Kallirrhoe ('En ez-Zara): Drittes Grabungskampagne des Deutschen Evangelischen Instituts fur Altertumswissenschaft des Heiligen Landes und Exkursionen in Sud-Peraa.

AuthorMagness, Jodi
PositionBook review

Kallirrhoe ('En ez-Zara): Drittes Grabungskampagne des Deutschen Evangelischen Instituts fur Altertumswissenschaft des Heiligen Landes und Exkursionen in Sud-Peraa. By AUGUST STROBEL and STEFAN WIMMER. Abhandlungen des Deutschen Palastina-Vereins, vol. 32. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ VERLAG, 2003. Pp. x + 106, plates. [euro]48.

The oasis of 'En ez-Zara lies on the northeast shore of the Dead Sea, about two kilometers south of Wadi Zarqa Ma'in. Because perennial thermal springs dot the oasis, it was known in antiquity as Kallirrhoe (beautiful waters). Kallirrhoe is mentioned by several ancient authors including Josephus, who informs us that the ailing Herod was brought there for treatment in the healing waters shortly before his death in 4 B.C.E. (War 1.32.5; Ant. 17.6.5). Herod's son Antipas executed John the Baptist at the palace-fortress of Machaerus, which is located only six kilometers from Kallirrhoe, atop a rocky summit overlooking the Dead Sea. On the sixth-century Madaba mosaic map, the "thermal springs of Kallirrhoe" are depicted as three large pools set among palm trees.

August Strobel conducted excavations at 'En ez-Zara when he served as director of the German Evangelical Institute for Archaeological Research in the Holy Land. The final report on the first two seasons (1985-86) was published by Christa Clamer (1997). The present volume represents the final report on the third and last excavation season (1989), which was conducted with the assistance of Stefan Wimmer. The volume contains an introduction with an overview of all three excavation seasons (Strobel), a detailed description of the architecture and stratigraphy of the remains excavated in 1989 (Wimmer), a chapter with reports on coins, stone vessels, other small finds, and chemical and geological analyses (various authors), discussions of historical problems relating to the life and death of Herod the Great, especially chronological issues (Strobel), and a chapter describing other sites in the region that were surveyed by the German expedition (Strobel). The last chapter includes a consideration of the location of Herodium in Arabia, for which Strobel proposes three possible candidates in the area of Wadi el-Mujib (the Biblical Arnon), to the south of 'En ez-Zara (for an overview of this problem, see Roller 1998: 168-69, who favors a location further to the north).

The German expedition discovered remains belonging to different periods in a number of spots around the oasis...

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