 136."
  16. ^Ussishkin, D (1993)."Soundings in Betar, Bar-Kochba's Last Stronghold".Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University.20:66–97.
  17. ^abEshel, Hanan; Zisso, Boaz (2019).The Bar Kokhba Revolt The Archaeological Evidence.HYad Izhak Ben Zvi. pp. 118–121.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  18. ^Jerusalem Talmud (Ta'anit4:5 [24b])
  19. ^Baras, Zvi; Safari, Shmuel; Rsafrir, Yoram; Stern, Menachem (1982).Eretz Israel from the destruction of the Second Temple to the Muslim conquest.Israel: Yad Ben Zvi.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  20. ^Isaac, Benjamin (1998-01-01),"The Revolt of Bar Kokhba: Ideology and Modern Scholarship",The Near East under Roman Rule,Brill, pp. 220–256,ISBN978-90-04-35153-0,retrieved2024-06-27
  21. ^"Jerusalem Talmud Taanit 4:5:13".sefaria.org.Retrieved15 February2022.
  22. ^Mishnah(Taanit4:6)
  23. ^Tosefta(Yevamot14:8)
  24. ^Jerusalem TalmudTa'anitiv. 68d;Lamentations Rabbahii. 2
  25. ^Midrash Rabba (Lamentations Rabba 2:5)
  26. ^Babylonian Talmud,Berakhot48b
  27. ^Clermont-Ganneau, 1896, Vol. 2, p.469-470
  28. ^Notes by the Rev. J. E. Hanauer,Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894, p. 149
  29. ^ab"Youth Movements: Betar".Centenary of Zionism: 1897–1997.Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 4 August 1998.Retrieved26 September2020.
  30. ^מוסט, אריה יצחקי ורועי (2013-02-21)."יאללה בית" ר, יאללה: טיול לכבוד 90 שנה לתנועה ".Ynet(in Hebrew).Retrieved2024-06-27.
  31. ^Shavit, Yaakov(1988).Jabotinsky and the Revisionist Movement 1925–1948.Frank Cass. p. 383.
  32. ^"About Mevo Beitar".Archived fromthe originalon 2019-12-17.Retrieved2019-12-17.
  33. ^Tzoren, Moshe Michael. "Some Talk Peace, Others Live It".HamodiaIsrael News, November 21, 2018, pp. A18-A19.

Bibliography

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