The History of Birsama

Location and Geography

Be’er Shema (Birsama) is situated in the northwest quadrant of the northern Negev, approximately 21 km southeast of Gaza and 25 km northwest of Beersheba. The terrain immediately surrounding the site is mostly flat, with only a few low hills dotting the landscape. Adjacent to the site flows the Nahal Besor, the permanent water source for the site and vicinity. The spring lies above an aquifer approximately 25 m below the surface. Abundant sources of water, including the spring, aquifer and rainfall, coupled with fertile soil, make the area suitable for dry agriculture and as pastureland. Be’er Shema (or Horbat Be’er Shema/ Birsama) is known from classical antiquity; however, early explorers in the region confused Birsama (Be’er Shema) and Beersheba (Be’er Sheva).

Click here to view the location of Birsama on Pleiades.

The earliest mention of Be’er Shema comes from the mid-2nd century (c. 90 – 168 CE) by Claudius Ptolemy, who makes note of ‘Berzama’ (Βερξαμμα) in his work Geography. A century and a half later, the site appears in the Notitia Dignitatum, distinguished as ‘Birsama’, a provincial military base for the garrison of the Equites Thamudeni Illyriciani. Birsama is mentioned with increasing frequency during the Late Roman period, appearing to have reached a new level of regional significance during this period. The Codex Theodosianus, commissioned by the Emperor Theodosius, provides a complete list of the laws of the Roman Empire from Constantine (312 CE) to the Emperor Theodosius (438 CE) and Valentinian III (439 CE). Birsama is noted in the codex as a garrison site where the office of the dux presided and collected taxes. The document refers to the officials at Birsama wrongly collecting taxes in-kind from the local inhabitants opposed to the money they were meant to collect as taxes stipulated by law. The law and its strict penalty of 100 lbs gold demonstrate the power of the newly-appointed office of the dux who ultimately had direct control of the region. The codex states as follows:

Limitanei militis et possessorum utilitate conspecta per primam, secundam ac tertiam Palaestinam huiuscemodi norma processit, ut pretiorum certa taxatione depensa specierum intermittatur exactio. Sed Ducianum officium sub Versamini et Moenoeni castri nomine salutaria statuta conatur evertere. Ideoque lege repetita censemus, ut, si quis interclusam specierum exactionem refricare temptaverit vel adaerationes statutas ausus fuerit inmutare, tam vir spectabilis dux centum librarum auri quam etiam eius officium pari condemnationis summa quatiatur, adiecta sacrilegii poena, quae divalium scitorum violatores palam insequitur. Dat. X kal. april. Constantinopoli Honorio VIII et Theodosio III aa. conss” (Codex Theodosianus, VII.4.30.)

In consideration of the interests of the limitanei and the landholders throughout First, Second and Third Palaestine, a regulation has been issued to the effect that, when a fixed rate of exchange prices had been paid, the exaction of payments in kind shall be suspended. But the office staff of the dux, under the name of the garrisons at Versaminum (Birsama) and Moenaenium (Menochia), is attempting to overthrow this salutary statute. Therefore, We renew the statute, and We decree that if any person should attempt to revive the prohibited exaction of payments in kind or should dare to change the statutory rates of exchange, the Respectable Dux will be severely punished by a fine of one hundred pounds of gold, and his office staff will suffer an equal sentence. The penalty for sacrilege will be added, which clearly pursues violators of divine imperial decrees. – Given on the tenth day before the kalends of April (March 23rd ) at Constantinople in the year of the eighth consulship of Honorius Augustus and the third consulship of Theodosius Augustus (409 CE).

The name of the site changed during the late 4th – early 5th centuries CE, when the Christian church historian Sozomen in his Ecclesiastical History (440-443 CE) refers to the region assigned to the dux at Be’er Shema as ‘Geraris’. The Christian community at the site expanded at the same time to include the construction of a monastery at Geraris, in the wadi (of the Nahal Besor). Further reference to the flourishing diocese at Be’er Shema comes from the proceedings of the ecumenical meeting of the Council of Chalcedon (held in 451 CE), which includes in the list of bishops in attendance (the name of ‘Markianos of Gerar’).

Testimony for the thriving community at Be’er Shema during the mid-6th century CE comes from the collection of papyri found at Nessana during the Colt excavations. The document provides a list of taxes during the reign of emperor Anastasius (491-518 CE), which details the major military centers in the region. Of the towns listed on the papyrus, Be’er Shema has one of the highest tax quotas in the region, indicating the prosperity of the site at this time. Be’er Shema continued to be an important administrative center in the Gerar region into the 7th century CE The site is included in the list of towns within the Byzantine Empire, found in the Descriptio Orbis Romani, assembled by Georgios Kyprios (c. 600 CE).

Excavation and Survey History

The earliest mention of the site comes from P. Thomsen who surveyed the region in search of Roman milestones in the provinces of Palestine, Arabia and Syria. Unfortunately, Thomsen confused the site of Be’er Shema with Beersheba. Alois Musil first produced a detailed examination of the remains at Birsama (Be’er Shema, the modern site named Khirbet el-Fār). Musil identified ruins that included a church, cisterns, reservoir, and other architectural elements, covering an area of c. 400 m (E-W) by 150 m (N-S). While Musil described the extensive remains at the site, he was unable to accurately correlate them with ancient Be’er Shema. It was not until A. Alt visited the site as part of his research on Roman forts in the Negev and Wadi Araba that he identified the modern site Khirbet el-Fār as ancient Be’er Shema (by Alt as ‘Barsama’). Alt interpreted the site as part of a chain of East-West fortifications from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Following Alt’s exploration of the site F.M. Abel investigated the water systems at Be’er Shema, which included cisterns, a large reservoir and several wells.

