Nessana

This Nabataean city is easily reached as it is very close to the Israel-Egypt border. It has a number of interesting ruins, but excavations have been very limited. During Roman times it was given the name: Palaestina Salutaris. A large number of papyrus scrolls dating from the fifth to seventh century was discovered there during excavations in the 1930’s. One of the scrolls describes the deeds of St. George who resisted the anti-Chrisitan laws given by the Roman Empire. He was supposed killed three times, only to be resurrected. In the end he was imprision in the house of a widow, where he performed numerous miracles, including helaing the wido;s son of blindness. Subsequently, the cult of St. George was widespread in the Negev, and there was a monastery dedicated to St. George near Sobota.

Bibliography

Colt, H., Excavations At Nessana, Auja Hafir, Palestine, Vol I. Dunscombe (ed),London: British School of Archeology, 1962

Gibson, Dan, The Nabataeans, Builders of Petra, CanBooks, Saskatchewan, Canada 2002

Gibson, Dan, The Nabataean Collection, CanBooks, Saskatchewan, Canada, 2003

Glueck, Nelson, Rivers in the Desert, A history of the Negev, The Norton Library, W. W. Norton & Company Inc, New York, 1959, 1968

Levy, Udi, The Lost Civilization of Petra, Bath Press Color Books, Glasgow, 1999

Photos used with permission from Ben Gurion Universität des Negev Beer Sheva site.