More recent twentieth century surveys have examined Be’er Shema and its environs. During the IAA’s regional survey for the Map of Urim, D. Gazit explored an area of over 500 dunams, finding new architectural elements, pottery, glass and tesserae. Particularly important to this study, Gazit noted the presence of a large square structure (70 x 70 m) rising c. 2.5m above the surface. The structure Gazit identified is likely the castellum referred to in the Notitia Dignitatum (c. 400 CE).

Prior to the 2006 season at Be’er Shema, D. Gazit and Y. Lender in 1989/1990, under the direction of the IAA, led the most extensive fieldwork carried out at the site. Work at the site focused on the later Byzantine remains, specifically the basilica church (late 6th – early 7th century). Prompted by unauthorized agricultural work, the 2006 season at Be’er Shema aimed to gather more information regarding the Byzantine settlement. While limited to a salvage excavation, the team identified an additional Byzantine church and conducted magnetometry survey in the area that Gazit suggested might be a theatre.

Excavation Results

Excavations carried out at Be’er Shema can generically be divided into survey work, salvage excavations, and excavation of the Byzantine church. To date the only full scale investigative excavations done at Be’er Shema have concentrated on the Byzantine church complex. Survey work conducted during the previous century and more recently by the IAA has provided a rough idea of some of the buildings present during the Late Roman and Byzantine occupation of the site. To date there is evidence for the following structures: a large quadriburgium fort from the Late Roman period, cisterns, a large reservoir, wells, a possible theatre, a Byzantine settlement, a Byzantine basilica church and another possible church, and a large Byzantine wine press and storehouse. 299 Surface investigation by the author yielded evidence for a bathhouse and vicus associated with the quadriburgium as well as possible pottery kilns.

The Late Roman quadriburgium fort alluded to in the Notitia Dignitatum (c. 400 CE) has not been excavated but appears clearly in the landscape. As mentioned by Alt, Gazit, Erickson-Gini, and others who have examined the site, the square outline of the fort rises over 2 m above the plain. Protruding square towers can be discerned on the fort’s northeast, southeast and northwest corners. Cut stone can be seen jutting from below the surface at the junctures of the curtain walls and corner towers. As with other Late Roman forts in the Negev, the builders apparently utilized mudbrick for the construction of the uppermost courses of main walls and even interior organization of smaller rooms characteristic of other quadriburgium type forts.

The 2006 salvage excavations undertaken by the IAA, under the direction of Tali Erickson-Gini, focused on the western half of the site. Nine areas were opened along the edge of a plowed field. Work in this area uncovered a Late Byzantine winepress, consisting of a treading floor, storage compartments, a settling pool and collection vats orientated in a square. Numerous Late Byzantine bag-shaped jars were found in a building in the same area (Area A) as the winepress. The structures uncovered during the excavation all had similar building elements, which included well-cut limestone blocks and floor slabs, wadi-cobbles and walls constructed of mudbrick or mudbrick slurry.

Chronological Summary

Occupation at Be’er Shema during the Nabataean and Early Roman Period can only be reconstructed using ancient sources. Even into the Late Roman Period, knowledge of occupation is restricted to ancient sources and limited survey work.

The 2006 excavations expanded knowledge of the later periods of occupation at Be’er Shema. The areas excavated included material and structures from the Late Byzantine (5 th – early 7th centuries CE) through the Early Islamic (8th century CE) and the Mamluk (13th – 14th centuries CE) periods, with the latest phase during the first half of the 20th century CE (Late Ottoman and British Mandate periods). However, the site was not continuously occupied and different parts of the site were occupied in various periods.

According to survey and excavation work conducted by the IAA, ancient Be’er Shema is in reality much smaller than estimates given by Alt and other early surveyors. Results from the 2006 season suggest that during the Byzantine period the site included a medium sized village (currently unexcavated but likely located south of the fort and west of the church), with the castellum and associated bathhouse nearby, and a monastic community supported by at least two churches. During the Late Byzantine period, several installations went out of use temporarily, possibly as a result of the decline in population after the Justinian Plague (c. 541/542 CE) or the collapse of the local economy, which had been heavily centered on the export of wine.

Relationship to Security System

Be’er Shema’s position east of Gaza and the Mediterranean offered caravans and travelers a stopping point before arriving at or immediately after leaving the seaport. Throughout the classical period (Late Nabataean through Late Byzantine periods), Be’er Shema developed as a link between Be’er Sheva and Gaza. The site also offers reliable water sources and a cultivatable hinterland, especially important aspects for a military garrison. In the Late Byzantine period, the site also functioned as a production center for wine and Gaza wine jars, as evidenced by the large winepress, kilns, and storage facility found at the site. The industrial activity aided in the support of the military population stationed there. The site rose to greater prominence during the fifth and sixth centuries with the establishment of a monastery and eventually a flourishing diocese with its own bishop. Industrial activities such as wine production helped elevate Be’er Shema to a relatively wealthy regional center. For over three centuries (4th – early 7th centuries CE), Be’er Shema was a major site in the northern Negev. It is included in this study as a reflection of Late Roman/Byzantine military and administrative interests.

Taken from Ratzlaff, Alexandra. “The Maintenance of Empire: The Roman Army in the Negev from the 1st – 7th Centuries CE.” Dissertation, Boston University, 2014.